Freestyle Skiing
Australia and Olympic Freestyle Skiing
Australia has a strong history in freestyle skiing winning medals at Salt Lake City 2002, Torino 2006 and Vancouver 2010.
Women’s aerials have been the particular strength throughout this time. It began when Kirstie Marshall placed sixth in women’s aerials at Lillehammer 1994.
At Salt Lake City in 2002, Alisa Camplin from Melbourne scored a total of 193.47pts in the final to become the Olympic aerials champion and also Australia’s first skiing gold medallist. The Salt Lake Games also saw tragedy when, in the week before the competition, Jacqui Cooper shattered her knee in training. It also saw the arrival of a young Lydia Lassila (then Ierodiaconou) who placed eighth in the final.
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Olympic History
Freestyle skiing has been a medal sport on the Olympic program since Albertville 1992, although it made its Olympic debut back in Calgary in 1988 as a demonstration sport. In Albertville moguls became a full medal sport, while aerials had to wait until Lillehammer 1994 for that status. In Vancouver in 2010, ski cross was added as an event for both men and women.
Sport Format
Freestyle skiing developed as a combination of alpine skiing and acrobatics in America in the 1960s. The International Ski Federation (FIS) recognised freestyle as a discipline in 1979 and brought in new regulations regarding certification of athletes and jump techniques in an effort to curb some of the dangerous elements of the competitions.
Moguls
The moguls competition consists of a run down a 200m metre plus slope evenly covered with round bumps known as moguls. There are also two jumps to complete on the course. The Olympic format consists of a one-run elimination round followed by a one-run final of 20 women and 20 men. In the finals, competitors ski in the reverse order of their finish in the qualification round. The gold medallist is the skier with the highest score in the final.
Competitors are judged by a panel of seven judges, with five assessing turns (worth up to 15 points) and two scoring the jumps, or ‘air’ (worth up to 7.5 points). The remaining element of the score (also worth up to 7.5 points) is determined by the speed of the run.
Aerials
Aerial skiing involves skiers performing various acrobatic and gymnastic moves in the air after elevating from a snow-packed kicker (ramp). There are different kickers for different jumps and skiers choose which ramp best suits their specific needs. The Olympic format for aerial events is held over two days, starting with a two-jump qualification round held on the first day. The combined scores from the two jumps in the qualification round determine who qualifies for the finals, with 12 men and 12 women advancing to the finals. Scores do not carry over to the final. On the second day, the twelve finalists compete in a two-jump final to determine the winner.
Each jump receives a score out of 30 gained from a split points system which awards 20 per cent for air, 50 per cent for form and 30 per cent for landing. The total is then multiplied by the jump’s degree of difficulty rating, just like in diving, to produce the final score. The skier with the best aggregate total from his/her two jumps wins.
Ski Cross
The format for the men’s and ladies’ ski cross competitions is identical. There are two phases in ski cross for each event: the qualification round and the final round.
In the qualification round all competitors ski two timed runs. The best time of the two runs determines the qualification ranking and competitors start in the same order for both runs. In severe weather conditions, only one qualification run may take place. The qualification bibs are numbered according to the start order.
The final round is based on 32 competitors and consists of: 1/8 final, a quarter-final, a semifinal, a small final, and a final. There are four skiers per heat and the first two skiers to finish advance to the next round. The competitors are placed in first round heats (1/8 final or quarter-final) based on their qualification round rank. Ranking at the finish of a heat is determined by the order of the competitors as they cross the finish line. In the case that more than one competitor does not cross the finish line, the competitor who made it the farthest down the course receives the better ranking. The first three athletes across the line in the final are the medallists. If two or more competitors have an unbreakable tie (photo-finish) in the medal round, they are both awarded the same medal.
