Florian Voit is one of the Red Bull Crashed Ice racers who competed purely for fun at the last event in Munich. The 26-year-old producer was there primarily to report on proceedings, but couldn't resist the challenge…
The Bavarian was at every Red Bull Crashed Ice qualifying event in Germany and reported about each on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. As a producer for Donau TV, he also produced videos for several internet platforms. But the lure of tackling the snaking Red Bull Crashed Ice course himself proved too hard to ignore, even though he admits he had no serious ambitions of winning.
“For me it was just for fun," he says. "I've done a bit of ice skating before, that’s all. But I'm always open to trying new sports.”
His lack of experience meant he skated down slowly and carefully, but it was still an eye-opener.
“It was a really cool feeling to skate downhill," he says. "I would have regretted it if I didn’t make it!”
'It was amazing to see how people went to every qualifying just to make it to the final'
The trickiest part for Voit was visibility through the requisite grill on the front of his crash helmet and avoiding falls.
“I couldn't estimate the jumps and had a limited field of vision,” Florian says.
But, all in all, he liked the varied track, and having experienced it first-hand, he appreciates why some racers do everything to make it to the final.
“It was amazing to be at every qualifier," he says. "As time went on, it became more and more attractive right up to the Munich final.
"It was a huge event with international competitors. The Olympiapark was the best location for that. It was also amazing to see how people went to every qualifying just to make it to the final. They’re really ambitious and just wanted to be present”, he adds.
The next event in the Red Bull Crashed Ice world championship is in Québec on March 20.
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