The longest Ice Cross Downhill race track in the history of the sport could produce a number of upsets at this weekend's race in Jyväskylä-Laajis, and a pack of hungry challengers just behind the leaders Cameron Naasz (USA) and Scott Croxall (Canada) said they were excited by their prospects of moving up in the standings after getting their first taste of the grueling 630-meter long track carved into the side of a mountain at the Finnish ski resort on Thursday.
Canada's Dean Moriarity, who is in third place overall at the midway point of the season in the world's fastest sport on skates, said he couldn't wait to race on the only Red Bull Crashed Ice track on natural ice, a bumpier run than the artificial tracks elsewhere.
"It's an awesome track," said Moriarity. "It's very long and technical and there should be a lot of passing. Having enough stamina is going to make the difference. Usually you don't get tired until the later rounds but here you're going to be feeling tired after the first and second round."
A pack of hungry challengers will be hoping to get a jump on the leaders over the longest track in history. Photo: Sebastian Marko/Red Bull Content Pool.
France's Tristan Dugerdil, who is fourth overall and had a career-best fourth place at the last Red Bull Crashed Ice race in Munich, agreed that the Finnish track with its 66-meter vertical drop and features like the one-of-a-kind "BF Goodrich Rock Drop" obstacle would cause a lot riders a lot of troubles.
"It's not that difficult but it's really long so we're going to have to skate a lot here and that makes it interesting," said Dugerdil, who has emerged as one of the top racers this year after a punishing training regime in the off-season. "I hope it's a good track for me. I trained a lot this year so in theory a track like this could be good for me. It feels good to me."
Austria's Luca Dallago, who is fifth overall after winning the Riders Cup race in Wagrain-Kleinarl, said the length of the track would open the door for upsets galore.
"I really liked all the waves and it was a lot of fun," he said. "It's an eternally long track. It's going to be good for the people who are the most fit. And for people who muff the start there is still going to be plenty of time to catch up and pass other people. I think it's going to come down to fitness at the end of the day in the semi-finals and finals."
Switzerland's Kilian Braun, who is in sixth place overall and having his best season in years following an intense summer training regime, said he was able to get in a few training runs last week when the track was open to all athletes and said it felt a lot different, and faster, when temperatures were 30 degrees below zero. On Thursday, temperatures were only just below freezing and the track was covered by heavy snowfall.
Arttu Pihlainen helps to shift some snow off the track in preparation for the event in Jyväskylä-Laajis. Photo: Sebastian Marko/Red Bull Content Pool.
"It was a lot faster last week but I love this track in any case," said Braun, whose best result so far this season was fifth in Quebec City. He had fallen to 29th overall in 2015 from fifth in 2011. "It's really long and there are lots of jumps. It's my kind of track. I think I can do really well here."
Under ideal circumstances, all Red Bull Crashed Ice race tracks have at least 10 centimeters or more of ice layers built up in the weeks before the racing. Artificial tracks are kept frozen with the cooling system and it takes about five days of constant spraying of water to get a thickness of 10-15 centimeters. Natural ice tracks are more difficult to perfect because it can take longer than that if the temperatures rise above freezing and melt the ice.
WATCH IT LIVE: Red Bull Crashed Ice Jyväskylä-Laajis will broadcast live on redbullcrashedice.com and Red Bull TV at 7:15pm CET on January 30. 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.
US fans please note that the live webcast and replay is geo-blocked in the US due to an exclusive broadcast deal with FOX Sports. The event will air on FOX Sports 1 on Monday, February 15 at 4:30pm EST. Following this it will be available on demand at Red Bull TV.