Niagara Falls hosted the first of five races in the Ice Cross Downhill World Championship 2013.
Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Crashed Ice
The Swatch ProTeam of Kilian Braun, Kim Muller and Jim De Paoli won the inaugural Ice Cross Downhill Team Competition in Niagara Falls.
Balazs Gardi/Red Bull Crashed Ice
Champion Kyle Croxall began the defence of his title with another victory in the first race of the 2013 World Championship.
Andreas Schaad/Red Bull Crashed Ice
A 400-metre-long ice track, with a huge vertical drop, awaited the ice cross downhill elite for the second stop in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on January 26, 2013.
Garth Milan/Red Bull Crashed Ice
Tens of thousands of spectators turned out for Red Bull Crashed Ice's return to the Hockey State following its first visit to Saint Paul a year earlier.
Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Crashed Ice
Champion Kyle Croxall was pushed all the way to the finish but once again came out on top to make it two from two as the Canadian looked on course for another title...
Balazs Gardi/Red Bull Crashed Ice
The first ever ice cross downhill competition held indoors at SnowWorld in Landgraaf, in the Netherlands, was to prove a turning point in the season.
Andreas Langreiter/Red Bull Crashed Ice
Wedge has the edge: Switzerland's Derek Wedge claimed his first ice cross downhill win during the third stop of the World Championship on February 9, 2013, as many of the favourites crashed out on the treacherous course in Landgraaf.
Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Crashed Ice
It was next stop Lausanne on March 2, 2013, as Red Bull Crashed Ice returned to Switzerland for the first time since 2009.
Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Crashed Ice
Skate to victory: Another new winner, and a first for a US athlete, as Cameron Naasz, who had come second in the opening race at Niagara Falls, catapults himself into the title reckoning going into the final race of the season in Quebec City.
Daniel Grund/Red Bull Crashed Ice
More than 100,000 spectators crowded Vieux Quebec to witness the thrilling spectacle as three skaters - Croxall, Wedge and Naasz - were all in with a shot at the title.
Scott Serfas/Red Bull Crashed Ice
Turning the screw: The 594-metre-long track contained a series of new obstacles, including The Corkscrew, which pushed the athletes to the max.
Scott Serfas/Red Bull Crashed Ice
After a dramatic finale, Derek Wedge's third place was enough to hand the Swiss, a rookie in 2012, the World Championship title on March 16, 2013.