Canada's Scott Croxall aims to become the first athlete to defend his Ice Cross Downhill World Championship title when the world's fastest sport on skates kicks off its biggest season ever in Quebec City, Canada on November 27-28. But that will be a tall order in a talented field packed with four former World Champions and a host of hungry challengers.
Ice Cross Downhill is a tactical, physical and fast sport and in Quebec City four riders at a time race down the 460-meter long obstacle-filled track with a 65-meter vertical drop – with the two fastest advancing to the next round. This will be the 10th race in Quebec City going back to 2006 -- the sport's hotbed which has hosted more Red Bull Crashed Ice stops than any other city. The Quebec City crowds are famous for their size – 100,000 or more -- and enthusiasm as they cheer the riders on from the start at the Parliament Building down to the finish at Place D'Youville. It is one of the most exciting artificial ice tracks and the fans fill the streets of Old Quebec to follow the action.
"I want to keep improving and getting better to try and keep the World Championship title in Canada," said Croxall, the second Canadian to win it all after his older brother Kyle took the title in 2012. Kyle Croxall will also be going all out to win a second championship title. There have been six different World Champions in the last six years. Other former World Champions returning are Marco Dallago of Austria (2014 World Champion), Derek Wedge of Switzerland (2013), and Martin Niefnecker of Germany (2010).
Croxall, who won two of four Red Bull Crashed Ice races last year with victories in Helsinki and Belfast, is also determined to help his Team LTD defend its World Championship in the separate team competition on Friday evening where the athletes race in teams of three vs three down the track. "I'm looking forward to the team championship and defending that title with my Team LDT teammates," Croxall said.
Aside from the four Red Bull Crashed Ice races on artificial ice tracks, there will also be six Riders Cup races on natural ice tracks on the calendar – three in North America and three in Europe – as the high-speed sport continues to grow rapidly. Competing in a Riders Cup race is the only way to gain experience for Red Bull Crashed Ice – and offers Ice Cross Downhill World Championship points as well. The athletes will be competing for a maximum of up to 1,000 championship points for the winners of the four Red Bull Crashed Ice races and a maximum of up to 250 points awarded to the winners of the six Riders Cup stops, a new feeder event created last season to open the sport to even more competitors in more locations. Whoever wins the most points from the three of the four Red Bull Crashed Ice events and from three of the six Riders Cup races will be crowned Ice Cross Downhill World Champion.
Red Bull Crashed Ice 2015/16 Race Calendar:
November 27-28: Quebec City, QC, Canada
January 08-09: Munich, Germany
January 29-30: Jyväskylä-Laajis, Finland
February 26-27: Saint Paul, MN, United States
Watch it Live: Red Bull Crashed Ice Quebec City will broadcast live on redbullcrashedice.com and Red Bull TV at 8:30pm EST on November 28. Red Bull TV is available on connected TVs, gaming consoles, mobile devices and more. For a full list of supported devices visit about.redbull.tv.