ARE (Sweden) – Seven of the first 22 Ice Cross Downhill races held since 2001 were won by Jasper Felder of Sweden. But the proud Nordic country that is hosting the third race of the 2012 Ice Cross Downhill World Championship has not had a racer atop the podium since Felder’s last triumph in 2009. It will be a young but enthusiastic team of Swedish aces who will be skating for glory at home in the winter sports resort of Are this weekend. They will be joined by more than 100 talented newcomers who qualified for the first race in Sweden since 2001 by virtue of their performances in four national qualifiers in Sweden. They will be hoping to become a future superstar in the sport.
“There are a lot of really, really good skaters and skiers in Sweden and Ice Cross Downhill is a sport that fits right in with the Swedish mentality,” said Vesper, who after retiring last season became the coach of Team Sweden. “But the thing is we have so many different sports competing for the best athletes – hockey, soccer, bandy, skiing, cross country skiing, ski cross and ice cross downhill. We’re kind of spoiled for choices in Sweden. I’m sure we’re going to have guys competing with the elite athletes in this soon. The guys are really hungry. They’re going to work really hard at our home race in Sweden.”
Mikael Andersson leads the trio of promising Swedish rookies this year, improving to 30th on an extremely difficult high-speed track in Valkenburg (NED) after finishing 64th in the 2012 season opener in Saint Paul, Minnesota (USA). Andreas Kristof was 29th in Saint Paul but was injured in Valkenburg and Anders Johnsson was 91st in Valkenburg.
“Mikael’s a bandy player like myself,” said Felder. “We played on the same team for the last four years. He’s also a skier. Last year he was living in Canada as a ski bum for a couple of months. That’s really helped him a lot. He also likes to ride his dirt bike. He’s one of those guys into adrenaline. I’ve got a lot of hopes on that guy.”
Felder hopes to see the Swedish aces break into the top 20 by the end of the season. “That would be awesome,” he said. “The main goal this season is just try to get the hang of it and try to make sure they make it into the Big Show (finals with the top 64). It’s important to get experience in the big race.” Felder said they’re all great skaters and that as their coach his focus has been on getting their minds ready for skating downhill at speeds of up to 70 km/h. “I’m trying to help them out mostly with the mental thing. I tell these guys ‘I know you can skate. I can’t give you any pointers on skating. But I can give you pointers on how to think, how to make lanes and chose lanes.’ “That’s the only thing you can do,” added Felder, who also offers advice to skaters from all nations as well and especially the newcomers. “I love this sport,” he said. “I’m not just here for the Swedish guys. I’m here for everyone and happy to help make the sport safer, faster and bigger.”
Felder is looking forward to seeing what the talented newcomers from the more than 100 who will be taking part in the national shootout and the elimination round can do on the difficult track in Are, which promises to be the fastest track ever built with a vertical drop of 60 meters on a 420-meter course.
“There are at least 30 of these guys who are really good skaters,” Felder said. “There might not have been as many at the Qualifiers like in Canada or the United States. But the level of skaters in Sweden is really, really good. Our top skaters are really strong and fast. If they can get their mindset down for this track, I think we’re going to see 25 to 30 of these guys making it to the final. That should make international guys nervous.”
Felder sees bright days ahead for the sport in Sweden – in part because half the Are track is going to be a permanent fixture.
“Having a permanent track in Sweden is going to help us to improve,” said Felder, noting Are will be only the second winter sports resort to have a permanent track after Waidring in Austria became the first last year. He said a developer from Are saw a Red Bull Crashed Ice race in Quebec City, Canada and was amazed. “He liked what he saw in Quebec and got fired up and said ‘We need this in Are’. I think in the future it’s going to be a big advantage for Swedish racers having this track.”
Race Calendar 2012:
Jan 13/14 Saint Paul (USA)
Feb 3-4 Valkenburg (NED)
Feb 17/18 Aare (SWE)
March 16/17 Quebec (CAN)
