Overview

Freestyle Skiing developed as a combination of Downhill Skiing and Acrobatics in America in the 1960s.

There are seven freestyle skiing events included at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics; Aerials, Aerials Mixed Team, Moguls, Ski Cross, Freeski Halfpipe, Freeski Slopestyle and Freeski Big Air.

Alisa Camplin-Warner won Australia’s first freestyle skiing medal in 2002 with gold in Women’s Aerials. She followed this performance with bronze at Torino 2006. Five-time Olympian Lydia Lassila won gold at Vancouver 2010 and bronze at Sochi 2014. David Morris claimed the first men’s Olympic aerials medal for Australia at Sochi 2014 with silver.

Australia has two moguls medallists in Dale Begg-Smith (gold - Torino 2006; silver - Vancouver 2010) and Matt Graham (silver - PyeongChang 2018). We have also had a strong representation in women’s Moguls, Ski Cross and Ski Slopestyle.

The first Freestyle Skiing discipline to be added to the Winter Olympic schedule was mogul skiing at the Albertville Games in 1992, although both mogul and aerial skiing made their Olympic debut back at Calgary 1988 as a demonstration sports. Aerial Skiing had to wait until Lillehammer 1994 to be added to the program. At Vancouver 2010, ski cross was added as an event for both men and women. At Sochi 2014 Freeski Slopestyle and Freeski Halfpipe joined the program.

The Beijing Games will be the first time we will see Freeski Big Air and Aerials Mixed Teams events on the program.

All of the Freestyle Skiing will be held between Genting Snow Park and Big Air Shougang from Thursday 3 February to Saturday 19 February.

What’s the story?

• Of the 15 Winter Olympics medals Australia has won prior to Beijing 2022, eight have come from Freestyle Skiing.
• Australia has sent a 13-strong team to compete in Freestyle Skiing, our biggest for any sport at Beijing 2022.
• Laura Peel enters the aerials competition as the reigning world champion and Australia’s first aerial skiing double world champion.
• Matt Graham is hungry for another medal after claiming silver in the Men’s Moguls at PyeongChang 2018.
• Britt Cox has been selected for her fourth Games in Moguls, equalling the most by an Australian mogul skier with Adrian Costa (1992-2002).
• Jakara Anthony is a serious medal threat as she heads to Beijing, she won the Alpe d’Huez World Cup earlier in the season and is ranked third in the women's moguls World Cup standings.

Ones to watch

The Aussies

Laura Peel has effectively used the Beijing 2022 lead-in aerials competitions to peak at the right time. She completed one of the best jumps of all-time in January, a near perfect full-full-full triple, to win gold at the Deer Valley Aerials World Cup in Utah, USA. Only one day prior Laura became the third woman ever to land a quadruple twisting backflip on snow.

Currently ranked fourth in the world Dani Scott is a strong contender. She recorded her fifth World Cup victory in January 2022 and like Laura Peel, she will aim to be amongst the aerial skiing medals.

Jakara Anthony has had a splendid 2021-22 World Cup season, winning medals at eight of the nine moguls events (2x gold, 3x silver, 3x bronze). The 23-year-old from Barwon Heads is attending her second Olympics, hoping to reach the podium after being just shy of it at PyeongChang 2018 (4th).

A broken collarbone almost ruled Matt Graham out from participating at Beijing 2022, but he made a quick recovery to resume training four weeks after surgery. Prior to the injury, Matt qualified fourth at the Idre Fjall World Cup in December 2021.

Competing at her fourth Winter Olympics, Britt Cox joins seven Australians in history to reach the milestone. She has battled back from a nasty crash during the 2019 World Cup which resulted in rib and collarbone injuries.

Cooper Woods has wasted no time trying to make his 2022 a massive year. He recorded three top-11 finishes in January and set a new career best result with fifth in moguls at the Deer Valley World Cup, USA.

Sami Kennedy-Sim lines up for her third Olympic appearance in the Ski Cross. Having just missed out on the Ski Cross big final at PyeongChang 2018, Sami will be determined to make some noise in the big final.

Gabi (Aerials) and Sophie Ash (Moguls) will become the first Australian sisters to compete on the same Australian Winter Olympic Team, as both make their Olympic debut.

Abi Harrigan, the 19-year-old from the Snowy Mountains on her Olympic debut, will be the only Australian competing in Freeski Halfpipe, Freeski Slopestyle and Freeski Big Air.

The competition

Xu Mengtao (CHN) and Kong Fanyu (CHN) are currently ranked one and two in the world in Women’s Aerials heading into Beijing the likely candidates to be Laura and Dani’s toughest challengers in the women’s aerials.

Perrine Laffont (FRA) is no stranger to winning gold. Since she became the women’s moguls Olympic champion at PyeongChang 2018, Laffont won gold in the women’s moguls at the 2021 World Championships and has claimed the last two freestyle overall Crystal Globes (awarded to the season standings leader by discipline and overall).

Mikael Kingsbury (CAN) is regarded as the undisputed most accomplished mogul skier of all-time. He enters Beijing 2022 as the defending Olympic champion and has a silver medal to his name from Sochi 2014. The 29-year-old owns the record for most men's moguls World Cup titles, most career World Cup moguls victories, and has won the most medals at the Freestyle World Championships of any male competitor in history. Kingsbury’s form in the 2021-22 World Cup season suggests he is still the one to beat at Beijing.

Cassie Sharpe (CAN) will be one to monitor in the women’s halfpipe as the 2018 Olympic champion has won gold, silver or bronze in the superpipe at the X Games between 2019-21. While 17-year-old Ailing Gu (CHN) has been victorious in both the women’s halfpipe and slopestyle at the 2021 World Championships.

David Wise (USA) returns as he tries to go back-to-back-to-back in the men’s halfpipe.

Alex Fiva (SUI) and Brady Leman (CAN) will be in a battle of the current world champion against the defending Olympic champion respectively in the men's Ski Cross.

Maxim Burov (ROC) is leading the way in the men's aerials having won the first four competitions of the 2021-22 season.

Competition format

Aerials

Aerial skiing involves skiers performing various acrobatic 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. There are five judges and each judge will provide raw scores; one set of raw scores for ‘air and form’ and another set of raw scores for ‘landing'.

The aerials competition consists of qualification (two jumps) and final (three jumps) phases.

The top six competitors from qualification jump one advance directly to the final. The remaining competitors perform a second jump and the remaining top six scores from both qualification jumps one and jump two advance to the final.

The 12 competitors in the final will all compete in final and the top 9 scores advance to final two.

The top six competitors after final two (the athletes with the six best jumps from final two) advance to final three, the medal deciding round. Scores do not carry over to final three and the ranking in final three is based on the score from each athlete’s final three jump.

Aerials Mixed Team

This Aerial Skiing event is judged in same way as the individual event with five judges and each judge will provide raw scores; one set of raw scores for ‘air and form’ and another set of raw scores for ‘landing’.

However, the teams format is slightly different. Teams include three men and three women. The competition consists of two rounds (final one and final two). Each team member makes one jump in each in final one. The team score is equal to all the team members' scores. The top four teams from final one advance to final two. Scores from final one are not carried over to final two, the medal deciding round. The rankings in final two are based on the best team scores.

Moguls

The Moguls competition consists of a run down a 200m plus slope evenly covered with round bumps known as moguls. There are also two jumps to complete on the course. Competitors are judged by a panel of seven judges, with five assessing turns and two scoring the jumps, or air, competitor are also timed and receive a composite score weighted 50% on turns, 25% air and 25% speed.

There are two qualification rounds. In qualification one, the top 10 skiers will be seeded directly into the final. In qualification two, the remaining competitors will compete. Ten skiers advance from qualification two into the final. The better of an athlete’s qualification one or qualification two runs will be used to determine the last 10 competitors entered to the final.

There are three phases of finals. The first final phase will have 20 competitors. The top 12 will progress to the second final phase. From final two, the top 6 will progress to the third final phase. From this last final, the top three competitors will win the medals.

Ski Cross

Ski Cross athletes negotiate a course approximately 1000m long with turns and obstacles.

There are two phases in Ski Cross for each event: seeding and the final round. The seeding phase consists of timed runs, one athlete at a time, to populate a bracket of the top 32 men or 32 women.

The final phase starts with 32 competitors and consists of: 1/8 final, a quarter-final, a semi-final, a small final, and a big final. Each final has 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. The ranking at the finish of a heat is determined by the order of the competitors as they cross the finish line. The first three athletes across the line in the big final are the medallists.

Freeski Halfpipe

One competitor at a time performs a routine of acrobatic jumps, flips, twists and other manoeuvres on a halfpipe. The athletes are judged on their take-offs, the height they reach above the top of the pipe, and difficulty of their manoeuvres.

There are two phases of the competition – qualification and final.

In qualification competitors have two runs to qualify for the final and only the best score from their two runs will be used to qualify for the final giving each competitor a throwaway run.

Only the best 12 competitors make the final, these competitors are given three runs each to post their highest possible score and scoring is not cumulative offering competitors two throwaway runs.

Freeski Slopestyle

Freeski Slopestyle courses feature rails, jibs, hips and a variety of jumps allowing skiers to combine big air and technical tricks into one run. Competitors are scored in an overall impression judging format on amplitude, execution, difficulty of line, landing and use of the course.

There are two phases of the competition – qualification and final.

Competitors get two runs in qualifying. Each athlete’s score from their single best run is used to determine the top 12 that make the final.

In the final, finalists get three runs – with their best single score used to determine the medallists.

Freeski Big Air

Following the Olympic debut of Snowboard Big Air at PyeongChang 2018, Freeski Big Air is set for its Olympic debut at Beijing 2022. Unlike Freeski Halfpipe and Freeski Slopestyle, freeski big air athletes have one jump per run to earn as many points as possible. To achieve the highest score, skiers must stick the landing. Showing precise control and personal style will attract further points.

Six judges provide scores on each jump, with the highest and lowest judges' scores discarded (four scores count).

There are two phases of the competition – qualification and final.

In qualification competitors have two runs to qualify for the final and only the best score from their two runs will be used to qualify for the final giving each competitor a throwaway run.

Only the best 12 competitors make the final, these competitors are given three runs each to post their highest possible score and scoring is not cumulative offering competitors two throwaway runs.

#HaveAGo at Freestyle Skiing