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, and hired Johnston to administer and organize competitive freestyle programs across the country.

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 2003 they were held in Deer Valley, Utah on the site used for the Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games. The next World Championships are scheduled for Ruka, Finland in 2005.

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, Japan and Australia. After staging a successful invitational aerials event, China will host a FIS World Cup event for the first time in February 2004.

Freestyle continues to evolve. Last year FIS incorporated ‘new style’ skiing events – half-pipe and ski-cross – into their World Cup competition schedule. In addition, new rules in moguls have changed the sport with the introduction of ‘off axis’ and inverted jumps and the removal of restrictions which will allow for increased variety of manoevers in competition.

Milestones

  • Canada won the “Nations Cup” emblematic of the top team on the FIS World Cup circuit for the third time in five years in 2002-2003. The team won 26 medals.
  • Stephanie St. Pierre had a break out season winning the bronze medal in moguls at the 2003 FIS World Championships. Veronika Bauer and Deidra Dionne won silver and bronze respectively in the women’s Aerial competition (Veronica Brenner was fourth). Steve Omischl claimed his first World Championship medal winning bronze in the men’s Aerial category.
  • 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 last season.
  • 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.