American Cameron Naasz got an early look at the extremely challenging ice cross downhill race track on Wednesday in Munich, a massive 370-meter run with a 45-meter vertical drop.
Naasz, the 2015/16 world championship leader, was trying to figure out how to master the longest jump ever built on a Red Bull Crashed Ice race track which drops off the hill at a 40 degree angle – flying up to 20 meters near the end of the track - in order to stay atop the standings of the world's fastest sport on skates at the second Red Bull Crashed Ice stop of the season on Friday and Saturday.
Cameron Naasz and sport director, Christian Papillon, discuss the daunting drop that awaits the riders. Photo: Joerg Mitter / Red Bull Content Pool.
More than 100 of the best Ice Cross Downhill athletes from around the world, including the first world champion Martin Niefnecker of nearby Garmisch-Partenkirchen, will be racing for glory and valuable world championship points at speeds reaching 50 km/h on the spectacular track that has been built on the Olympiaberg in Munich's Olympiapark. The race in Munich had its debut in 2010 and the crowd can expect to see highly competitive racing on the artificial ice track that organizers have been working on since mid-December. "I'm hoping for another really big crowd for my home race," said Niefnecker, who finished 11th at the 2015/16 season opener in Quebec City in November. "I'm hoping to do a lot better at home."
The 20-meter-long jump near the end of the track promises to be one of the most breathtaking finishes in the sport's history. It resembles a ski jump ramp – long, steep and narrow. "To perform well on this track the riders are going to need a lot of courage," said Christian Papillon, sport director of Red Bull Crashed Ice and the International ATSX federation, said the riders will be racing at top speeds when they hit the ramp and able to stay airborne for unusually long distances without even pushing themselves.
The spectacular track twists and dips its way toward Munich's Olympic Park. Photo: Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool.
WATCH IT LIVE: Red Bull Crashed Ice Munich will be broadcast live on redbullcrashedice.com and Red Bull TV at 6:40pm CET on January 9. 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.