Freestyle skiing

From Free net encyclopedia

Freestyle skiing began in the 1930s, when Norwegian skiers began using ski acrobatics in alpine and cross country training. While not considered a competitive sport, professional skiing exhibitions in the United States featured performances of what would later be called freestyle.

Freestyle skiing, or "slopestyle," began to develop further throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s. The free-form sport had few rules, and wasn't without danger.

The International Ski Federation (ISF) recognised freestyle as a sport in 1979 and brought in new regulations regarding certification of athletes and jump techniques in an effort to curb the dangerous elements of the competitions. The first World Cup series was staged in 1980 and the first World Championships took place in 1986 in Tignes, France. Freestyle skiing was a demonstration event at the Calgary Games in 1988. Mogul skiing was added to the official programme of the Albertville Games in 1992 and aerials was added to the program of the Lillehammer Games in 1994.

Currently (2006) there are two main disciplines of Freestyle Skiing: tricks and Moguls. A new branch of freestyle skiing has recently emerged and is called Newschool skiing.

1 Aerial skiing
2 Mogul skiing
3 See also
4 External links

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Aerial skiing

Aerialists ski off ski jumps made of snow that propels the athlete up to 60-65 feet in the air. Once in the air, aerialists perform multiple flips and twists before landing on a 37 degree inclined landing hill. The top men aerialist jump maneuvers consist of performing triple back flips with up to four or five twists. Quad back flips have been performed on snow, but currently (2006) they are not legal in competition. Aerial skiing is the biggest trick skiing competition.

Scoring
Aerial skiing is a judged sport and competitors are judged on jump takeoff (20%), jump form (50%) and landing (30%). A degree of difficulty (DD) is then factored in for a total score.

Summer Training
Aerialists train their jumping maneuvers during the summer months by skiing off specially constructed water-ramps and performing their jumps into a large swimming pool. A water-ramp consist of a wooden ski ramp covered with a special plastic mat that when lubricated allows an athlete to ski down the ramp towards a ski jump. The skier then skis off the wooden jump and lands safely into a large swimming pool. A burst of air is sent up from the bottom of the pool just before landing to break up the surface area of the water, thus softening the landing of the impact. Skiers reinforce the skis that they use for water-ramping with 1/4 inch of fiberglass.

Summer training also includes training on trampoline; diving boards and other acrobatic or gymnastic training apparatuses.

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Mogul skiing

Mogul skiers ski down a field of moguls taking air twice on the way down. They are scored on the form of their turns, the quality and difficulty of their two aerial maneuvers and their speed. Judging: Technique- 50%; Aerials- 25%; Speed- 25%

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