Extreme sports and games are everywhere, from the most classic to the weirdest and most original. For example, there is a community dedicated to extreme ironing where participants go to remote locations with ironing boards and unplugged irons. Ironists, as they call themselves, have recorded themselves ironing in caves, underwater, hanging from cliffs, and water skiing.
Most people are into “conventional” extreme sports, though. If you want to see people enjoy the most extreme moments to the fullest, these are the best events to attend. Perhaps you’ll want to join them next year!
1. The Dakar Rally, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
The Dakar Rally is an annual off-road endurance rally. The event was originally staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal, and now changes locations each year. The rally is open to amateur and professional entries.
The 45th edition of the rally returns on December 31, 2022, and will run until January 15, 2023. The track is different from all the previous ones, so it’ll be interesting to see how drivers will handle the new 14-stage race.
2. The International Festival of Extreme Sports (FISE), Montpellier, France
The FISE is the largest freestyle sports event in Europe. It hosts competitions for skateboarding, BMX, wakeboarding, rollerblading, parkour, and slopestyle mountain biking. And the best thing about the event is free admission for all; you just need to get a digital pass.
The next event starts on May 17, 2023, and ends on May 21, 2023, with over 600,000 spectators expected to gather.
3. Rio Pro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Rio Pro is a surfing event hosted at the beach town Saquarema near Rio De Janeiro. At its peak attendance in 2019, 149,000 passionate attendees watched record-breaking wildcards and some backstage chaos caused by nine surfers. And every year, the weather conditions and massive waves make even the most experienced feel a bit daunted.
The event is held every year same place same time, in Rio de Janeiro in May.
4. The X Games, Los Angeles, California
The X Games is a series of biannual events, originating in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, in 1995. The type of competitions varies but the festivals generally consist of snowboarding, skiing, BMX biking, skateboarding, motorcycling, rally car racing, and surfing.
The Winter Games will be held in Aspen, Colorado, on January 21-23, 2023. The upcoming Summer Games will take place in Los Angeles, California, on July 20-24, 2023. The locations stay the same year in and year out.
5. Grandvalira Total Fight, the Pyrenees, Andorra
Grandvalira Total Fight unofficially started when alpine skiers carried out acrobatics for fun during training. The first official event was held almost 18 years ago and included the Snow competition (a very technical circuit) and the Freeski competition (freestyle tricks performed in the slopestyle circuit).
The professional event will begin in early February 2023, and the rookie event is scheduled for March 2023.
6. Calcio Storico Fiorentino, Florence, Italy
The Calcio Storico Fiorentino is not something you can casually soo on a sports TV channel. It’s a combination of football, rugby, and big-time wrestling that dates back to 16th-century Florence. There are teams representing historical neighborhoods of the city, and all players are in historical costumes.
The event takes place every year in June in different cities across Italy.
7. 10 in 1: Red Bull extreme sports events
There is simply not enough time to cover all events held and sponsored by Red Bull. You can go to Crashed Ice (ice cross downhill), Cape Fear (surfing), Paper Wings (piloting), and Cliff Diving Series, just to name a few.
Red Bull’s extreme sports events in 2022 have been the biggest ones since the pandemic, and there are still dozens more. There will be competitions for kiteboarders in extreme storm conditions, climbers, rookie motorists, pump track bikers, and more.
Extreme sports competitions and tournaments take place all over the world all year round. So, whenever you have free time, there will be an event somewhere.