Racing down an artificial ice track into Marseille's historic harbor, American Cameron Naasz grabbed pole position for the first Red Bull Crashed Ice race of the 2016/17 season with the fastest time in Friday morning's shootout. Under the bright sunshine and balmy Mediterranean temperatures well above freezing, the defending champion just managed to beat Canada's Scott Croxall, the 2015 champion, by a fraction of a second in the time trials down the 340-meter long track filled with obstacles.
In the world's fastest sport on skates, Austria's Luca Dallago took third in the shootout while France's Tristan Dugerdil came in fourth in in the warm-up to Saturday's race on the specially built track that starts on the balcony of the grande Hotel Dieu, a former hospital built in 1188, and finishes in the 2,600-year-old Le Vieux Port on the Mediterranean. Maxwell Dunne of the United States was fifth and Austria's Marco Dallago, the 2014 world champion, was sixth.
"I like the track and it's got some tight technical spots that will make the racing interesting," Naasz said, referring to Saturday's five rounds of racing in which four athletes at a time will battle it out to finish first or second to be able to advance to the next round all the way to a final four. "I was worried the warm weather would make the track difficult but it's held up great."
Over in the women's competition it was another reigning champion, Canada's Jacqueline Legere, who also grabbed top spot in the time trials, while 18-year-old Joni Saarinen of Finland posted the fastest time in the brand new Junior competition.
The fastest athletes from Friday's time trials earned berths in Saturday's finals, the first of four Red Bull Crashed Ice races this season – the 17th in the sport's history. The winner of Saturday's race will win 1,000 world championship points. There are also five Riders Cup races, where athletes can win up to 250 points for a victory.
Shootout Results:
Men
1. Cameron Naasz (USA), 2. Scott Croxall (CAN), 3. Luca Dallago (AUT), 4. Tristan Dugerdil (FRA), 5. Maxwell Dunne (USA), 6. Marco Dallago (AUT), 7. Guillaume Bouvet-Morrissette (CAN), 8. Dylan Moriarity (CAN), 9. Tommy Mertz (USA), 10. Jim De Paoli (SUI).
Women
1. Jacqueline Legere (CAN), 2. Sydney O'Keefe (USA), 3. Myriam Trepanier (CAN), 4. Amanda Trunzo (USA), 5. Amandine Condroyer (FRA), 6. Elaine Topolniski (CAN), 7. Sandrine Rangeon (FRA), 8. Veronika Windisch (AUT), 9. Mathilde Monneron (FRA), 10. Anai Morand (SUI).
Juniors
1. Joni Saarinen (FIN), 2. Vadav Kosnar (CZE), 3. Maximilian Hohl (AUT), 4. Martin Barrau (FRA), 5. Oliver Isaac (CAN), 6. Theo Richalet-Chaudeur (FRA), 7. Leo Dutruel (FRA), 8. Eric Meanton (SUI), 9. Petar Sevo (NED), 10. Lukasz Korzestanski (POL).