Red Bull Crashed Ice in 2014

Red Bull Crashed Ice is back in 2014 with a return to Finland and Russia along with annual stops in the United States and Canada. Switzerland's Derek Wedge will be looking to defend his Ice Cross Downhill World Championship title against a pack of hard-charging athletes, including Kyle Croxall, of Canada, and American Cameron Naasz, who finished second and third last year.

Red Bull Crashed Ice Calendar 2014
February 1 - Helsinki (FIN)
February 22 - Saint Paul (USA)
March 8 - Moscow (RUS)
March 22 - Quebec City (CAN)

Ice cross downhill reached new heights during the 2013 season with nearly 300,000 spectators at five races but the new season promises to be even more exciting with competitors now training year-round for the high-speed downhill sport on ice skates, where athletes race at speeds approaching 60kph down challenging tracks with a vertical drop of around 60 metres and that are up to 600 metres in length and packed with jumps, bumps and hairpin turns. The Team Competition will also be back in the new season after Switzerland's Swatch Pro Team took the inaugural title in 2013.

The 2014 season opens in Finland at the Serena Ski Resort on February 1, just outside of Helsinki, as Red Bull Crashed Ice returns to Finland for the first time since 2007 to pay tribute to the traditionally high-flying Finns who had two racers in the top 10 last season: Miikka Jouhkimainen and Paavo Klintrup. The race in Finland will be staged on one of a growing number of permanent tracks being built around the world in a reflection of the sport's growing popularity, a high-speed sprint down the 270-metre track that hosted the Nordic National Ice Cross Downhill Championship last year.

The second stop is in Saint Paul on February 22, as Red Bull Crashed Ice returns for the third straight time to the Minnesota state capital on the banks of the mostly frozen Mississippi River that has become a hotbed for the sport in the United States with frenzied crowds and thousands of wanna-be competitors filling the national competition. The United States have quickly become one of the world's leading ice cross downhill powers, with Minnesota native Naasz taking a first-ever win for the United States in Switzerland last year and getting on the podium in three of five races to take third overall, behind Wedge and Croxall.

The championship moves to Moscow for the third stop on March 8, returning to the frigid Russian capital for the first time since 2011. Russian aces hope to break into the sport's elite at the race at Vorobyevy Gory on the bank of the Moskva River in front of the Moscow State University. And the season concludes once again in Quebec City, Canada, on March 22, where there will also be a women's race as well this season as Canada's Fannie Desforges looks to defend her title.

As in past years, competitors will be able to qualify for the national shootouts and a shot at a spot in the main events through open qualifiers all across Europe and North America. Find details on how to register at redbullcrashedice.com/registration. In the past, many of the sport's top stars, such as Derek Wedge and Marco Dallago, made it onto the world stage by virtue of their success in the national qualifiers.

The 2013 season was the biggest and most spectacular in the history of ice cross downhill with four winners in five different races on the longest and most challenging tracks ever built, with the sport also evolving from the previous dominance of hockey players to athletes from a variety of different sporting backgrounds – everything from downhill skiing to mountain biking.