After skipping the city for two seasons, Red Bull Crashed Ice will make a stop in Edmonton in 2018.
The World Championship event will take place March 9 and 10.
The downhill ice race brought over 70,000 people to downtown Edmonton for the World Championship event in 2015.
“It’s an incredible marquee event for us to showcase Edmonton in the winter,” Edmonton Tourism’s Renee Williams said. “We saw huge draw for spectators when it was here in 2015, so we’re very excited to have it back in the city.”
Williams said the city will also be looking at ways to attract more visitors from outside the Capital Region.
“It continues to put Edmonton as a leader on the world stage for hosting winter events.”
She said Crashed Ice really is a great fit for the city.
“It sets us apart. It definitely is a huge coup for Canada and for western Canada… It helps us celebrate winter in Edmonton and we are so excited.”
The event sees athletes race down a track made of ice and filled with drops, turns and gaps. Racers can reach speeds of over 60 km/h.
Watch below: Racing down the Red Bull Crashed Ice track in Edmonton from the POV of an athlete
For the 2015 event in Edmonton, the track was built into the River Valley, starting near the Shaw Conference Centre. The City of Edmonton said the track will once again go through Louise McKinney Park and the funicular won’t be a problem.
More details on the course will be released later, the city said.
Approximately 70,000 people took in the free event last time it was in Edmonton.
The city said it’s been hard at work since 2015, trying to bring the event back to Edmonton.
“This event has a huge international following,” Williams said.
“It’s such a unique sport and we know that the spectators that are attached to it kind of chase it wherever it goes. We are very excited that Edmonton is the home for it in 2018.”
Watch below: Global News reporter crashes and burns on Red Bull Crashed Ice track in Ottawa
The “fastest sport on skates” will start its 2017/18 season in Saint Paul, Minn. before heading to Europe where athletes will take on a natural ice track in Jyväskylä-Laajis, Finland. After that, the tour continues south to Marseille, France.
Red Bull describes the sport as “more competitive than ever” following its 2016/17 season. Over 1,000 athletes from 22 countries and five continents competed.
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