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Freestyle Skiing

There are different forms of freestyle skiing including Aerial Skiing, Mogul Skiing, Ski Ballet (Acroski), Ski Cross, Half-Pipe Skiing, Slopestyle Skiing. All these styles except for Ski ballet are now part of Winter Olympics.



Areial and Mogul skiing are the most breathtaking disciplines of freestyle skiing. In this international sport, individuals have to use twin-tip skis. Ski binding is used for holding the skier's boot onto the ski. For multi-directional release, plate bindings are screwed to the bottom of the ski boot.

The skier’s performance is judged and ranked on three attributes including form, air and landing. ‘Form’ takes the maximum ratio of 50 percent, ‘Air’ makes 20 percent and ‘Landing’ holds 30 percent of the overall ranking.   

freestyle skiing jumpfreestyle skiing jump

Freestyle skiing dates back to 1950 when Aerial skiing was developed by Stein Eriksen-an Olympic champion. In 1979, FIS (International Ski Federation) accepted it and set new regulations to make it an established international sport. From certification of athletes to jumping rules and techniques, all is done by FIS to eliminate dangerous features of aerial skiing as competition.

In 1980, the first world cup was staged and then in 1986 a world championship was held in France. Freestyle skiing is one of the most popular Winter Olympics disciplines. In 1992, Mogul skiing was recognized as medal event of Winter Olympics and other aerial events were added to the Olympics in 1994.

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