Getty Image / Samo Vidic
Martin Nahlovsky, an Ice Cross racer from the Czech Republic, has gone viral with a helmet cam video which depicts just how intense this obscure Winter sport is.
Sadly, Ice Cross is not in the Winter Olympic Games yet. Previously, events were under the ‘Red Bull Crashed Ice’ umbrella but have been held under ‘ATSX Ice Cross’ since 2019. The sport is similar to a downhill ‘extreme‘ skiing/snowboarding race with competitors on the course at the same time, similar to the old school BMX format, but these competitors are on ice skates and they’re navigating hairpin turns, jumps, and bumps.
His video has racked up over 3.7 million views on TikTok. Everyone who sees it unanimously agrees this sport needs to be more popular:
@martinnahlovsky Ice to meet you Austria! 🧊🏁 #icecross #winter #race #downhill #thrill #austria #iceskating
There are strict rules in place, as is the case with every sport, but Martin Nahlovsky (8th ranked in the world) shared another ‘no rules run’ video. This shows how reckless the sport of Ice Cross can be when anything goes:
@martinnahlovsky Pure mayhem on ice ⛸️💥 (part 2). Wait for the guy tossed into the boards 🤣. A little backstory to the chat at the beginning. It was the last race of the season in the Ice Cross World Championship. And the first guy talking, @robworling14, along with @mirkolahti, were both chasing the world title. Obviously they didn’t want to take any risks and get injured, so they didn’t take part, but missed all the fun. 🤟😁 #icecross #iceskating #fullcontact #ice #winter #iceskate #adrenaline #crash #fail #fall #hockey #extremesports #extremeskating #downhill #fast #fullspeed #wintersport #czechstyle
Someone on the first video joked about how this is like skiing on the East Coast where the slopes are considerably icier than out West.
Some more recent highlights:
Taking two steps back, setting up an Ice Cross race course is easily the biggest drawback to making this sport more accessible. There are only so many places this can be done and only during Winter. That said, it would be cool to see this sport gain a larger footprint maybe through year-round indoor tracks.