While snow sports have very ancient origins, freestyle skiing has been practised since 1930. The so-called freestyle became a competitive sport in the United States during the 1960s, evolving from the discipline known as "hotdog" skiing.
It can be said that the father of this sport is Norwegian skier Stein Eriksen, gold medal winner in giant slalom and silver medalist in slalom at the 1952 Oslo Winter Olympics. Following these Games, Eriksen focused his attention on freestyle skiing and created a show (for which he earned $1,000 per day) that included aerial jumps on skis.
The first freestyle competition was organised in 1966 by Peter Pinkham and took place in Attitash, New Hampshire. Nearly 40% of the event was based on performing compulsory standard figures, while the remainder of the competition was appropriately termed "freestyle". A new sport was being born!
By the mid-1970s, its practice had already become quite popular. During this era, freestyle was known as hotdogging, and its practitioners were divided into two main factions: those supporting organisation and those defending its wild image. However, accident claims began to emerge, particularly from seriously injured athletes, and insurance companies turned their backs on freestyle, leading to a significant decline in popularity during the 1980s.
In 1979, the FIS (International Ski Federation) recognised freestyle as a category of skiing, and in 1983 the first World Cup trials were held in the United States. The first World Championships took place in 1986 in Tignes, France.
These world championships were organised just in time to qualify freestyle skiing as a demonstration sport at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. The moguls discipline became Olympic in 1992, followed by aerials in 1994.
