ST. PAUL - St. Cloud State University student Cameron Naasz finished 3rd overall, and was the top American racer, this weekend at the Red Bull Crashed Ice event in St. Paul.

Naasz had 600 points, and only trailed two Canadians in the final standings.

Canada’s Kyle Croxall came from behind to beat his brother Scott and American Cameron Naasz in a breathtaking photo finish in the final of the Ice Cross Downhill World Championship race on Saturday in front of 115,000 frenzied spectators.

It was the closest final in the 13-year history of Red Bull Crashed Ice and it took several moments for judges to analyze the photo finish to determine the finishing order. “I just wish I could have got a few more strides in going up that last hill,” said Naasz, who injured his back in a heavy crash in the quarter-finals. “I just didn’t have anything left in the tanks and was just trying to hang on. I just have to try to figure out how to stay in front of this guy.”

The improbable success of the 23-year-old Naasz, a college student who joined the sport as a rookie just a year ago at the Saint Paul race, kept the American crowd fired up all evening long despite the arctic temperatures that plunged far below freezing and ice-cold winds on what is traditionally the coldest weekend of the year in Minnesota. Naasz, who finished second in the season opener in December in Niagara Falls, is second overall in the world championship standings with 1400 points behind only defending champion Kyle Croxall (2000 points) with three races left in the five-race 2012/13 season.

The next stop is in Landgraaf, Netherlands on Feb. 9

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