ARE (Sweden) – Ice Cross Downhill will return to the country where it all began in Sweden for the third stop of the four-leg 2012 world championship on Feb. 17-18. Eleven years after the first-ever race in Stockholm in 2001, Red Bull Crashed Ice will be back in Sweden in the resort town of Are for high-speed action on what promises to be the fastest track ever built. The 420-meter long track has a vertical drop of 60 meters – the same descent that the racers faced on the high-speed descent in Valkenburg but on a track that was 155 meters longer.
Croxall of Canada was lucky to win the second race in Valkenburg when Fabian Mels of Germany stumbled late in the final race while leading the field just as Croxall had benefited in the opening race in Saint Paul when defending world champion Arttu Pihlainen (FIN) also fell. Croxall, a powerful firefighter weighing 97 kg, found the high-speed Dutch track to his liking and will most definitely feel at home on the frighteningly steep Are track as well. His brother Scott will be looking for a change of fortune after suffering misfortune in Valkenburg when his skate blade broke in the final after he had been easily winning all his heats.
Switzerland’s Kilian Braun beat Kyle Croxall in two of their three heats and figures to be among the favourites in Sweden as well. A rejuvenated team Sweden will be going all out in front of the home crowd, hoping to restore their nation’s honor after the retirement last year of Swedish ace Jasper Felder. He had seven career victories and is still ahead of his nearest rivals Croxall (4 career wins) and Pihlainen (3 wins). Sweden’s Mikael Andersson improved to 30th in Valkenburg after finishing 64th in Saint Paul and is 42nd in the world championship while Andreas Kristoff is 44th after getting 29th in Saint Paul.
The sport of Ice Cross Downhill demands a combination of agility, skating prowess and fearlessness going downhill. The skaters descend the specially built ice canals four at a time, jostling for position as they battle to the finish line while clearing jumps, rollers, obstacles and hairpin turns.
Race calendar 2012:
Jan 13/14 Saint Paul (USA)
Feb 3-4 Valkenburg (NED)
Feb 17/18 Aare (SWE)
March 16/17 Quebec (CAN)
World Championship:
1. Kyle Croxall 2000 pts.
2. Mels 1250
3. Pihlainen 1160
4. Scott Croxall 1100
5. Klintrup 1100
6. Braun 850
7. Horst 690
8. Lari Joutsenlahti (FIN) 560
9. Mueller 550
10. Jim de Paoli (SUI) 500
