Austria's Marco Dallago wins the 2014 Ice Cross Downhill World Championship in style after a heart-stopping victory in the season finale in Quebec City, with a record-equalling three victories in four races.
Dallago won the 2014 Ice Cross Downhill World Championship on Saturday, crowning a brilliant year for the fastest sport on skates. Dallago became the first Austrian world champion after beating Canada's Scott Croxall in a thrilling final with a phenomenal burst of speed out of the gates, reaching nearly 60kph, with breathtaking leaps of more than 10 metres, on the way to the triumph in front of 110,000 spectators on a freezing cold night.
"I knew I needed a good start in the final and when I was in the air at the first jump I didn't see anyone around me so it must have been a good start," said Dallago, who joined the sport in 2012 and soared to the top by working hard in the off-season. "I predict it's going to be even harder next year because everyone's getting so much better all the time," added Dallago, who was the fifth different title winner since the World Championship was launched in 2010.
Go to redbullcrashedice.com/results for the full rundown, heat by heat.
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Croxall moved up to second place overall with 2,390 points on the strength of his strong final finish down the 480-metre-long track with its 40-metre vertical drop in front of the excited crowd, which hosted an unforgettable race for the ninth straight year. American Cameron Naasz, the only athlete in Red Bull Crashed Ice who beat Dallago this season with his victory in Moscow, finished third overall with 2,220 points after he crashed hard in the quarter finals and ended up 11th. Dallago's younger brother, Luca, got on the podium for the first time with a third place.
It was a bittersweet final for 2013 World Champion Derek Wedge, of Switzerland, who took fourth place in Quebec City and ended up 15th overall. Canada's Kyle Croxall, who won in 2012, also gave testimony to the fact that the sport has advanced by leaps and bounds in the last year by only finishing ninth overall.
Salla Kyhala, of Finland, won the women's race in Quebec City for the second time after winning here in 2011. The blonde blitz came from behind with a powerful charge late in the race to overtake Jacqueline Legere, of Canada, who had dominated the earlier heats. Alicia Blomberg, of Canada, took third.
Dallago, who equalled the feat of 2011 champion Arttu Pihlainen in achieving three victories in a four-race season, also led his Couch Garden Crew to the 2014 Ice Cross Downhill Team World Championship on Friday by beating Canada's Living the Dream, led by the Croxall brothers, to the title.