In its earliest days, freestyle skiing- named for the "free" and creative element introduced by athletes, who resisted traditional alpine and nordic skiing- included everything-in-one-run competition. Skiers were graded on a run that included ballet, moguls and a modest aerial maneuver. Today freestyle skiing is made up of six different disciplines; aerials, halfpipe, moguls, dual moguls, ski cross and slopestyle. Moguls was added to the Olympic program in 1992, aerials was added in 1994 and the fast paced Ski Cross will debut at the 2010 Olympic Games.
Aerials
Halfpipe
Moguls/Duals
Ski Cross
Slopestyle
Aerial skiers launch themselves 50 feet or more off a kicker made of snow and land on a steep slope where snow is chopped to soften the landing. In the air, athletes perform intricate flips and twists. There are no compulsory tricks, however athletes must file a flight plan prior to their jump. The highest degree of difficulty performed on the world cup tour is thrown by Jeret "Speedy" Peterson who has mastered the hurricane- three flips and five twists, three of the twist during the second flip. Aerials was added to the Olympics in 1994.
Halfpipe skiers perform a series of jumps, tricks and spins in the Halfpipe that are judged for their degree of difficulty and execution. Currently halfpipe events are at the USSA level, NorAm and world cup tour. Halfpipe is not currently in the Olympics.
Moguls is the pulsating bam-bam-aerial-bam-bam event as skiers charge through a field of snowy bumps with two mandatory jumps. Skier are rated on two things by judges sitting at the bottom of the run: their technique and how well the perform their two obligatory jumps. There is also a factor of speed. Moguls was added to the Olympics in 1992. In the Olympics athletes compete in single moguls however on the world cup tour and at USSA event there is also dual moguls, where athletes face off head to head, the best skier advances.
Ski Cross is the newest Olympic discipline. In this event athletes ski down the equivalent of a mini downhill course with a variety of "elements" (jumps, turns, hits, rollers) in groups of four. The object of the exercise is to make it down the course the fastest. The course is very tight so there are plenty of opportunities for tight competition, which make these races very exciting to watch. This is a purely speed event, no judges, fastest skier wins.
Slopestyle tests a skiers ability to handle a variety of terrain by executing freestyle maneuvers down a course filled with a variety of terrain features including rails, hips, tabletops and a variety of jumps, allowing riders to combine big air and technical tricks into one run. Skiers are judged on amplitude, execution, difficulty of line, landings and use of the course.
