By Staff Writer
St. Bonaventure graduate student Michael “Iggy” Iulianello is participating in the ice cross downhill Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship on Jan. 22-24.
Similar to ski and snowboard cross, ice cross downhill is an extreme sport that challenges riders to descend a steep iced hill in only ice skates. Competitors navigate a series of obstacles at speeds of up to 70 mph. The major events this year are held at Saint Paul, Minnesota, as well as; Helsinki, Finland, Belfast, Northern Ireland and Edmonton, Canada.
According to Iulianello, his Bonaventure hockey coach, John Andhor, is the one who got him interested in the sport.
“[He] showed me a flyer back in 2013 from a qualifier that was going to be in Buffalo,” Iulianello said. “It was too late to try for it, but I kept my eye out for it going into the 2014 season and that’s the year I got involved.”
Iulianello is currently competing in the Riders Cup, a competition held to both promote the sport and make the sport more accessible to athletes worldwide. The Riders Cup brings four more events to the championship. Competitors can earn 25 percent of the points awarded at the four major Red Bull Crashed Ice Stops.
This is Iulianello’s second year competing in the contest, and he currently sits 52nd overall in world standings. For the Bonaventure graduate, the sport has not been without challenges. Though he has a strong hockey background, he has had to undertake a training regime involving both leg and core workouts.
“It’s crazier than you think. In my first year last year, I went to Quebec thinking I would be fine with my hockey background. That was an eye-opener,” Iulianello said. “The jumps and transitions on the course were my downfall, so that is what I focused on over the summer months.”
However, there is only one permanent ice cross downhill course in the world—Finland. To combat this, Iulianello has practiced cross training through rollerblading, mountain biking and dirt blading, and many hours spent on the ice.
“The biggest challenge was just getting used to the jumps and transitions on the ice,” Iulianello said. “As a hockey player, I was used to flat ice and flat speed. On the course it is totally different. My speed comes into play on the straightaways, but I worked hard over the offseason on my form when approaching and landing the various features on the course.”
Iulianello finished 31st in the Rider Cup out of 140 and 83rd out of 200 in the Crashed Ice Race. He plans to try to land a wildcard spot into the Crashed Ice race series in Belfast in February.
