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Beijing 2022 - Freestyle Skiing

Sport Previews
David Wise competes during the Freestyle Skiing Men's Ski Halfpipe Final at the Winter Olympic Games PyeongChang 2018 on Feb. 22, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. (Photo by Getty Images)

Skiing is among the oldest winter sports, with ancient origins dating back thousands of years. But it took a few millennia for skiers to start figuring out how to perform some tricks. The first experimenters were alpine skiers in the 1930s who would put on acrobatic displays to wow fans. Still, competition wouldn’t come until decades later.


The International Ski Federation finally recognized freestyle skiing in 1979, and the sport made its Olympic debut until 1992 in Albertville, France. Moguls was the only freestyle event on the program, while aerials and ski ballet — think figure skating on skis — were demonstration sports. Aerials joined the Olympic program in 1994, and skicross was added in 2010. Halfpipe and slopestyle followed four years later in 2014. Now Beijing marks the debut of the newest freestyle skiing event: big air.


While freestyle skiing events are typically based on trick execution and skill, moguls skiers are also scored based on speed, while there are no judges in skicross: it’s simply a race to the finish.


Across the Olympic history of freestyle skiing, it’s neck-and-neck at the top of the medal table with Team USA and Canada even at 25 medals apiece. However, Canada has the edge in gold medals, 12 to nine. Only two freestyle skiers in Olympic history have won two gold medals, Canada’s Alexandre Bilodeau in moguls and Team USA’s David Wise in halfpipe.


In addition to the Olympic debut of men’s and women’s big air, there is a third new medal event with mixed team aerials. This event involves teams of three — at least one man and one woman — competing for the best combined score on the aerials course.


Aerials and big air will take place at Shougang Park — the world’s first permanent venue for big air — while all the others will take place in the Zhangjiakou cluster of venues.


Updated on January 28, 2022.