Bluff your way through the Beijing Winter Olympics

Can’t swack your pretzel from your melon when it comes to the Winter Olympics?

Never mind we can help you bluff your way through the Beijing Winter Olympics and to have you grabbing, landing deep and boardsliding in no time.

Here’s a guide the various disciplines of Freeski, Snowboard and Alpine Ski Racing and the lingo that goes with it.

Halfpipe – Freestyle Skiing

How does it work?

Halfpipe is a discipline that consists of a half tube made from snow. Olympic Superpipes are 22 feet (6.7m) tall and approximately 180m long / 21m wide.

The athlete makes their way down skiing or snowboarding from left to right and airing out above the lip of the halfpipe (called the coping). On average athletes will get between five and eight hits (or airs) during their run.

This is a judged event, meaning each run the athlete takes is scored by a panel of judges. The run is evaluated based on progression, amplitude, variety, execution, and difficulty. The score is out of 100 points.

Amplitude is really important in the halfpipe, tricks should be performed well above the lip of the coping. This means that often athletes are up to 40 feet (over 12m) above the flat bottom of the halfpipe while at the apex of their trick (18 feet above the coping).

Missed grabs, losing amplitude throughout the run and hands/backs touching the ground while landing tricks can all result in points deducted.

Freeskier Nico Porteous is a leading medal hope for New Zealand having won a bronze medal in PyeongChang four years ago.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The Olympic ski halfpipe competition consists of a qualification round and a final round.

The qualification round will consist of two runs, with each competitor’s best single run counting. The top 12 skiers from the qualification round will advance to the final. Scores from the qualification round do not carry over to the final.

The final will consist of three runs. Again in the final, only each competitor’s best score will count towards the final results. The start order for all three runs will be the inverse of the results from the qualification round, i.e., the athlete with the lowest score in qualifying goes first and the athlete with the best score goes last.

Where?

The Halfpipe event in Beijing will take place at Genting Snow Park in the Zhangjiakou cluster. We have only Freeski athletes representing New Zealand in halfpipe.

History

New Zealand won their first Freestyle Skiing Olympic medal at PyeongChang 2018. Nico Porteous (who was just 16 at the time) became New Zealand’s youngest ever Olympic Winter Games medallist when he claimed the bronze medal in freeski halfpipe.

He’s coming off the back of a successful World Championships in 2021, where he was crowned Freeski Halfpipe World Champion.

Porteous also claimed the gold medal at the prestigious 2021 Aspen Winter X Games in the same discipline. He was the first Kiwi freeski athlete to win both these events and landed a world first trick combination in competition (back-to-back 1620s) in the process.

Terminology

· Grab – when an athlete grabs their skis with their hand as they complete their trick.

· Switch – skiing backwards

· Alley Oop – when an athlete’s spin direction is back up the pipe rather than the more common down the pipe direction.

· Coping – the edge of the pipe where the wall meets the deck

· Transition – the curve of the halfpipe wall where the flat bottom meets the vertical portion of the wall.

· Landing deep – when an athlete lands down in the transition rather than up on the vertical portion of the wall.

· 720 / 900 / 1080 / 1260 / 1440 / 1620 – common degrees of rotation on a jump.

· Cork – when the athlete dips off axis during a spin rotation

· Double Cork – when an athlete dips off axis twice during a spin rotation

· Mute / Japan / Tail / Blunt / Safety / Truckdriver / Seatbelt / Critical – these are all names of different ways athletes can grab their skis.

Slopestyle

How does it work?

Slopestyle is a discipline that consists of rail features and jump features which athletes must link together from top to bottom. Freeskiers and snowboarders take part in this event.

This is a judged event, meaning each run the athlete takes is scored by a panel of judges. The run is evaluated based on progression, amplitude, variety, execution and difficulty. The score is out of 100 points.

Going big or landing well a long way down the jump’s landing, riding the rail features right to the end and doing new and progressive tricks with variety and challenging grabs are all factors that can contribute to a higher score for an athlete.

Missed grabs, hands down on landings and loss of control are all factors that could contribute to lowering the athlete’s score.

The Olympic slopestyle competition consists of a qualification round and a final round.

The qualification round will consist of two runs, with each competitor’s best single run counting. The top 12 riders from the qualification round will advance to the final.

The final will consist of three runs. Again in the final, only each competitor’s best score will count towards the final results. The start order for all three runs will be the inverse of the results from the qualification round, i.e., the athlete with the lowest score in qualifying goes first and the athlete with the best score goes last.

Where?

The Slopestyle event in Beijing will take place at Genting Snow Park in the Zhangjiakou cluster.

We have both Freeskiers and Snowboarders representing New Zealand.

History

New Zealand has never won a Freeski or Snowboard Slopestyle medal. Slopestyle debuted in both Freeski and Snowboard at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

Terminology

Freeski & Snowboard

· Grab – when an athlete grabs their skis or snowboard with their hand/s as they complete their trick.

· 180 / 270 / 360 / 450 / 640 – common degrees of rotation onto or out of a rail feature.

· 720 / 900 / 1080 / 1260 / 1440 / 1620 / 1800 – common degrees of rotation on a jump.

· Cork – when the athlete dips off axis during a spin rotation

· Double Cork – when an athlete dips off axis twice during a spin rotation

Snowboard specific

· Backside – When an athlete takes off and their direction of rotation dictates that their back faces down the hill first.

· Frontside – When an athlete takes off and their direction of rotation dictates that their front faces down the hill first.

· Cab – Switch frontside

· Swack – Switch backside

· Boardslide – when an athlete slides a rail feature with the middle of their snowboard with a foot either side of the feature.

· Mute / Indy / Method / Nose / Tail / Stalefish / Melon / Seatbelt – these are all names of different ways athletes can grab their snowboards.

Freeski Specific

· Front Swap – When an athlete ‘swaps’ their lead ski on a rail feature with a down the hill direction of rotation.

· Back Swap – When an athlete ‘swaps’ their lead ski on a rail feature with a up the hill direction of rotation.

· Pretzel – When an athlete changes their direction of rotation on or getting off a rail feature.

· Lip slide – When an athlete brings the tails of their skis (rather than the tips) over the rail feature when jumping on.

· Misty – When the off axis element of a jump trick is generated by an athlete throwing their head and shoulders forward off the take off.

· Mute / Japan / Tail / Blunt / Safety / Octo / Seatbelt / Critical – these are all names of different ways athletes can grab their skis.

Big Air – Freestyle Skiing and Snowboarding

Big Air is a discipline that consists of one large jump that athletes perform impressive and technical tricks on. Freeskiers and snowboarders take part in this event.

This is a judged event, meaning each run the athlete takes is scored by a panel of judges. The run is evaluated based on progression, amplitude, variety, execution and difficulty. The score is out of 100 points.

Going big or landing a long way down the jump’s landing and doing new and progressive tricks with challenging grabs are all factors that can contribute to a higher score for an athlete.

Missed grabs, hands down on landings and coming up short are all factors that could contribute to lowering the athlete’s score.

The Olympic big air competition consists of a qualification round and a final round.

Zoi Sadowski-Synott
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The qualification round will consist of three runs, with each competitor’s best single run counting. The top 12 riders from the qualification round will advance to the final. If the organizers choose to divide the qualification field into two separate heats, then the top six riders from each heat will advance to the final. Scores from the qualification round do not carry over to the final.

The final will consist of three runs. The start order will be the inverse of the results from the qualification round, i.e., the athlete with the lowest score in qualifying goes first and the athlete with the best score goes last.

The scores from each competitor’s two best runs will be added together to get the final results, and athletes must spin their tricks in different directions on those two runs. For example, if a rider spins a frontside rotation on one of those runs, they will need to spin a backside, switch frontside or switch backside rotation on the other run. If a rider performs the same rotation more than once, then only the highest score will be counted.

Where?

The Big Air event in Beijing will take place at Shougang in the Beijing cluster.

Arguably the most unique venue of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is Big Air Shougang, which has been built on a former steel mill site, set against the backdrop of four industrial cooling towers.

Freeski & Snowboard

· Grab – when an athlete grabs their skis or snowboard with their hand as they complete their trick.

· 720 / 900 / 1080 / 1260 / 1440 / 1620 / 1800 – common degrees of rotation on a jump.

· Cork – when the athlete dips off axis during a spin rotation

· Double Cork – when an athlete dips off axis twice during a spin rotation

Snowboard specific

· Backside – When an athlete takes off and their direction of rotation dictates that their back faces down the hill first.

· Frontside – When an athlete takes off and their direction of rotation dictates that their front faces down the hill first.

· Cab – Switch frontside

· Swack – Switch backside

· Mute / Indy / Method / Nose / Tail / Stalefish / Melon / Seatbelt – these are all names of different ways athletes can grab their snowboards.

Freeski Specific

· Misty – When the off axis element of a jump trick is generated by an athlete throwing their head and shoulders forward off the take off.

· Mute / Japan / Tail / Blunt / Safety / Octo / Seatbelt / Critical – these are all names of different ways athletes can grab their skis.

History

New Zealand won their first Winter Olympic Games medal in 26 years at PyeongChang 2018 when Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (who was just 16 at the time) claimed the bronze medal in the Snowboard Big Air event. This was also New Zealand’s first Olympic Snowboarding medal.

She is the current reigning Slopestyle World Champion and the silver medallist in Big Air at the World Championship held in March 2021.

At the 2021 Aspen X Games she claimed the silver medal in Slopestyle and the bronze medal in Big Air.

Zoi Sadowski-Synnott in action in the FIS World Cup in Kreischberg.
Photo: Joerg Mitter/Limex Images

Alpine Ski Racing – the different disciplines:

Slalom

Slalom is synonymous with technical ability. Slalom requires aggressiveness, agility, quickness and combines relatively high speed and technical difficulty. The many gates that provide a lot of direction changes should be set to provide an interesting combination of single and multiple gates, which provide a good test of a wide variety of skiing skills. Slalom events are held in two runs on separate courses. The skier with the best combined time from two separate runs is declared the winner.

Giant Slalom

Giant Slalom consists of two runs over separate courses, which may be on the same slope. Giant Slalom presents a range of long, medium and tight turns, which require strength, and a good sense of rhythm. The course is to be set to make optimum use of the variations in terrain and full use of the width of the hill, to increase the spectacle of the event.

Super-G

Super Giant Slalom (Super-G) is a single run over a long course, which combines the speed of Downhill and some of the technical characteristics of the Giant Slalom. It requires the skier to be very precise at high speeds. It combines a variety of long and medium turns on courses that have vertical drops only slightly less steep than in Downhill.

Downhill

Downhill races feature the greatest vertical drop of all the Alpine disciplines, with skiers reaching speeds of up to 130 kilometres per hour on a typical World Cup Downhill course. In Downhill the racer must demonstrate excellent technique, agility, continuous concentration, marked endurance and physical fitness and a high level of courage.

Courses are long with control gates strategically placed so that considerable speed will be maintained through challenging turns, shallow dips, flats, and small airs.

Alpine Combined

Consisting of a shortened Downhill or Super-G run followed by a Slalom run, Alpine Combined combines a speed event with a technical event to showcase overall skiing skills. Introduced by the International Ski Federation in 2005, Alpine Combined is generally referred to as the fifth alpine skiing discipline.

Rules

If a skier misses a gate, he or she is disqualified from the competition, unless he or she hikes uphill and successfully passes through the missed gate. However, the time expense for doing this often makes it not worth the effort.

History

At the 1992 Albertville Olympic Winter Games Annelise Coberger claimed New Zealand’s first ever Winter Olympic Medal in the women’s slalom. To this day this is the only Alpine Ski Racing Winter Olympic medal that New Zealand has won.

Alice Robinson, Alpine Ski Racer, heads into Beijing 2022 off the back of two incredibly successful seasons where she has won three and placed second in World Cup Giant Slalom races.

Alice represented New Zealand at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games at the age of 16.

Alice Robinson will competing at her second Winter Olympics.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Terminology

· Carve – A crisp turn.

· Fall line – The most direct route down a ski slope.

· First seed – The top 15 ranked racers in a race.

· Gate – in slalom a gate is one pole set vertically, in Giant Slalom, Super-G and Downhill a gate is two vertical poles with a fabric panel between them.

· Straddling – A mistake where a skier passes over a gate with one ski on one side of the pole and the other ski on the opposite side.

· Tuck – A position where the skier squats and keeps his or her arms close to the body. It is used in speed events to reduce wind resistance and maximize speed.

· Vertical – The difference in elevation between the summit (start gate) and the base (finish line)

-RNZ