Slopestyle Added to FIS Freestyle World Championships

It’s great to see the FIS Freestyle World Championships taking place in the backyard and what finer venues than Deer Valley and Park City Mountain? The crux of the following announcement is not about the location, but the addition of slopestyle skiing to the docket of events. Slopestyle skiing has been slated for potential inclusion in the 2014 Winter Olympics, so its inclusion in the FIS Freestyle World Championships is a great first step to that end. Read the release and event schedule below.

PARK CITY, UT (December 29, 2010) – The fast-paced action sport of slopestyle skiing has been confirmed for the International Ski Federation’s (FIS) Freestyle World Ski Championships being hosted this February by Deer Valley and Park City Mountain Resorts. The slopestyle event, which is one of three new action sports events being considered for inclusion in the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, will be held at Park City Mountain Resort.

FIS Freestyle World Ski Championship’s organizers confirmed that slopestyle would be added to the schedule on Thursday, February 3, 2011, with qualification runs taking place a day earlier. The event will be held on Park City Mountain Resort’s King’s Crown run, home of one of the resort’s popular terrain parks. Park City Mountain Resort is also the site of the halfpipe competition, while moguls, dual moguls, aerials, as well as ski cross, will be held at Deer Valley Resort.

Slopestyle tests a skier’s ability to handle a variety of terrain by executing freestyle maneuvers down a course. Each course is filled with features including rails, jibs, hips and a variety of jumps allowing riders to combine big air and technical tricks into one run. Competitors are scored in an overall impression judging format on amplitude, execution, difficulty of line, landing and use of the course.

Slopestyle skiing, halfpipe skiing as well as slopestyle snowboarding was given support for 2014 inclusion by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at its Executive Committee meeting in September. The final approval for these action sports to make it onto the Sochi, Russia Olympic schedule will come following a review of the new sports taking place during World Championship competitions this season. IOC President Jacques Rogge is empowered to make the final call.

In November, the FIS Council voted to add slopestyle skiing and snowboarding to the respective World Championships beginning this season. Organizers for the World Snowboard Championships in La Molina, Spain recently confirmed adding slopestyle snowboarding to the schedule.

”Park City Mountain Resort is honored to play such a key role in support of slopestyle and halfpipe skiing as an addition to the 2014 Winter Games,” said Jenni Smith, Park City Mountain Resort President and General Manager. “Our team is very passionate about the future of winter sports and incredibly qualified to create the best possible event for review by the IOC.”

Park City Mountain Resort has been a leader in winter action sports since the 2002 Winter Games. The Resort has successfully hosted a number of international caliber halfpipe events as well as received numerous awards for the terrain parks built at the resort. The Resort has continued to push the limits of winter action sports and is considered a training ground for some of the industry’s best freestyle skiers.

“The IOC has shown great foresight in aggressively pursuing inclusion of halfpipe skiing, plus slopestyle skiing and snowboarding, for the 2014 Games,” said U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association President and CEO Bill Marolt, who is also on the FIS Council. “Terrain parks around the world are home for millions of young skiers who are already actively engaged in the sport and it’s fitting that it should be included in the Olympic Winter Games.”

“With the rapid development of terrain parks, slopestyle has become a major skiing phenomenon globally,” said FIS Freestyle Coordinator Joseph Fitzgerald. “Slopestyle as a FIS event, is a competitive expression of the grassroots level activity already under way. The inclusion of slopestyle in the program of the FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships, coming right on the heels of the highly successful slopestyle competitions at the FIS Freestyle Junior World Ski Championships in New Zealand this past August, is the perfect timing for formalizing this popular event format at the highest FIS level.”

The USSA is expected to name up to four men and four women to compete in the slopestyle event with spots expected to be hotly contested. Qualifying will be primarily based on the Association of Freeride Professionals (AFP) ranking system which includes events such as the USSA’s Revolution Tour as well as the Dew Tour and X Games.

Deer Valley was also the host for the 2003 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships. Both Park City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley Resort were venues for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

The World Championships will be televised on NBC Saturday, February 5, 2011 from 4:30-6:00 p.m. (EST) and Sunday, February 6, 2011 from 3:00-4:30 p.m. (EST).

2011 FIS FREESTYLE WORLD SKI CHAMPIONSHIPS

Deer Valley Resort and Park City Mountain Resort

Wednesday February 2
Mogul Qualifications/Finals (Deer Valley – Champion)
Slopestyle Qualifications (Park City – King’s Crown Terrain Park)
Opening Ceremony (Park City – Lower Main Street)

Thursday February 3
Slopestyle Finals (Park City – King’s Crown Terrain Park)
Skicross Qualifications (Deer Valley – Solid Muldoon)
Aerials Qualifications (Deer Valley – White Owl)

Friday February 4
Halfpipe Qualifications (Park City – Eagle Superpipe)
Skicross Finals (Deer Valley – Solid Muldoon)
Aerials Finals (Deer Valley – White Owl)

Saturday February 5
Halfpipe Finals (Park City – Eagle Superpipe)
Dual Mogul Qualifications/Finals (Deer Valley – Champion)
Closing Ceremony (Deer Valley)

More Info: Visit DeerValley.com