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Freestyle skiing is a
skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee ( ...
discipline comprising aerials, moguls,
cross A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a s ...
, half-pipe,
slopestyle Slopestyle is a winter sport in which athletes ski or snowboard down a course including a variety of obstacles including rails, jumps and other terrain park features. Points are scored for amplitude, originality and quality of tricks. The disci ...
and big air as part of the Winter Olympics. It can consist of a skier performing aerial flips and spins and can include skiers sliding rails and boxes on their skis. Known as "hot-dogging" in the early 1970s, it is also commonly referred to as freeskiing, jibbing, as well as many other names, around the world.


History

Ski acrobatics have been practiced since the 1930s. Aerial skiing was popularized in the 1950s by Olympic gold medalist Stein Eriksen. Early US competitions were held in the mid-1960s. In 1969, Waterville Valley Ski Area in New Hampshire, formed the first freestyle instruction program, making the resort the birthplace of freestyle skiing. The following year, Corcoran and Doug Pfeiffer, organized the first National Open Championships of Freestyle Skiing on the Sunnyside trails. In 1971, Waterville Valley Hosted the first Professional Freestyle Skiing Competition, which attracted freestyle skiing legends to Waterville Valley. Some of these competitors, such as Wayne Wong, Floyd Wilkie, and George Askevold, stayed at Waterville Valley as coaches of the first Freestyle Ski Team. International Ski Federation (FIS) recognized freestyle skiing as a sport in 1979 and brought in new regulations regarding certification of athletes and jump techniques in an effort to curb the dangerous elements of the competitions. The first
FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup The FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup is an annual freestyle skiing competition arranged by the International Ski Federation since 1980. Currently six disciplines are included in world cup: moguls, aerials, ski cross, halfpipe, slopestyle and big a ...
was staged in 1980 and the first
FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships The FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships is the world championship organized by the FIS for freestyle skiing. It was first organized in 1986 and is now held every odd year. Currently, the events included in the world championships are Moguls, ...
took place in 1986 in Tignes,
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. Freestyle skiing was a demonstration event at the
1988 Winter Olympics The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games (french: XVes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Calgary 1988 ( bla, Mohkínsstsisi 1988; sto, Wîchîspa Oyade 1988 or ; cr, Otôskwanihk 1998/; srs, Guts� ...
in
Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...
. Mogul skiing was added as an official medal event at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, and the aerials event was added for the
1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fr ...
in
Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munic ...
. In 2011, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved both halfpipe and slopestyle freeskiing events to be added to the 2014 Winter Olympics in
Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents i ...
,
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
.


Forms of freestyle skiing


Aerial skiing

Aerialists ski off 2-4 meter jumps, that propel them up to 6 meters in the air (which can be up to 20 meters above the landing height, given the landing slope). Once in the air, aerialists perform multiple flips and twists before landing on a 34 to 39-degree inclined landing hill about 30 meters in length. The top male aerialists can currently perform triple back flips with up to four or five twists. Aerial skiing is a judged sport, and competitors receive a score based on jump takeoff (20%), jump form (50%) and landing (30%). A degree of difficulty (DOD) is then factored in for a total score. Skiers are judged on a cumulative score of LIMA two jumps. These scores do not generally carry over to the next round. Aerialists train for their jumping maneuvers during the summer months by skiing on specially constructed water ramps and landing in a large swimming pool. An example of this is the Utah Olympic Park training facility. A water ramp consists of a wooden ramp covered with a special plastic mat that when lubricated with sprinklers allows an athlete to ski down the ramp towaРrds a jump. The skier then skis off the wooden jump and lands safely in a large swimming pool. A burst of air is sent up from the bottom of the pool just before landing to break up the surface tension of the water, thus softening the impact of the landing. Skiers sometimes reinforce the skis that they use for water-ramping with 6mm of fiberglass or cut holes in the front and back in order to soften the impact when landing properly on their skis. Summer training also includes training on trampolines, diving boards, and other acrobatic or gymnastic training apparatus.


Mogul skiing

Moguls are a series of bumps on a trail formed when skiers push the snow into mounds or piles as they execute short-radius turns. Moguls can also be formed deliberately, by piling mounds of snow. In competitions, athletes are judged on their technique as well as on their speed by mastering the bumps in a calm yet aggressive way. Usually there are two jumps. In the early days the location was chosen by the competitors. Since the mid 1980s those jumps have become part of the official slope. While at the beginning only upright jumps were allowed, from the mid 1990s onward flips were added as an option. Moguls has become part of the Olympics since 1992. Canadian athlete
Alexandre Bilodeau Alexandre Bilodeau (; born September 8, 1987) is a Canadian retired freestyle skier from Rosemere, Quebec, Bilodeau currently resides in Montreal, Quebec. Bilodeau won a gold medal in the men's moguls at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, ...
has won the Gold Medal twice: 2010 and 2014.


Ski ballet (Acroski)

Ski ballet, later renamed acroski (or "acro"), was a competitive discipline in the formative years of freestyle skiing. Competitors devised routines lasting 3 to 5 minutes and executed to music. The routines consisted of spins, jumps, and flips on a prepared flat course. For a short period of time (in the 1980s) there was also pair ballet competitions, a variation of ballet, where two people performed tricks that not only included spins, jumps and leg crossing but also lifts and sychronic movements and was similar to ice dancing. The routines were scored by judges who assessed the choreography, technical difficulty, and mastery of skills demonstrated by the competitors. Early innovators in the sport were American
Jan Bucher Jan Bucher (born 1957) is an American freestyle skier and world champion. She won a gold medal in acroski ( ski ballet) at the FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships 1986 in Tignes. At the FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships 1989 in Oberjoch ...
, Park Smalley, Swiss Conny Kissling and German
Hermann Reitberger Hermann or Herrmann may refer to: * Hermann (name), list of people with this name * Arminius, chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci tribe in the 1st century, known as Hermann in the German language * Éditions Hermann, French publisher * Hermann, M ...
. The first skier who performed a one handed pole flip in a world cup competition was German
Richard Schabl Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...
in the early 1980s. Acro ski was part of the demonstration at the
1988 Winter Olympics The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games (french: XVes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Calgary 1988 ( bla, Mohkínsstsisi 1988; sto, Wîchîspa Oyade 1988 or ; cr, Otôskwanihk 1998/; srs, Guts� ...
in Calgary. The International Ski Federation ceased all formal competition of this event after 2000 because they focused on both aerials (1990) and moguls (1992) for making it an Olympic discipline.


Ski cross

Ski cross is based on the snowboarding boardercross. Despite it being a timed racing event, it is often considered part of freestyle skiing because it incorporates terrain features traditionally found in freestyle.


Halfpipe skiing

Halfpipe skiing is the sport of riding snow skis on a half-pipe. Competitors gradually ski to the end of the pipe by doing flips and tricks. It became an Olympic event for the first time at the 2014 Olympic Games in
Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents i ...
,
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
.


Slopestyle

In slopestyle, athletes ski or snowboard down a course including a variety of obstacles including rails, jumps, and other
terrain park A terrain park or snow park is an outdoor recreation area containing terrain that allows skiers, snowboarders and snowbikers to perform tricks. Terrain parks have their roots in skateparks and many of the features are common to both. From thei ...
features. Points are scored for amplitude, originality and quality of tricks. Twin-tip skis are used and are particularly useful if the skier lands backwards. Slopestyle tricks fall mainly into four categories: spins,
grinds In Ireland, grinds are private tuition; a major industry in Ireland, particularly at secondary school level. In 2012, the Office of the Revenue Commissioners launched an investigation into a perceived failure of some teachers to declare extra ...
, grabs and flips. Slopestyle became an Olympic event, in both skiing and snowboarding forms, at the
2014 Winter Games , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympi ...
in
Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents i ...
,
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
.


Equipment

Twin-tip skis are used in events such as slopestyle and halfpipe. Mogul skis are used in moguls and sometimes in aerials. Specially designed racing skis are used in ski cross.
Ski bindings A ski binding is a device that connects a ski boot to the ski. Before the 1933 invention of ski lifts, skiers went uphill and down and cross-country on the same gear. As ski lifts became more prevalent, skis—and their bindings—became increasin ...
took a major design change to include plate bindings mounted to the bottom of the skiers boot to allow for multi-directional release. Ski poles are a staple in the all aspects of freestyle skiing, however, slopestyle athletes have more recently opted to ski without them in order to free their hands for grabs and other personal preferences in their riding.


See also

* Freestyle skiing at the Winter Olympics *
FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships The FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships is the world championship organized by the FIS for freestyle skiing. It was first organized in 1986 and is now held every odd year. Currently, the events included in the world championships are Moguls, ...


References


Sources

* Furrer, Art; Renggli, Sepp (1970) ''Skiakrobatik für jedermann'' Bern: Benteli * Broze, Matt Charles (1972) ''Freestyle skiing'' Seattle: Wildcat Books * Johnston, John; Daigle, Michel; Bowie, Darryl (1974) ''Freestyle Skiing: Technique Manual'' Vancouver: Winter Habit Productions * Luini, Mario; Brunner, André (1975) ''Akroski : alles über Skiakrobatik u. Skikunst'' Bern: Benteli * United States Ski Association (1977) ''Official freestyle competition rules'' * Mohan, John; Hiltner, Walt (1978) ''Freestyle Skiing'' New York: Winchester Press * Wieman, Randy; Newman, Robbi (1979) ''Freestyle Skiing: A Complete Guide to the Fundamentals of Hot Dogging'' Angus & Robertson * Smalley, Park (1986) ''Skiing Freestyle: Official Training Guide of the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team'' Taylor Publishing Company * Riess, Steven A. (2015
''Sports in America from Colonial Times to the Twenty-First Century: An Encyclopedia''
Routledge


External links


Waterville Valley, Birthplace of Freestyle Skiing

FIS homepage

Freestyle skiing – olympic.org

wiki.fis-ski.com
The resource of information and knowledge on Freestyle Skiing, Ski Jumping, FIS World Ski Championships
freestylebc.ski
The largest provincial sport organization for freestyle skiing in Canada.
freestylecanada.ski
The official site of the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association. Your source for moguls, aerials, halfpipe and slopestyle skiing in Canada. {{Extreme sports Winter Olympic sports Acrobatic sports