Freestyle Skiing

Freestyle skiing was created in the 1960s, during a time of social change and a growing desire for more freedom of expression, even in sports. This led to the development of new and exciting skiing techniques. Freestyle Skiing was initially called 'hotdogging' because it involved a mix of acrobatic moves, aerials, and adrenaline. In 1979, the International Ski Federation (FIS) recognized freestyle skiing as a sport. They introduced new rules to make it safer, and the following year, the first FIS World Cup series took place.

Freestyle skiing first appeared as a demonstration sport at the Calgary 1988 Games. There were men's and women's competitions for moguls, aerials, and ballet. Four years later, moguls became a medal sport at the Albertville Games, and aerials at the Lillehammer Games in 1994. Ski cross made its Olympic debut at the 2010 Games in Vancouver. Slopestyle and halfpipe were added to the programme at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. At the Milano Cortina 2026 Games, men's and women's dual moguls will be part of the Olympic programme.

In moguls, athletes ski down a steep course full of bumps, combining technical turns, jumps, aerial manoeuvres, and speed.

In dual moguls, which will debut at the 2026 Milano Cortina Games, two athletes compete against each other on the same track.

In aerials, skiers perform jumps, doing aerial stunts before landing on a 34° to 39° slope about 30 metres long.

Ski cross involves a qualifying phase, where athletes must navigate a slope with artificial elements like jumps, bumps, and parabolic curves as quickly as possible, and an elimination phase where four athletes competing at the same time.

In slopestyle, athletes navigate a course with a variety of obstacles (rails, jumps of various types) and are judged on breadth, originality and quality of their stunts.

In halfpipe, competitors perform a series of tricks while skiing down a semi-cylindrical slope.

In big air, athletes ride down a slope with a ramp that they use to jump and perform different aerial tricks.

The young Italian Simone Deromedis was the youngest competitor in the men's ski cross event at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. He finished in fifth place.