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 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.
Freestyle Skiing Sports
- Aerials — a freestyle skiing discipline in which athletes ski along a take-off ramp, then perform various on-air tricks.
- Mogul Skiing — snow skiers compete on a specially designed downhill course, in which the primary focus is on the technique used for turns, aerial maneuvers, and speed.
- Half-Pipe Skiing — athletes perform tricks while riding on a half-pipe wearing snow skis
- Slopestyle Skiing — athletes on skis perform on a course with different types of obstacles.
- Ski Cross — multiple downhill skiers race head-to-head on a course including big jumps, rollers and high-banked turns.
- Acroski (once called Ski Ballet) - athletes on snow skis perform various choreographed routines.
Similar Sports
- Skiboarding — like snow skiing, but with shorter and wider skis.
- Slopestyle — involves skiing or snowboarding down a course of obstacles
- Freestyle Snowboarding — competitors ride on the snowboard and do the tricks along with descending on the snow-covered slopes to earn maximum scores.
- Waterskiing — riders are pulled along behind a boat skimming atop the water wearing one or two skis
Related Pages
- Freestyle Skiing at the Winter Olympics
- Freestyle Skiing Videos
- Complete list of sports
- The Encyclopedia of Sports
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