Red Bull is an Austrian company which offers the very popular Red Bull energy drink. They have a very aggressive advertising campaign and sponsor several extreme sports such as Air Racing, Flugtag which competitors have to build a human powered flying machine off a 30’ pier; Cliff Diving, X-Fighters which is freestyle motocross and Crashed Ice.
A winter extreme sport, Crashed Ice is downhill skating on a track which has a 30’ vertical drop and steep turns in an urban environment. The track is built especially for this event and has been in existence since 2000. Racers are typically hockey players who are dressed in traditional hockey gear with full helmets and facemasks. They must navigate the track with speed avoiding areas of the track that narrow while making small jumps along the way. Racers must qualify in a prior event to be able to compete in the large international events. No checking allowed, however a judge will determine if contact is made if it is unintentional. They race in heats with four skaters and the top two advance from each heat until a winner is crowned.
Spectators in large numbers line the course to get a taste of the adrenaline this event provides. Cities that have sponsored this event have been Stockholm, Sweden (2000); Klagenfurt, Austria (2001); Duluth, Minnesota (2003 & 2004); Moscow, Russia (2004); Prague, Czech Republic (2005); Quebec City, Canada (2006, 2007, 2008 & 2009); Helsinki, Finland (2007); Davos, Switzerland (2008); Lausanne, Switzerland (2009). Jasper Felder of Sweden has won seven events including the 2009 Lausanne event.
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