Freestyle History

Organized freestyle skiing in Canada took shape when a group headed by John Johnston founded the Canadian Freestyle Skiers Association (CFSA) in 1974. Shortly thereafter the Canadian Ski Association adopted Freestyle as one of its member disciplines.

In 1979, the International Ski Federation (FIS) officially accepted Freestyle as a member of the international ski community, and the first FIS sanctioned World Cup Freestyle Events took place. In February 1986 the first ever FIS Freestyle World Championships were held in Tignes, France. They were held for the second time in 1989 and have been held every two years since. In 2001 Canada hosted the World Championships at Whistler, BC. The next World Championships are scheduled for Inawashiro, Japan in March 2009.

Freestyle made its Olympic debut as a demonstration sport in Calgary in 1988. With the acceptance of Moguls as an official medal sport in 1992, and with the subsequent acceptance of Aerials in 1994, Freestyle has gained even more widespread attention and undergone phenomenal growth in Canada and internationally.

In 1995, Canada established its own national governing body, the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association. There are now well over 50 Freestyle Ski Clubs across the country.

Internationally, approximately 30 countries have developed active competitive programs. At the top of the scale, elite national teams participate each year on the FIS World Cup tour, which features events in Canada, the USA, Europe, China, Japan and Australia.

Freestyle continues to evolve.

The “new” disciplines of Half-pipe and Ski Cross were added to the FIS World Cup circuit in 2004 and Ski Cross has been accepted into the Olympics and will be staged alongside moguls and aerials on Cypress Mountain at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Milestones

• Canada won the “Nations Cup” emblematic of the top team on the FIS World Cup circuit for the fourth time in five years in 2007-2008.
• Steve Omischl had an incredible 2007/08 season winning six of nine aerial competitions, earning the FIS World Cup crown in both Aerials and Overall.
• At the 2007 FIS World Championships Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau and Kristi Richards won in single moguls and Jenn Heil won the dual moguls title.
• At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy Jennifer Heil won the gold medal in women’s moguls
• At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Veronica Brenner won silver and Deidra Dionne won bronze in women’s Aerials. Canada also had six other top-ten finishes, including a fourth by Jeff Bean in men’s aerials and a fourth by Jennifer Heil in women’s moguls (missing a medal by 1/100 of a point).
• At the 2001 World Championships, Canada won five medals including gold by Veronika Bauer in Aerials.
• Nicolas Fontaine won an unprecedented four consecutive World Cup titles from 1996/97 through 1999/2000 making him the unquestioned leader of the Aerials team before retiring at the end of the 2002 season
• Jennifer Heil won four consecutive women’s moguls World Cup titles before taking the 2007/08 season off. She returns this year.
• Canada’s best World Championship medal count came in 1997 at Nagano, Japan with seven medals out of a possible 21.
• Canada’s previous best World Championship medal count was in 1989 with six medals in Oberjoch, Germany.
• While being shut out of the medals in the 1998 Olympics in Japan, Canada had some impressive results including fourth, seventh and eighth in men’s moguls (Brassard, Johnson and Rochon) and fifth in women’s moguls (Ann Marie Pelchat).
• Jean-Luc Brassard won the first Olympic Gold medal by a Canadian male skier at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics in Moguls; at the same Olympics Philippe LaRoche won silver and Lloyd Langlois bronze in men’s Aerials.
• In 1988 at Freestyle’s Olympic debut as a demonstration sport in Calgary, legendary aerialist Jean-Marc Rozon won gold and the equally legendary Lloyd Langlois won a bronze medal in Aerials.
• One of Rozon’s students, Nicolas Fontaine won silver, and Philippe LaRoche won gold in the 1992 Olympics at Albertville when Aerials again appeared as a demonstration event.