Competitions

Various downhill skiing competitions have developed in the history of skiing, and elite competitive skiers participate in the annual World Cup series, as well as the Winter Olympic Games.

Broadly speaking, competitive skiing is broken up into two disciplines: Freestyle and Racing. Racing involves making fast turns around gates in an attempt to get the fastest overall time down a course. Slalom, GS, Super-G, and Downhill are the 4 racing disciplines, with Downhill being the fastest event and Slalom being the most technical. Freestyle skiing incorporates events such as Moguls, aerial acrobatics, and skiier cross.

Competitive skiers often enter the world of competitive skiing through junior-level racing at ages as early as 9. Junior racing becomes most competitive at teenage level. A typical meet combines slalom, GS (Giant Slalom), and SuperG (Super Giant Slalom). The most dedicated and serious junior racers opt to attend private schools known as "ski academies", where athletes are exposed to a regiment of physical conditioning, intense ski race training, and conventional schooling. Many national team members come out of such schools.

Somewhat outside the domain of the traditional FIS (Fédération Internationale de Ski) governed events lie newer forms of competitive skiing. Speed skiing involves competitors striving to achieve the highest total speed, with no gates or obstacles. Freeskiing is another emerging sport growing quickly in popularity. In freeskiing competitions athletes start at the top of a usually unskied mountain and ski a route down that involves wide, fast turns as well as cliff drops. The competitors are judged on the technical difficulty of their route and any tricks (such as backflips) that they perform on the way down.