Freestyle skiing is a project based on downhill skiing. Athletes use skis, either on the slopes or in U-slots, to compete and tie the knot by performing flamboyant aerial skills and skiing skills.
History
In the 1930s, skiing and aerial gymnastics were combined, but freestyle skiing in the modern sense really originated in the 1960s.
In 1958, the young Swiss ski instructor Artefjorrel completed the air flip and turning in the ski jump, and formed a skiing group to tour the various places, and the prototype of freestyle skiing was laid. In 1966, the first freestyle ski race was held in wall valley, New Hampshire, USA.
In 1988, the IOC Executive Board decided to include freestyle skiing as a performance event at the Winter Olympics. The following year, China officially began the freestyle skiing aerial skills program. Since 1992, men's and women's singles have been listed as a winter Olympic event.
In 1994, China sent two female athletes to participate in the Lillehammer Winter Olympics for the first time, and won the 17th and 18th places respectively, which was already the best result of China's snow sports to participate in the world championships. In 1998, Xu won the silver medal at the Nagano Winter Olympics. At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Nina Lee finished fifth.
Nina Li & Han Xiaopeng
In 2006, Han Xiaopeng won the gold medal in the men's aerial skills competition at the Turin Winter Olympics. This is the first gold medal won by a Chinese athlete in the history of the Winter Olympics in a freestyle ski event, the first gold medal in a snow sports, and the first Gold medal for a Chinese male athlete to win at the Winter Olympics.
Contest Rules
Freestyle skiing skis must be strong and durable, and in addition to the sheddler, snow and aerial techniques must also be equipped with a stopper or anti-ski.
The length of the skis can be determined according to the project, the venue, the athlete's own technical level, technical characteristics, etc. Tight jumpsuits are not permitted in all freestyle skiing events.
Body protective equipment must be worn on the body and is not allowed to be fixed with straps, fixtures or other methods. Other equipment includes helmets, ski goggles and gloves.
The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics freestyle ski event produced a total of 13 gold medals, namely men's and women's aerial skills, snow skills, obstacle chases, U-event field skills, slope obstacle course skills, big jumping (new this year), and air skills mixed group events (new this year).
Aerial skills
The athlete's completion of the action consists of three parts: take-off, aerial action, and landing.
In the "take-off" link, it is mainly to look at the jump, to see the specific performance of the athletes on the stage during the take-off process, as well as the height of the athletes' flight and the distance of the landing.
Aerial movement refers to the relative position of the athlete's body, skis, arms, hands and rotating shafts in the air, and the movement is the method by which the athlete completes each skill movement.
The landing consists of two parts: one is the position of the body relative to the landing slope when preparing for landing, the ski and the snow surface contact collision, buffer and return to the natural body posture; the other is the contact with the snow surface, collision and buffer landing slide out.
The Aerial Skills Competition is played out of place, with two rounds of preliminary rounds and the top 12 winners selected to advance to the final. The final is three rounds, using a single-jump elimination system, the first round 12 into 9, the second round 9 into 6, the third round of the last 6 athletes to determine the final ranking.
The aerial skills field consists of a landslide, transition zone, platform zone, jumping platform, landing slope and finish zone. The departure and finishing areas should be selected in open areas where the athlete can complete the action.
The slope is about 70 meters long, 14 meters wide and at an angle of 25 degrees, and the surface of the slope and jumping platform should be covered with snow. The transition zone is about 21 metres long and 14 metres wide, while the landing slope is approximately 25 metres long, 18 metres wide and at an angle of 38 degrees.
Snow tricks
Athletes compete in three main parts: rotation, aerial skills, and speed. Snow Skills are ranked by adding up the Slalom Action and Aerial Action Quality Score to the Timing Score, with the highest score coming first.
The top 20 qualifiers advance to the finals, and the order of the final matches is based on the reverse order of the qualification results. Five "swing action" referees are scored based on factors such as the quality and error of the athlete's swing action completion, and 2 "aerial skill" judges are scored according to the completion of the operation, the height and quality of the air.
Snow skill sites are mostly built on steep slopes, the site is 200-270 meters long, 15-25 meters wide, and the slope is 24-32 degrees. The site must have a gentle slope and a continuous drop.
There can be no concave or convex slopes, nor can there be too obvious slope changes. There are many dense snow packs on the slopes, which should be as even as possible, and must eliminate sharp snow blocks, ice cubes and flat snow rutting marks.
Obstacle chase
Athletes compete primarily for speed. During the course of a competition, if an athlete forces or intentionally interferes with other athletes, causing other athletes to slow down, lose their balance or collide in order to achieve overtaking or help other athletes achieve overtaking, it will be judged as a foul.
The obstacle course chase is divided into qualifying, quarter-final, quarter-final, semi-final and final. Athletes compete in groups, with 4 athletes in each group starting as a group, with the top two in each group advancing to the next round of the "Grand Final" to determine the ranking of 1st to 4th place, and the "Minor Final" to determine the 5th-8th place.
In the obstacle course chase, athletes race on a track that contains different turns, jumps, waves and other forms of landforms. The length of the track is 800-1300 meters, the vertical drop is 140-260 meters, and the slope should be 12-22 degrees. There are flag gates on the grounds, and the continuous flag gates must have color intervals.
U-shaped venue tricks
The referee evaluates the athlete's overall gliding performance based on the overall impression. Athletes who make mistakes will be deducted points. The competition consists of a preliminary round and a final, with two rounds of the preliminary round to take the best result, and the top 10 advance to the final. The final will be three rounds, with the best result. Finally, the ranking is based on the level of score.
The U-Shaped Track Skills Competition is held in a U-shaped snow trough, where athletes use freestyle skiing techniques to perform tendon fighting, flipping, grabbing boards and turning. The length of the snow trough is 150-170 meters, the width is 18-22 meters, the height of the trough wall is 6.7 meters, the slope is 18 degrees, and the minimum can not be less than 17 degrees.
Slope obstacle skills
Races are played on one or more tracks for athletes to choose from, filled with a variety of settings such as jumps, jumps, tables, big jumps, etc.
The referee evaluates the athlete's entire glide performance from the start to the finish zone based on the overall impression criteria. The competition adopts the pre-final system, with two rounds of preliminary rounds, and the best result is obtained. The final round is three rounds, and the best result is obtained.
The vertical drop of the track is at least 150 meters, the average angle of the slope is 12 degrees, and the width is 30 meters. The starting area is 10 metres long and 30 metres wide, the slide is at least 6 metres long and 12 metres wide (±4 metres) and the finishing area is at least 30 metres wide. The track should have at least 2 different landforms and at least 3 jumps.
Big jumping platform
The large jumping platform is divided into four parts: the ski area, the starting platform, the landing slope and the finish area.
Compared with the aerial skill project, the aerial movement of the big jumping platform pays more attention to creativity and freedom, and the players often perform difficult performances such as aerial grab boarding and backward landing, and the horizontal flight distance will be farther.
Athletes start from the sliding area of more than 40 meters, jump into the air by inertia on the starting platform, make a set of aerial movements and then land on the landing slope, which is a great test of the athlete's ability to observe and self-control. The judge scores comprehensively based on the difficulty of the player's movements, the degree of completion of the movements, the grasping board and the fluency.
Beijing Winter Olympics - Freestyle Ski Resort
The big jumping competition of the freestyle ski event of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics was held on the Shougang Ski Jumping Platform in Beijing, and the rest of the small events were held in the Genting Ski Park in Zhangjiakou.
Shougang Ski Jump
On October 31, 2019, the Shougang Ski Jump was completed as the first newly built competition venue in the Beijing Division of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. The Shougang Ski Jumping Platform consists of three parts: the track, the referee tower and the grandstand area, and the 164-meter-long track is 34 meters at the widest point and 60 meters at the highest point.
The design of the gradient color of the big jumping platform is inspired by the emblem of the Winter Olympics, and there are 24 colors from blue to yellow. The design also incorporates elements of the "flying sky" from the Dunhuang murals of the World Heritage Site.
The meaning of "feitian" and the English big air word of the ski jump project have the meaning of leaping and flying into the air, and the curve of the flying streamer is very consistent with the curve of the Shougang ski jump. Therefore, the Shougang Ski Jump platform got its name from "Snow Flying".
Shougang Ski Jump is the world's first permanently retained big jumping competition venue. After the Winter Olympics, the venue can host sports competitions in domestic and foreign big jumping platform projects, and become a training venue for professional athletes and sports teams, a base for the selection of young reserve talents, a training base for event management personnel, etc., directly serving the promotion of ice and snow sports in China.
Genting Ski Park
Genting Ski Park is located in Chongli District, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, with a good ecological environment and rich ski resources. At that time, 20 Winter Olympic gold medals and 8 Winter Paralympic gold medals will be produced, which is the venue with the largest number of Winter Olympic gold medals.
Genting Ski Park is the only snow competition venue in the Beijing Winter Olympics that relies on the existing ski resort, and 4 of the 6 Winter Olympic tracks are transformed on the original ski tracks. In the 2017-2018 snow season, the Genting Ski Park was built with a track, and the International Snow League was held at that time.
Genting's temporary construction has 30,000 square meters, including power support rooms, communication support rooms, garbage temporary storage rooms, mother and baby rooms, barrier-free toilets, etc. The temporary facilities here are made of degradable, renewable and recyclable materials, most of which are rented, and 20,000 square meters of temporary construction will be returned to suppliers after the race.
After the Beijing Winter Olympics, Genting Ski Park will strive to become an international event and mass ice and snow sports promotion base, in addition to the ability to continue to hold international ski events, will restore the long-term operation functions of mass skiing and tourism and vacation.