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Freestyle Skiing

Norwegian Mathias Zdarsky, an accomplished gymnast, is credited with being the father of figure skiing, the historical name of today's freestyle. As early as the winter of 1903, he amazed his friends on the slopes of Lilienfeld with waltzes, flipping sticks and free somersaults on skis. Within a few years, playing with skis developed into a recognized and important branch of the white sport. However, it wasn't long before he was ousted from alpine racing. Today, however, the Norwegian Olympic champion and world champion in alpine giant slalom from 1952, Stein Eriksen, is considered the creator of modern freestyle skiing. Since 1980 there has been a world cup in freestyle skiing, which is regulated and organized by the International Ski Federation FIS. Freestyle Skiing World Championships have been held since 1986. Parts of freestyle skiing have also been Olympic since 1992.

Freestyle skiing is the modern term for ski acrobatics, trick skiing or ski figure skating. Freestyle skiing includes three skill disciplines of alpine skiing. The skiers compete in the disciplines mogul slope, figure jumping on a ski jump and halfpipe. Freestyle skiing is practiced by women and men.

The disciplines of freestyle skiing are divided into disciplines in which a jury evaluates the performance of the athletes with points, and disciplines in which the winner of a direct comparison in a head-to-head race wins. In the point disciplines, the athlete with the highest total number of points wins. All disciplines are performed on alpine skis.

The point disciplines are jumping, moguls and half pipe

jumping (Aerials)
On a ski jump with a take-off surface pointing almost vertically upwards, two artificial jumps combined from somersaults, turns and sliding tackles are shown one after the other. Each jump has a fixed level of difficulty. The score for a jump is obtained by multiplying the points for difficulty by the points for execution. The points for both jumps are added together.

Moguls (Moguls)
The athletes drive through an artificial mogul slope. Two jumps are required, and somersaults have also been allowed since 2003. There are points for the driving speed (25%), the technique used (50%) and for the execution of the jumps (25%).

Halfpipe (Eng. snow channel)
The athletes show jumps, tricks and maneuvers in a halfpipe. Points are awarded for the difficulty and the execution of all actions. All points of a trip are added up.

The disciplines with a direct comparison are parallel moguls and ski cross:

synchronous mogul (Dual Moguls)
Two athletes race down the mogul slope in a head-to-head race. The qualification takes place as a single race, the final of the best 16 will then be held in a dual format. 16th place against 1, 15 against 2, 14 against 3... races with dual finals are now part of the individual World Cup.

ski cross
Ski Cross shares similarities with the Dual Moguls. Four to six athletes compete against each other on a course. The course contains banked turns, jumps, waves and other elements that challenge the skill of the drivers. Whoever crosses the finish line first wins. The first two placed advance to the next round (heats). The decisive places will be determined in a small final (places 5 to 8) and a grand final (places 1 to 4). The equipment is similar to that used in ordinary slalom. In 2010 this discipline will be held for the first time at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

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