Canadian Croxall overcomes soft ice to capture title in front of ‘wild’ crowds
Skating on soft ice, Canadian Scott Croxall reclaimed the men’s world championship title at Red Bull Crashed Ice in Edmonton on Saturday night. The last time he held the title was when the event was in Edmonton in 2015.
“Edmonton hosts a great race and the crowd was wild and cheering us on,” he said.
In the women’s event, Amanda Trunzo had a perfect run, took first place and was also named the new world champion, taking out defending champion Jacqueline Legere.
“I always set a goal in mind before I start each race, to get to a certain point first, and tonight it was that 180-degree turn first,” she said.
“There was a lot of carnage there.”
In the off-season Trunzo does CrossFit, and hits the skate treadmill and skate park.
“This is the fun part — getting out on the tracks and getting to skate,” she said on Saturday night. “Off-season training can be a little bit brutal sometimes at the gym five or six times a week and skate treadmill once a week if not twice.”
While the weather drew thousands of spectators, it also caused trouble on the track at Louise McKinney Riverfront Park.
“You really had to dig hard in the ice because it was pretty soft,” she said. “You wanted to get in those ruts to not fall and slip out on those, but it’s a disadvantage for everybody that was skating tonight.”
Now she plans on hitting the beach in Puerto Vallarta before going back to training to defend her title.
The men’s round of 64 was cut to 32 — including the two Edmonton competitors — due to the poor ice conditions. Croxall said the ice crews did what they could.
Croxall raced alongside his brother Kyle Croxall, who placed third in the race.
“I’ve always followed him in his footsteps in everything he does,” Scott Croxall said. “He joined the sport a year ahead of me and I’m thankful he did that or else I wouldn’t be sitting here.
Croxall almost didn’t compete in the race. He threw out his back and plans to take time off to rest.
Croxall expects a good battle next season as Cameron Naasz, the 2016 and 2017 champion, looks to reclaim the title.