Freestyle skiing

Freestyle skiing is a diverse skiing discipline involving various acrobatic maneuvers.

It includes events like aerials, moguls, cross, halfpipe, slopestyle, and big air. These disciplines are featured in the Winter Olympics. Athletes may perform flips and spins in the air. They also slide across rails and boxes on their skis. People often call the sport freeskiing, jibbing, or hot-dogging. It combines athletic skill with creative expression on snow.

One major discipline is aerial skiing.

Aerialists ski off jumps that are 2 to 4 meters high. These jumps can propel a skier up to 6 meters into the air. Because of the landing slope, they may reach 20 meters above the landing height. Once airborne, they perform multiple flips and twists. They must land on an inclined hill that is 30 meters long. The landing hill has a steep angle of 34 to 39 degrees. Top aerialists can perform triple back flips with four or five twists.

Aerial skiing is a judged sport with specific scoring. Judges award points based on the jump takeoff, which is 20% of the score. Jump form accounts for 50% of the total. The landing makes up the final 30%. A degree of difficulty, or DOD, is also factored into the final score. Competitors usually perform two jumps for a cumulative score. To prepare, athletes use water ramps during the summer months. They ski down a wooden ramp covered in plastic and land in a pool. A burst of air from the pool breaks surface tension to soften the landing.

Mogul skiing involves navigating a trail of snow bumps. These moguls are formed by short-radius turns or by piling snow deliberately. Athletes are judged on their speed and their technique. They must master the bumps in a calm yet aggressive manner. Most competitions feature two jumps. While only upright jumps were allowed early on, flips became an option in the mid-1990s. Moguls became an official Olympic medal event at the 1992 Albertville Games. Canadian athlete Alexandre Bilodeau won gold medals in both 2010 and 2014.

Another historical discipline was ski ballet, also known as acroski.

Competitors performed routines lasting 3 to 5 minutes to music. These routines included spins, jumps, and flips on a flat course. In the 1980s, pair ballet competitions even featured lifts and synchronized movements. Judges scored the choreography and technical difficulty. Acroski was a demonstration event at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. However, the International Ski Federation stopped formal competitions for it after 2000. The federation chose to focus on aerials and moguls for the Olympics instead.

Modern freestyle skiing includes halfpipe and slopestyle events.

In halfpipe skiing, athletes ride in a U-shaped path. They perform flips and tricks as they move toward the end of the pipe. Slopestyle involves skiing down a course with many obstacles. These include rails, jumps, and terrain park features. Athletes are judged on the quality, originality, and amplitude of their tricks. Slopestyle was added to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. These events often require special equipment like twin-tip skis.

The history of ski acrobatics dates back to 1906. Jackson Fitzgerald popularized aerial skiing at a 1908 tournament in Minnesota. In 1969, Waterville Valley in New Hampshire became the birthplace of freestyle skiing. It formed the first freestyle instruction program that year. Legends like Wayne Wong, Floyd Wilkie, and George Askevold coached there.

The International Ski Federation recognized the sport in 1979. They created regulations to make competitions safer. The first FIS World Cup was held in 1980. The first World Ski Championships took place in 1986 in Tignes, France.

Equipment is specialized for different freestyle disciplines. Mogul and aerial skiers often use specific mogul skis. Slopestyle and halfpipe skiers use twin-tip skis. These skis are designed to be useful if a skier lands backwards. In ski cross, athletes use specially designed racing skis. Ski bindings have also changed to include plates on the boots. This allows for multi-directional release. While most skiers use poles, some slopestyle athletes ski without them. This allows them to perform grabs more easily.