From Crashed Ice to Red Bull Ice Cross World Championship - a new era for the world’s fastest sport on skates!

ATSX / Red Bull Ice Cross World Championship 2019/20 / Season Announcement / Innsbruck

From Crashed Ice to Red Bull Ice Cross World Championship - a new era for the world’s fastest sport on skates!

INNSBRUCK, Austria – The world’s best skaters are ready to battle! The Red Bull Ice Cross World Championship is starting soon, hosted by the All Terrain Skate Cross (ATSX) federation, with a bigger and tougher winter calendar than ever: 12 races spread over 7 countries and 3 continents (America, Europe, Asia): the opening event is scheduled for December 28 in Judenburg (Austria) and three marquee events, labelled ATSX 1000, will take place in Yokohama (Japan) and Nur Sultan (Kazakhstan) in February, then Moscow (Russia) in March. This means two new venues out of three major events, on exciting new tracks.

Over the summer, the Crashed Ice Series evolved into the Red Bull Ice Cross World Championship, now the official pinnacle of a more structured sport, still developing after 20 years into multi-stop, multi-point winter sports series. At the end of the 12 races scheduled this winter, at 3 different levels of competition (ATSX 250, 500 or 1000), there will be 3 world titles awarded, for Women, Men and Junior athletes.

Reigning World Champion Cameron Naasz, from United States, will again be challenged by Canadian arch-rivals Kyle and Scott Croxall, and by the Austrians Marco and Luca Dallago. Former Junior World Champions Mirko Lahti, from Finland, and Jojo Velazquez, another American skater with an attitude, will also be in the mix for wins and podiums at the top level of modern Ice Cross. Another major contender this winter could be Canadian rider Dean Moriarty, back from two years at Cirque du Soleil.

On the Women’s side, 2019 unstoppable champion Amanda Trunzo (USA) will again take on Canadian hopefuls Jacqueline Légère and Myriam Trépanier, as well as Anaïs Morand, the quickest Swiss on skates, who also gave her a hard time last winter, and fellow American Tamara Meuwissen. Russian and Japanese athletes such as German Titov (Men), Toma Yamauchi (Men) and Junko Yamamoto (Women) are also ready to utilize home advantage in their pursuit of glory in Igora, Ekaterinburg and Moscow, Sapporo and Yokohama.

It will be the 20th winter of high-speed ice cross action and all all is set for a new exciting chapter, full of action on-track and off-track. The Red Bull Ice Cross World Championship will be highlighted by three major stops this winter, where the winner will receive 1,000 championship points. After Yokohama in Japan (Feb 15), a very popular event last year, two new races will be organized in Kazakhstan (Feb 29) and Russia (March 21), where a glamorous season finale will be staged at the very first permanent track, recently inaugurated in Patriot Park, near Moscow. There will also be five “ATSX 500” races, with winners taking 500 points, including a brand-new event in Praloup (Southern French Alps) in January, and four “ATSX 250” races, with 250 points up for grabs.

About Ice Cross

In Ice Cross, fearless skaters hurtle down courses of up to 700 meters in length, filled with obstacles such as bumps, turns, hairpins and waves. The ice can be natural, in ski resorts, or artificial, at city centre locations. Riders go 4-at-a-time, at speeds of up to 80 km/h. The fastest two advance to the next round until there is a 4-rider final, in each category (Men, Women, Junior). Depending on the difficulty of the track and the amount of World Championship/Ranking points available for the athletes, race week-ends are labelled ATSX 250, 500 or 1000. Over the past two decades, 1,000 athletes from 51 countries and 5 continents have taken part in races that have become so popular that they draw enormous and enthusiastic crowds.