Freestyle skiing

Freestyle skiing is a sport of skiing, where skiers have to test their skills on the snow. There are two main different specialties, the aerial, which are performed acrobatics to be assessed by a jury, and the Mogul, which was descending a steep snow slope full of holes and mounds along which they should make several acrobatic leaps.

History

This form of skiing began in the 1930s, when Norwegian skiers began performing acrobatics during training of Nordic and alpine skiing. Later he began to perform professional skiing exhibitions in the United States, giving shape to what was later called aerial skiing or freestyle. Aerial skiing was developed around 1950 by Olympic gold medalist Stein Erikssen.

Aerial skiing continued its progression and development through the 60s and 70s. It is a high risk sport, with frequent knee injuries among professional athletes. The International Ski Federation recognized aerial skiing as a sport in 1979, and established new regulations and criteria for certification of athletes and jumping techniques, trying to eliminate as far as possible risk factors of competitions.

The first series of the World Cup were played in 1980 and the first World Championships took place in 1986 in Tignes, France. Freestyle skiing was a demonstration event at the 1988 Winter Olympics. The specialty mogul was added to the Olympic program at the 1992 games, and aerial games in 1994.

The specialty aerial jumps are made from wooden platforms placed on the floor and covered with snow. The platform ends in a steep ramp, which allows jumps of 15 meters. During the jump, the professionals do multiple somersaults and twists before landing on an inclined track between 34 and 39 degrees, and about 30 feet long.

The best male specialists may have to make deadly triple jumps (three flips) from the back, while four or five ringlets. There are two forms of competition in aerials: front breaks and inverts. Movements by the skier’s feet in height above their head are not allowed. This is the most common for young or inexperienced athletes. Invested in the jump, the skier can perform somersaults.

The jumps of the skiers are valued by a jury. In a jump the score takes into account the take-off technique (20%), the jump itself (50%) and landing (30%). Depending on the type of jump there is a degree of difficulty included associated with a maximum possible score for the jump.

Most of the professional training takes place during the summer months, which stops the competition calendar. For these workouts often used are platforms installed jump to land in a pool. The trampolines are built of wood and are coated with a special plastic that are helped by good lubrication helping to simulate the behavior of snow slopes. Upon landing, a gust of air rises from the bottom of the pool, in order to minimize the magnitude of the impact on the water surface.

Mogul

Mogul competitions began to appear shortly after the aerial’s and are growing more popular. During a test mogul, skiers must slide along a track with multiple mounds (called moguls), while making two jumps. The slope is particularly steep, usually between 22 and 32 degrees and a length of 250 meters. The jumps in this specialty are as high as those incurred in aerial, although recently they have started to do the somersaults which are not allowed.