Red Bull Crashed Ice was a world tour in ice cross downhill, a

winter Winter is the coldest and darkest season of the year in temperate and polar climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Dif ...

extreme sporting event which involves downhill

skating Skating involves any sports or recreational activity which consists of traveling on surfaces or on ice using skates, and may refer to: Ice skating *Ice skating, moving on ice by using ice skates **Figure skating, a sport in which individuals, ...

in an urban environment, on a track which includes steep turns and high vertical drops. Racers speed down the course's turns, berms, and jumps. Competitors, having advanced from one of the tryouts in the prior months, race in heats of four skaters, with the top two advancing from each heat. The events were held from 2001 to 2019; the ATSX now oversees ice cross downhill events. The series was created and is managed by

energy drink An energy drink is a type of non-alcoholic psychoactive functional beverage containing stimulant compounds, usually caffeine (at a higher concentration than ordinary soda pop) and taurine, which is marketed as reducing tiredness and improving pe ...

company

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks created and owned by the Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With a market share of 43%, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2020, and the third most valuable soft drink brand, behind Coca-Cola and ...

. It is similar to

ski cross Ski cross is a skiing competition which incorporates terrain features traditionally found in freestyle skiing with courses which include big-air jumps and high-banked turns. In spite of the fact that it is a timed racing event, it is often con ...

and

snowboard cross Snowboard cross, also known as boardercross, is a snowboard competition in which four to six competitors race down a course. Snowboard cross courses are typically quite narrow and include cambered turns, various types of jumps, berms, rollers, ...

, except with

ice skates Ice skates are metal blades attached underfoot and used to propel the bearer across a sheet of ice while ice skating. The first ice skates were made from leg bones of horse, ox or deer, and were attached to feet with leather straps. These skates ...

on an ice track, instead of skis or snowboards on a snow track. Racers are typically athletes with a background in

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

, however competitors from the sports of

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two team sport, teams wearing Ice skates#Bandy skates, ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The playin ...

and

ringette Ringette is a winter team sport played on an ice rink using ice hockey skates, straight sticks with drag-tips, and a blue, rubber, pneumatic ring designed for use on ice surfaces. While the sport was originally created exclusively for female c ...

have also competed with great success, such as Salla Kyhälä from Finland's national ringette team, who also played in Canada's National Ringette League, and

Jasper Felder Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due t ...

, a bandy player who became an ice cross downhill seven-time single event winner. As a

player, Felder represented the United States national bandy team, while in ice cross downhill, represented

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

while equipped with ice hockey gear. Felder was first in the single-event in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2009, and twice in 2004.

Single event winners

World championship era

From 2010 onwards a points system was introduced. After the season, the skater with the most points is crowned the world champion. Points are awarded to the top 100 racers. Points are awarded starting with 1000 for the winner, after that 800, 600, 500 and decreasing to 0.5 for place 100. For the 2015 season, the Riders Cup events were instituted. The events were designed to make the sport more accessible to more skaters. For these events, skaters can earn up to 25% of the points that the main events are awarded, with percentages decreasing with each placing. Meaning that the winner receives 250 points, which is 25% of the main event 1000 points and it decreases to 1% of the main event points for the 64th finisher, who receives 2.5 points. Any placings 65th and beyond do not score any points. As well, a new wrinkle was added to the overall championship called the "throw out" rule. If a competitor competes in all of the stops, up to a maximum of 12 events in future years, the lowest main event score and the lowest Riders Cup score will be thrown out. This will give the skater an adjusted score for the overall championship. Thus, meaning that it is in the skater's best interest to compete in all events.

Individual Competition

2016 World Championship

2017 World Championship

2018 World Championship

2019 World Championship

Men's competition

2010 World Championship

2011 World Championship

2012 World Championship

2013 World Championship

2014 World Championship

2015 World Championship

Team Competition

2013 Team Challenge World Championship

2014 Team Challenge World Championship

2015 Team Challenge World Championship

Women's competition

2015 Women's World Championship

Gallery

Image:RBCI 01.jpg, Start of a race in 2008 Image:P quebecCity2007 4.jpg, A turn in the track in Quebec, 2007 Image:P quebecCity2008 5.jpg, 4 racers in Quebec, 2008 Image:P quebecCity2008 4.jpg, Close racing, Quebec, 2008 File:Crashed Ice Québec 2011.jpg, 4 racers in Quebec, 2011

References

General references

Red Bull’s Headlong Frozen Dash Is a Crash Course in Marketing, By Matt Higgins, New York Times, March 3, 2007

Red Bull Crashed Ice returns to Quebec City, by Melissa Halarides, The Concordian, March 7, 2007

A Downhill Ice Course, Full Hockey Gear and the Need for Speed, Market Wire, August 2006

Crashed Ice: Le parcours de l'an dernier gonflé aux stéroïdes, by Ian Bussières, Le Soleil, January 25th 2008, P. 8 & 9

External links

Official site
{{Red Bull Red Bull sports events Ice skating Recurring sporting events established in 2001