Freestyle Skiing

Freestyle skiing was held at the 1988 Winter Olympics as a demonstration sport. In 1992, moguls was contested as a full-medal sport in Albertville, with aeriels and ballet contested as demonstration events. In Lillehammer in 1994, both moguls and aerials were full-medal events. The moguls event consists of a timed race down a short course made up entirely of small hills or bumps termed moguls. The skier receives a point score for style that is added to a point score for the time, to derive an overall score. Aeriels is a jumping event in which skiers take off from an elevated platform after a short run, and then execute intricate gymnastics-like maneuvers in the air. The contest is decided by point scores awarded by judges. The third event of freestyle skiing is ballet, but that event has not yet appeared on the Olympic Program, although it was demonstrated in 1988 and 1992. In 2010 at Vancouver, a third Olympic event was contested in freestyle skiing, which was skier-cross. The event is an analogue of snowboard cross, contested by 2-4 skiers racing down a specially prepared course, in a single elimination tournament. Although the event is more similar to an alpine skiing event, it was included as part of the freestyle skiing program. Freestyle is considered a discipline of the sport of skiing by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and, as such, it is governed by the Fédération internationale de ski (FIS).