Diving Down into What It Takes to Fly So High
It’s a source of admiration how winter sport athletes achieve their mastery on ice and snow. At another level all its own is the sheer awe generated by watching the flips and turns in the almost unbelievable sport of freestyle aerial ski jumping.
How these athletes flip and twist 60 feet in the air and land on their feet on a steep, snowy incline defies everything we know about the universe. So in an attempt to un-boggle our minds, let’s dive down into this winter sport that flies higher than any other.
Background
The first ever World Cup in freestyle skiing – a category that includes aerials, moguls, cross, half-pipe, slopestyle and big air – was held in 1980, the same year of Lake Placid held its second Olympic Winter Games. However, freestyle events were not included in the Olympics until Lillehammer in 1994.
The aerials component of the sport is different from big air and other types of ski jumping because it uses a curved ramp made of snow on which the skiers launch themselves straight up to get in as many twists and turns as possible. Almost like watching high diving into a pool. In fact, in the summer months, aerial skiers train at facilities in which they land in a pool or lake. They also use trampolines, along with bungy cords for safety, to learn their midair twisting and turning maneuvers. Lake Placid’s Olympic Jumping Complex (OJC) is one of only two facilities in the U.S. that have a pool and trampoline for aerial jump training.
Get the full article here at the Olympic Jumping Complex website.