From big air to moguls and slopestyle, what to know about freestyle skiing at Winter Olympics
China’s Eileen Gu is the star, but Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury is the best moguls skier and American Alex Hall is the slopestyle champion
You might be inclined to think of freestyle skiing as one of the new kids on the block at the Winter Olympics — after all, there are lots of young athletes doing it — but some of the freeskiiing sports were introduced at the Calgary Games some 38 years ago.
Four decades of familiarity with moguls, the halfpipe, big air and more have turned some of these daring athletes into household names and their tricks are getting more creative.
How it works
The three most popular disciplines in this sport fall under the category of freeskiing — halfpipe, slopestyle and big air.
These contests are judged and graded on how high skiers fly and the difficulty of their tricks.
In moguls, skiers are scored on their form through the bumps and two jumps along with their overall speed.
In aerials, which shares some similarities with big air, skiers flip and twist as they soar more than 12 metres into the air.