Winter Olympics 2010 Guide: Freestyle Skiing

Skiing & Ski jumping / Editor / 04 February 2010 / Leave a comment

Jennifer Heil soars into the air

Hippy skiing with its roots in the 1960s counter-culture? Surely not, man. Well, whatever, chill out, take in some of funky moguls and try to back the winner...

"The liberalism sweeping the country in the 1960s found expression in skiers who added jumps and twists to their jumps. The first competition took place in Attitash, New Hampshire in 1966."

This is funky skiing. Since 1992, there have been aerials and moguls. The former is highly acrobatic with competitors judged by the "quality of take off, height gained, form and body position, and how they maintain balance upon landing". After a qualification round the best 16 go in the final. Mogulling is skiing downhill over bumps. However, at two points there is the chance to pull off a major jump - a 180 or 360 - just in case it was all getting a little too serious. Judging deductions are combined with the time taken to determine a score. After a qualification round, the top 20 go down in reverse order.

Finally, ski-cross is a new event this year that tests a competitor's skills over a different sort of terrain. Four competitors can go at one time and parts of the course may only stretch for 60 seconds or so of racing. This is a race with a mass start and heats leading to a final. It is a pretty anarchic affair, claiming to have no formal structure or format.

History
According to the official Vancouver 2010 website, freestyle skiing grew up as some sort of beatnik pastime. With America cities were trying to 'tune in and chill out' in the 1960s, the slopes were going flipping mental. Literally. The liberalism sweeping the country found expression in skiers who added jumps and twists to their jumps. The first competition took place in Attitash, New Hampshire in 1966.

Who to watch
Australia's Dale Begg-Smith is the reigning champion and won the World Cup title between 2006 and 2008. However is the Canadian-born athlete what he was after a cruciate ligament injury? If he fails to live up to his usual standards, Canada's Alex Bilodeau could step in. The 22-year-old won the World Cup title in 2009.

Fact!
In the men's aerials, skiers reach heights of 50 feet, equal to a five-story building. The landing area has a 37-degree gradient and is covered in soft, churned snow to absorb the impact of landing.

Best Bet
Jennifer Heil in the moguls. The Canadian took gold in Torino and won the 2009 World Cup event held at Cypress Mountain, venue for the Vancouver race.

Tags: Freestyle skiing betting, Jennifer Heil, Richard Douglas, Vancouver 2010 betting, Winter Olympics 2010 betting