ExTREME SPORTS AND THEIR GREATEST COMPETITORS Freestyle snowboarding involves jumps and tricks Freestyle often takes place on a half pipe a semicircular ramp built from snow that resembles the bottom portion of a tube Snowboarders ride back and forth half on the pipe performing tricks as they go airborne at each end They are judged on their spins som ersaults and other aerial maneuvers Freestyle snowboarders also ride in parks urban set tings and other locations They use natural and manmade features that include ramps rails concrete fixtures rocks boxes rooftops and logs Slopestyle is a form of freestyle in which competitors perform jumps and tricks while also racing down a course In boardercross contests four to six rid ers at a time negotiate a downhill course that presents them berms jumps with bumps and other obstructions Accidental colli sions among boardercross riders are not uncommon The Fédération Internationale de Ski International Ski Federation governs snow boarding competition Giant slalom and half pipe competitions were introduced as Winter Olympic sports in 1998 Snowboard cross events became an Olympic event in 2006 and both parallel slalom and slopestyle were added in 2014 12
Snowy SLOPEs CLIFFS AND THE SKY ABOVE FREESTYLE SKIING Snow skiing can be particularly dangerous in certain circumstances Adding acrobatics on a downhill run freestyle skiing takes it to an extreme As with other extreme sports freestyle skiing is growing in popularity On site spectators and television viewers are riveted by each performance They marvel at the daring and graceful seemingly impossible acrobatics and landings They also anticipate the inevitable crashes The origins of freestyle date back to the early 1900s Skiers experimented with somersaults and other tricks before 1914 and popularized them in competitions in the early 1920s One of the first freestyle events was acro also known as ballet which was invented in the 1930s in Europe Using acrobatic moves borrowed from figure skat ing and gymnastics acro skiers performed jumps spins and flips set to music while skiing on a gently sloping hill In the 1950s and 60s hot dog skiers in the United States began practicing more daring stunts In 1980 81 the Fédération Internationale de Ski designated freestyle skiing an offi cial sport It was introduced at the Winter Olympics in 1992 13
ExTREME SPORTS AND THEIR GREATEST COMPETITORS For a number of years there were two major categories of freestyle in international competition aerials and moguls Aerials are somersaults twists and other tricks per formed in the air Upright aerials include jumps such as the spread eagle with arms and legs momentarily flung out to the side and the daffy with one ski extended forward the other backward Inverted aerials include stunts in which the skier s feet are higher than the head such as somersaults and flips Inverted stunts may reach heights of 50 feet 15 m In competition the run is scored based on form and technique takeoff and height achieved and landing Mogul skiing requires competitors to nav igate large bumps called moguls on the slope The run is judged on speed turn techniques and two required upright jumps In many of their breathtaking jumps skiers can't see the landing points until the final second or two The popularity of aerial and mogul events encouraged the development of other free style forms In ski cross four competitors race together down a challenging course of jumps banked turns and other features It became an Olympic event in 2010 Slopestyle and half pipe contests were added to the 14
Snow SLOPEs CLIFFS AND THE SKY ABOVE SLOPESTYLE Too DANGEROUS FOR PRIME TIME Slopestyle skiing and snowboarding are two of the most exciting events to perform and watch They're also two of the most controversial because of the inju ries that have occurred at major events In slopestyle competitors speed down courses featuring rails and l other unnatural objects as well as standard jumps They perform a variety of stunts while airborne Slopestyle skiing and snowboarding are espe cially popular at the annual Winter X Games They became Olympic events at the 2014 Games in Sochi Russia Crashes and injuries were common in Sochi too common in the opinion of experts Some athletes blamed the Sochi slopestyle course the largest to date Snowboarding star Shaun White withdrew from competition believing the injury risk there was excessive Lars Engebretsen an orthopedic surgeon and International Olympic Committee official after ward said the slopestyle injury rate at Sochi was too high to be a sport that we have in the Olympics Olympics in 2014 Called freeskiing these styles employ skis with raised tips at both ends This allows skiers to perform tricks while skiing either forward or backward 15
