Freestyle skiing is a skiing discipline comprising aerials, moguls, cross, half-pipe, slopestyle and big air as part of the Winter Olympics. It can consist of a skier performing aerial flips and spins and can include skiers sliding rails and boxes on their skis. Known as "hot-dogging" in the early 1970s, it is also commonly referred to as freeskiing, jibbing, as well as many other names, around the world.
Ski cross is a skiing competition which incorporates terrain features traditionally found in freestyle skiing with courses which include big-air jumps and high-banked turns. In spite of the fact that it is a timed racing event, it is often considered a type of freestyle skiing. What sets ski cross apart from other alpine skiing disciplines is that it involves more than one skier racing down the course. Any intentional contact with other competitors like grabbing or any other forms of contact meant to give the competitor an advantage leads to disqualification.
The U.S. Ski Team, operating under the auspices of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, develops and supports men's and women's athletes in the sports of alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, cross-country, ski jumping, and Nordic combined. Since 1974 the team and association have been headquartered in Park City, Utah.
Lydia Lassila is an Australian Olympic freestyle skier gold medalist who competed in the 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympic Games. She is the 2010 Olympic champion and the 2014 bronze medalist in aerials.
Kikkan Randall is an American, Olympic champion cross-country skier. She has won 17 U.S. National titles, made 29 podiums on the World Cup, made five trips to the Winter Olympic Games and had the highest finish by an individual American woman at the World Championships, second in the Sprint in Liberec in 2009. She was the first American female cross-country skier to take a top ten finish in World Cup competition, to win a World Cup race and to win a World Cup discipline title. She won the silver medal in the individual sprint at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 in Liberec, becoming the first American woman to win a medal in cross country skiing at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, and in 2013 teamed up with Jessie Diggins to win the first ever American FIS Nordic World Ski Championships gold medal in the team sprint. She and Diggins won the United States' first ever cross-country skiing gold medal at the Winter Olympics in women's team sprint at Pyeongchang in 2018.
U.S. Ski & Snowboard, formerly known as the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, is the national governing body for Olympic skiing and snowboarding. Founded in 1905, the organization provides leadership and direction for skiers and snowboarders from over 400 member clubs. The association is headquartered in Park City, Utah.
U.S. Snowboarding, the snowboarding arm of the United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA), is committed to the progression of snowboarding by providing athletic programs, services, and competitions for male and female athletes of all ages, coast-to-coast.
David John Morris is an Australian Olympic aerial/freestyle skier who competed in 3 Winter Olympic Games in 2010, 2014 and 2018. He is Australia's most successful male aerial skier, having competed across FIS World Cup, World Championships and Winter Olympic competitions. He is the first Australian male aerial skier to compete at two consecutive Olympic Games, and the first Australian Medalist in the Olympic Men's Aerials.
Shannon Bahrke is an American Olympic freestyle skier and entrepreneur. Bahrke was the silver medalist in Moguls at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the bronze medalist at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and the 2003 World Cup Champion. With her bronze medal in 2010, she became the first US women's freestyle skier to win multiple Olympic medals. Bahrke was also the 2009 US National Champion in dual moguls. She has reached the podium twice at the FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships, winning bronze in 2003 and silver in 2007, both in dual moguls.
Aerial skiing or aerials is a freestyle skiing discipline where athletes ski down a slope to launch themselves off a kicker and perform multiple twists and flips before landing on an inclined landing hill. Aerialists are scored on their jumps based on air, form and landing with their score multiplied by the degree of difficulty of the jump they performed.
Patrick Deneen is an American freestyle skier, specializing in moguls. Deneen was the gold medalist at the 2009 International Ski Federation (FIS) Freestyle World Ski Championships. In December 2009, Deneen won the US Olympic trials, held at Steamboat Springs, Colorado, securing a spot on the US Olympic Team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. In FIS World Cup events, he has reached the podium at 4 events in 25 starts, and was the 2008 Freestyle Rookie of the Year.
Ashley Caldwell is an American freestyle skier who has competed in aerials since 2008. Caldwell was named to the US team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in January 2010 after competing in the sport for only two seasons. The youngest in the event, she reached the finals of the Aerials. Caldwell won her first World Cup aerials event in the United States in Lake Placid, New York in January 2011, becoming the youngest freestyle female ever to win.
Eva Adamczyková, née Samková is a Czech snowboarder who is the 2014 Olympic champion in snowboard cross. She was also the 2019 World Champion in the same discipline.
Mac Bohonnon is an American freestyle skier originally from Madison, Connecticut. He was named to the United States National Ski Team in 2012. Bohonnon competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
Charlotte Bankes is a British-born snowboarder who represented France in international competition before the start of the 2018–2019 season and Great Britain from that point onwards. She competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics, in Women's snowboard cross.
Hanna Andreyeuna Huskova is a Belarusian freestyle skier specializing in aerials. She competed at the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships 2015, where she qualified for the aerials final, and placed sixth in the final. At the 2014 Olympics, she placed 21st in aerials. She won a gold medal at the 2018 Olympics, and won silver at the 2022 Olympics, in Women's aerials.
Hailey Langland is an American snowboarder who won a bronze medal in slopestyle at Winter X Games XX. Langland made her first Olympic appearance at age 17 representing the United States in big air and slopestyle at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. She competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics, in Women's big air, and Women's slopestyle.
Trace Worthington is an American former freestyle skier. He competed in two events at the 1994 Winter Olympics. After retiring from the sport, Worthington became a sports commentator, working for both NBC Sports and CBS Sports.
Eileen Feng Gu, also known by her Chinese name Gu Ailing, is an American-born freestyle skier. She has competed for China in halfpipe, slopestyle, and big air events since 2019.
Cole McDonald is an American freestyle skier. He joined the US Ski & Snowboard's U.S. Freestyle Ski Team in July 2021. In the same season as his first World Cup, he earned a spot on the U.S. Men's Moguls Team at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, making him the youngest American male mogul skier to participate in the Olympics at 18 years of age. McDonald was named World Cup Rookie of the Year in 2022.
