Winter Olympics 2018: What is freeski?

Two of the most recent additions to the Olympic program, slopestyle and halfpipe, make up the subset of freestyle skiing known as freeski.

Freestyle skiing first appeared in the Olympics as a demonstration sport in 1988. The skiing discipline originally centered on moguls, aerials, and ski ballet. As the sport evolved, ballet fell out of popularity in favor of new evolutions in Alpine skiing.

Freeski was originally a splinter movement that was eventually co-opted back into the mainstream. Athletes in the early freeski movement broke away from the onerous competition restrictions imposed by the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Developed concurrently alongside snowboarding, freeski is more liberal with its incorporation of aerial maneuvers and terraformed obstacles into the field of competition. Utilizing many of the jumps, foreign objects, and halfpipes familiar to fans of the X Games, the Olympics first included two freeski events — halfpipe and slopestyle — in the medal count at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

Halfpipe

How did the halfpipe evolve into a modern freeski medal event? Halfpipes have long been popular in various forms of extreme sports. Skateboarding, BMX cycling, and snowboarding all feature halfpipes as a major part of their competitions. It was inevitable that skiers would wander over to try their equipment on the halfpipe.

Like aerials, the halfpipe involves executing a series of twists and flips in the air.  Athletes on the halfpipe are executing multiple tricks over the course of each run. Aerials, in contrast, are more akin to diving at the Summer Olympics in that they involve a preplanned multi-maneuver trick from a single launch point.

In essence, halfpipe provided the next evolution in freestyle skiing. As skiers attempted ever more difficult maneuvers over the years, the acrobatics eventually crept into aerials. Until halfpipe’s more liberal opportunities for experimentation, there never would have been the opportunity for a skier like Jeret “Speedy” Peterson to introduce his “Hurricane” maneuver to the aerials ramps.

Slopestyle

Slopestyle also evolved out of this splinter movement. Like the halfpipe, slopestyle was popularized in the 1990s and early 2000s as part of the breakaway from the FIS. In this event, speed is important insomuch as it allows skiers to gain greater amplitude on their tricks. Instead of timed runs, slopestyle is a judged event.

Amplitude is one factor considered when determining medalists in slopestyle. Riding on double-tipped skis, the competitors are also graded on the degree of difficulty of each trick attempted. The quality of each trick’s execution is also factored into the score, as is the athlete’s personal style.

Like moguls, slopestyle takes place on a sculpted course. But whereas moguls have bumps and jumps at regular intervals, slopestyle courses are more freeform and incorporate more foreign obstacles. The tricks have begun to bleed over, though, as the freeski discipline of slopestyle helped open the door for inverted tricks and other once-banned maneuvers on the moguls course.

Next: Best Olympian from each state

Once the black sheep of freestyle skiing, freeski helped revolutionize the sport for 21st century audiences.

The freeski events in Pyeongchang begin with women’s slopestyle on Feb. 17 and continue through the medal round of men’s halfpipe on Feb. 22.