Since making its debut as an official medal sport in 1992, freestyle skiing has grown to include arguably the widest variety of events out of any discipline in the Winter Olympics. Historically, Canada and the United States have had the most success in different freestyle skiing disciplines, according to the gold and overall medal tables. At the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, Eileen Gu from Team China made history after becoming the first athlete to win three freestyle skiing medals at a single Olympics. Check out more information on freestyle skiing and the various disciplines that fall under it below:
Where and when will freestyle skiing take place?
Freestyle skiing will take place in Italy's Livigno at both the Livigno Snow Park and the Livigno Aerials & Moguls Park. The various competitions will run from Feb 9-21.
What are the different freestyle skiing events and how are they scored?
There are seven different freestyle skiing events that both men and women compete in, with dual moguls being new to the 2026 Olympics.
Halfpipe: Skiers take runs down a semicylindrical pipe and perform tricks on each wall. In the qualifying round, each athlete gets two runs and the top 12 skiers advance. After three runs in the final round, the competitor with the highest single run score wins. Six judges score each run from 0 to 100. The middle four scores are averaged to determine the final run score. The scores are based on the following criteria: amplitude (or height), difficulty, variety of tricks, execution and progression of tricks.
Slopestyle: Slopestyle courses have at least six sections, with obstacles including rails and jumps with different paths for skiers to choose from. Each athlete gets two runs in the qualifying round and three in the final round, with the top 12 skiers advancing to the final. The winner is selected based on the highest single run score. Scores are out of 100 and are made up of a combination of 60% trick scores and 40% overall impression. Three judges are responsible for the overall impression score, in which they judge the run as a whole. The remaining six judges score each trick with each section generally worth 10% of the overall score. The judges evaluate the run and tricks using the same criteria used to score halfpipe.
Moguls: A moguls course consists primarily of bumps a skier must carve through along with two jumps. The competition format includes two qualifying rounds from each of which 10 skiers advance to the final following one run each. There are three rounds in the moguls final and athletes are eliminated each round with the highest scores determining medal results. Seven judges reward scores out of 100 based on 60% turns, 20% aerial tricks and 20% speed.
Dual moguls: Dual moguls is a head-to-head competition with the winning skier moving on to the next round. Four judges evaluate turns, two evaluate air and one evaluates time, so the skier who completes the course the quickest is not always the winner. Each judge receives five votes and they can divide those votes among the two skiers in any way they choose. The next two disciplines, big air and aerials, both involve athletes skiing down a ramp and launching themselves into the air while executing tricks. The difference between the two is that aerials emphasize height and acrobatics, and big air emphasizes distance and style, resulting in different trick types and technique. Big air athletes have more freedom in how they can perform their tricks, while those who participate in aerials must stick to approved maneuvers. This makes aerials a more traditional, strict discipline compared to the creativity allowed and encouraged in big air.
Big air: Both the qualifying and final rounds consist of three runs per athlete in which their top two scores are combined to get their total score. The top 12 skiers move on to the final round. Each athlete must perform a different trick in each run, which is determined by the way they spin, clockwise vs. counterclockwise. They must then choose to spin in two of four directions, left, right, switch left or switch right (switch meaning taking off or landing backward). The middle four scores from the six judges are averaged to determine the overall run score. The judges evaluate each run based on the following criteria: difficulty, execution, amplitude, landing (with full control) and progression.
Aerials: Twelve skiers advance to the final based on two qualifying jumps. An aerials final has two rounds, with the top six athletes moving to the medal final, determined by their best score from two jumps. They take only one jump in the medal final. Air (20%), form (50%) and landing (30%) make up the score, which is multiplied by the degree of difficulty. The middle three of the five judges' scores are averaged to determine the total. There is a mixed aerials team competition as well.
Ski cross: A ski cross course is composed of various obstacles, including jumps, rollers and berms. Four athletes race per heat, with two moving into the quarter and semis and the top skier from each semifinal advancing to the final. Ski cross is the only freestyle skiing discipline based solely on speed.
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