Two-Time Obstacle Course Racing World Champion races against the clock, gravity and destabilising motion to complete six obstacles within one rotation of a Ferris wheel spinning 10 storeys above her homeland of Denmark.
Odense, DENMARK, 14 July 2026 – Two-time Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) World Champion & HYROX E15 Athlete Ida Mathilde Steensgaard has made history by completing the first obstacle course inside a rotating Ferris wheel. Pushing her strength, speed and precision to the limit, the Danish athlete took on the custom-built course within a Ferris wheel towering 30 metres above Denmark’s Odense Harbour, racing against time, gravity and the wheel’s dizzying movement to cover six intense obstacles within a single turn of the structure – a completely unique challenge that once again sees Steensgaard pushing the boundaries of her sport.
Key Facts
Date: 14 July, 2026
Location: Odense Harbour, Denmark
Athlete: Ida Mathilde Steensgaard (Denmark)
Ferris wheel dimensions:
– Height: 30m
– Diameter: 27m
– Width: 2.5m
Number of obstacles: 6
Completion time: 3 minutes, 33 seconds
About Ida Mathilde Steensgaard
Red Bull Athlete Steensgaard (35) has been a household name in obstacle course racing for a decade, including back-to-back 3K World Championships in 2022 and 2023, and she’s also the Danish Pro record holder in HYROX. Outside traditional competition, her skills and ingenuity have resulted in benchmarks like the internet-breaking World’s Toughest Playground. But conquering obstacles on the 30m Ferris wheel would take her ability and creativity to new heights.
About the custom-built course
Stretching across multiple levels of the Ferris wheel, the difficulty of the obstacles was compounded by the need to adapt to the wheel’s movement, and to finish within a single rotation. Steensgaard had to maintain balance and focus despite unpredictable forces including shifting angles, winds and weather; one trip, slip or loss of grip could mean an incomplete result.
The obstacles and their biggest potential challenges
1) Classic OCR-style succession of bars: grip, fatigue, pendulum movement, navigating around a beam
2) Rope climb on the outer edge of the wheel’s frame: rope burn, grip, fatigue
3) Sprinting jumps between a sequence of beams: loss of balance, foot placement error
4) Climbing wall within the wheel’s supports: loss of hand or foot contact
5) Tricky reverse pull-up traverse: grip failure and deep fatigue (nearing end of course)
6) Leap from inside the wheel to a climbing net on the outside: missing the net, entanglement
What happened during the attempt
The pressure was on from the moment the wheel started spinning. Spectators held their breath as the clock started ticking and Steensgaard exited the gondola with a dive roll towards the wheel’s centre, and from that point she could never stop moving. On the constantly rotating platform, any lost second meant facing a vertical drop; the only way to stay on a level surface was to keep going, fast and sure-footed, without a single slip. She controlled her swings across the classic OCR-style succession of bars, then at Obstacle 5 dug deep for a reverse pull-up, jumping out to the bar and holding on through heavy fatigue before pulling up and over. With barely a moment to collect herself, she launched into the final charge: the huge leap to the net on the wheel’s outside edge, where she scrambled up to the finish gondola. History made, she ecstatically waved to the cheering home crowd and support team below, having completed the course in just 3 minutes, 33 seconds.
Where it happened
Situated in the middle of Denmark, Odense is renowned as the birthplace of iconic fairytale writer Hans Christian Andersen (“The Little Mermaid”). At Odense Harbour, the 10-storey Ferris wheel dominated a waterside quay that is open to the public – and to winds that whip across the flat landscape.
How Steensgaard and her team prepared
For the unprecedented challenge, there was no way for Steensgaard, who has been returning to full strength after a shoulder injury, to practice on a moving Ferris wheel. She developed a programme including training at the Red Bull Athlete Performance Center outside Salzburg, Austria, as well as trial-and-error work with various obstacles, which informed the course design. The team also addressed the challenges of logistics, weather and, crucially, transforming the Ferris wheel to incorporate an obstacle course, additionally implementing a safety system.
On-site, with a limited window of less than a week, Steensgaard was finally able to put her preparation in action by launching her first trial attempt on 11 July. On the fourth attempt, she completed her successful run on 14 July 2026 – confirming that her shoulder is fit and her mindset stronger than ever.
Quotes
Ida Mathilde Steensgaard – Two-Time OCR World Champion & HYROX E15 Athlete
“I would say more challenging than expected for sure. There are so many elements in this attempt, like the speed, the obstacle, the timing, the endurance element, the grip, everything. And most of all the fear. Just so many things in one. A lot of it was trying to find a good speed for the wheel because it could go in different speeds. That was a big thing. It was also even a design process, how you make obstacles that can turn upside down. It’s quite complicated. But then also I was really surprised because it’s a lot of speed and technical obstacles that there was just no break. It was just the endurance element, like my lungs felt like they were being ripped apart.”
On the most complex obstacle: “The reverse monkey bar – it’s one of the last obstacles, and also one of the most demanding ones, upper body-wise, and also fear-wise, because you’re really hanging. You need to make a big jump out to the bar. You’re hanging mostly in your upper body. You’re just really tired, and then having to make it up and over, and running back towards the last obstacle. That one really took a bit of bravery and power.”
“Since I was a child, I’ve always loved to climb – in trees, on the playground, etc. I re-found that love in obstacle course racing, running and jumping through obstacles, and then it was a big highlight for me when I did World’s Toughest Playground, where I built the ultimate 300-meter obstacle course. When I saw a huge Ferris wheel in Budapest, I thought, ‘Hey, could I combine my childhood obsession of climbing things with my OCR skills?’ So for me, this project is a perfect combination of what I’ve always loved to do with what my adult life has taught me.”
“I had a New Year’s in Budapest where they have a big beautiful ferris wheel. I was like, I wonder if I could do a monkey bar and run back in. I’m from Denmark, so I really wanted it to have a Danish location. [Odense] is kind of like the centre of Denmark. It’s such a beautiful place. We were able to get a location that was close to the water, which I thought would be really beautiful with the background. I’ve had this very visual image about how I was hoping it would look. So it was just like the stars aligned with this location.”
Leon Kofoed Andersen – Coach & OCR World Champion
“I’ve been a teammate of Ida’s for many years in obstacle sports. We won the World Championships together, which was awesome back in 2019. And I had the opportunity of coaching her leading into this course. I’ve known which obstacles were going to be there. I think the most difficult element that is very hard to see on camera is how fatiguing it is for Ida. This is a very complicated physical and mental challenge to take on. And then seeing her make it and lift her arms up and be happy and proud of herself. That’s incredible.”
Daniel Ravnholt – Chief Developer of the Wheel, ULTRA ApS
“Combining a moving Ferris wheel with an obstacle course required a lot of custom engineering, creativity and a huge focus on safety. But on a technical aspect, it is that we don’t have the wheel here and we have to pre-build everything, pre-fabricate everything in the workshop and make it fit. So within that time frame, we are working in a grey area and that is also technically demanding.”
More Information
For more on Ida Mathilde Steensgaard and her Ferris wheel obstacle course, visit RED BULL CONTENT POOL.
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Global News Cut, Social Clips, Social News Clip and Interview Selects:
- Ida Mathilde Steensgaard, 2x OCR World Champion & HYROX E15 Athlete
- Leon Cofoed, Coach & OCR World Champion
- Daniel Ravnholt – Chief Developer of the Wheel, ULTRA ApS
In English and Danish. All assets with shotlist and transcript.
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