2010 Olympic Freestyle Skiing was held at Cypress Mountain in Vancouver, British Columbia from February 13 through February 25. The event has been held every four years at the site of the Winter Olympics since 1992. There are many tricks freestyle skiers incorporate. They include the twist, iron cross, spread eagle and a 360 degree spin known as the helicopter.

In the aerials event, all competitors have two jumps. The top 16 scores move to the final round where the winner is determined after two jumps. Scoring is based on quality of the takeoff, height reached, balance and body position. In the mogel event, skiiers must perform two jumps that can involve twists, turns, holds, flips and get down the course as quickly as possible. The top 20 skiers from the qualifying round move to the final round. The ski cross event involves turns of varying shapes and sizes. The skiers also encounter banks, ridges, flat sections and hills. Each run cuts the field in half until a final found determines the winner.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-freestyle-skiing/additional-information/about-the-sport_145932mW.html Competitors to watch include Ophelie Davis of France, Steve Omischl and Jennifer Heil of Canada, Nina Li and Han Xiaopeng of China, Tomas Kraus of Czech Republic, Lydia Lassila of Australia, and Daron Rahlves, Ryan St. Onge, Casey Puckett, Patrick Deneen and Shannon Bahrke of the United Stateshttp://www.nbcolympics.com/freestyle-skiing/athletes/index.html

Freestyle skiing is a combination of alpine skiing and acrobatics and started in the United States during the 1960's. The first freestyle skiing competition took place in Attitash, New Hampshire, in 1966. It entered the Olympics in 1992. Aerial events were added at the 1994 Olympics and ski cross events have been added to the 2010 Olympics.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-freestyle-skiing/additional-information/about-the-sport_145932mW.html The six freestyle skiing events scheduled are the men's and women's moguls, men's and women's aerials, and men's and women's ski cross.http://www.nbcolympics.com/freestyle-skiing/insidethissport/index.html Legendary freestyle skiers include Edgar Grospiron of France, Jean-Luc Brassard of Canada, Jonny Moseley of the United States, Lina Cheryazova of Uzbekistan and Kari Traa of Norway.http://www.nbcolympics.com/freestyle-skiing/insidethissport/history/newsid=261827.html#freestyle+skiing+history

February 13

Qualification runs were held at 4:30 pm for the ladies' moguls. Twenty women qualified for the finals. The leader was Hannah Kearny of the United States, who had a turn score of 14.0, air score of 4.98 and time score of 6.98, for a total of 25.96. Jennifer Heil of Canada was second with a combined score of 25.50. Chloe Dufour-Lapointe of Canada had the best air score of 5.36. Shannon Bahrke of the United States finished sixth with a combined score of 24.27.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-freestyle-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-moguls-qualification_frw020901RL.html

The finals of the ladies' moguls were held at 7:30 pm. Jennifer Heil, the favorite from Canada, finished second and won the silver medal with a score of 25.69. Hannah Kearny held on to win the gold with a score of 26.63 and Shannon Bahrke moved from sixth to third to win the bronze with a score of 25.43.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-freestyle-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-moguls-final_frw020101GA.html

February 14

The first round of the men's moguls were held at 2:30 pm. Guilbaut Colas of France had the highest turns score of 13.7, time score of 7.12 and overall score of 25.93. Alexandre Bilodeau of Canada had the highest air score of 5.26 and finished second with an overall score of 25.48. Bryon Wilson of the United States was in third with an overall score of 25.06. Patrick Deneen was in tenth with a score of 23.97. Twenty of the thirty skiers qualified for the final round.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-freestyle-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-moguls-qualification_frm020901RS.html

The finals of the men's moguls were held at 5:30 pm. Alexandre Bilodeau won the gold medal for hosting country Canada with a score of 26.75. Dale Begg-Smith of Australia moved from fourth to win the silver medal with a score of 26.58. Bryon Wilson held on to third place with a score of 26.08 to win the bronze medal. He edged out Vincent Marquis of Canada by 0.20 points. Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau of Canada finished fifth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-freestyle-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-moguls-final_frm020101oP.html

February 20

The ladies' aerials qualification round was held at 10:00 am. Alla Tsuper of Belarus ranked first on the first jump with a score of 105.64. Her second jump scored 90.12 for a combined total of 195.76. She was in first place by 3.66 points over Nina Li of China. Li's teammates, Xinxin Guo and Shuang Cheng finished third and fourth. Emily Cook of the United States was fifth with scores of 86.31 and 93.94. Cook's teammate Lacy Schnoor finished sixth with a combined score of 169.51.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-freestyle-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-aerials-qualification_frw030900WB.html

February 21

The men's ski cross qualification was held at 9:15 am. Thirty-three skiers participated and only Zednek Safar of the Czech Republic did not finish. Michael Schmid of Switzerland finished first with a time of 1:12.53. Christopher Delbosco of Canada was second with a time of 1:12.89. Xavier Kuhn was third just 0.02 behind Delbosco.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-freestyle-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-ski-cross-qualification_frm740900t6-iE.html

The second round of the men's ski cross was held at 12:15 pm. There were eight heats of four competitors and sixteen skiers advanced to the quarterfinals. Michael Schmid of Switzerland, Davey Barr of Canada, Errol Kerr of Jamaica and Eric Iljans of Sweden advanced to the first heat of the quarterfinals.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-freestyle-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-ski-cross-semifinals_frm740200Co.html

The quarterfinals of the men's ski cross were held at 12:48 pm. There were four heats of four skiers and eight advanced to the semifinals. Michael Schmid, Andreas Matt of Canada, Davey Barr and Enak Gavagglio of France advanced to the first heat of the semifinals. Audun Groenvold of Norway, Christopher Delbosco, Scott Kneller of Australia and Filip Flisar of Slovenia advanced to the second heat of the semifinalshttp://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-freestyle-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-ski-cross-semifinals_frm740200Co.html

The semifinals of the men's ski cross were held at 1:07 pm. There were two heats of four skiers and the top four advanced to Final A, who competed for the gold, silver and bronze medals. Michael Schmid, Andreas Matt, Audun Groenvold and Christopher Delbosco advanced to Final A.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-freestyle-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-ski-cross-semifinals_frm740200Co.html

The finals of the men's ski cross were held at 1:18 pm. There were four competitors in Final A and four in Final B. Michael Schmid won the gold, Adreas Matt won the silver and Audun Groenvold won the bronze.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-freestyle-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-ski-cross-finals_frm740100bF.html

February 22

The qualification round of men's aerials was held at 6:00 pm. Twenty-five skiers were scheduled to compete, twleve qualified for the finals and Yury Shapkin of Russia did not start. Zongyang Jia of China was in the lead with a two jump score of 242.52. He was 1.85 points ahead of Ryan St. Onge of the United States. Thomas Lambert of Switzerland had the highest second jump score of 123.75 and finished third overall. Dmitri Dashinski of Belarus was fourth and Jeret Peterson of the United States was fifth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-freestyle-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-aerials-qualification_frm030900t7-Jk.html

February 23

The qualification round of the ladies' ski cross was held at 10:30 am. Thirty-five skiers competed and thirty-two advanced to the second round. Anna Holmlund of Sweden finished first with a time of 1:17.15. Ashley McIvor of Canada finished second, 0.02 seconds behind Holmlund. Fanny Smith of Switzerland was third with a time of 1:17.38.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-freestyle-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-ski-cross-qualification_frw740900um.html

The second round of the ladies' ski cross was held at 1:00 pm. There were eight heats of four skiers each. Sixteen advanced to the quarterfinals which started at 1:33. There were four heats of four skiers each in the quarterfinal round. Eight advanced to the semifinals. Karin Huttary of Austria, Hedda Bernsten and Julie Brendengen Jensen of Norway, Marion Josserand of France, Kelsey Serwa of Canada, Anna Holmlund of Sweden Ashley McIvor of Canada and Fanny Smith of Switzerland advanced. The semifinal round started at 1:52 pm. Karin Huttary, Marion Josserand, Hedda Bernsten and Ashley McIvor advanced to the finals. In the final round, Ashley McIvor won the gold, Hedda Bernsten won the silver and Marion Jossernad won the bronze.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-freestyle-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-ski-cross-finals_frw740100ju.html

February 24

The finals of the ladies' aerials was held at 7:30 pm. Twelve skiers competed. Lydia Lassila ranked second after the first round, but won the gold with a second jump score of 108.49 and total score of 214.74. Nina Li of China won the silver with an overall score of 207.23 and her teammate Xinxin Guo won the bronze with an overall score of 205.22.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-freestyle-skiing/schedule-and-results/ladies-aerials-final_frw030100t7-Qa.html

February 25

The finals of the men's aerials were held at 6:00 pm. Twelve skiers competed. Alexei Grishin of Belarus won the gold medal with a combined score of 248.41. He won by 1.20 points over Jeret Peterson of the United States. Zhongqing Liu of China held off Ryan St. Onge of the United States to win the bronze. Kyle Nissan of Canada finished fifth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-freestyle-skiing/schedule-and-results/mens-aerials-final_frm030100cJ.html