Mogul skiing, more commonly known in its shortened form as mogul, is a sport of the freestyle skiing discipline in which athletes compete on a specially designed course, in which the primary focus in on techniques used for turns, aerial maneuvers, and speed.
The skis used for mogul skiing have an average length of 185cm for men and 175cm for women. Ski poles, kneepads, helmets, and goggles are some of the other equipment used.
The courses used for moguls are very steep with an average slope grade of 26 degrees. The courses are between 200 - 270m, with each mogul about 3.5m apart. The course also includes two small jumps used for performing aerial maneuvers.
In competitions, athletes run down the course one at a time and their runs are judged and also timed. Each athlete just gets one run down the course. The runs are judged based on several aspects. Turns are the most important and account for 60% of the score. Aerial jumps accounts for 20%. Jumps are evaluated for loops, flips, and rotations. Speed accounts for the other 20% of the score.
Mogul skiing is part of the Winter Olympics which features a medal event for both men and women. It is also contested at the FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships.
Similar Sports
- Freestyle Skiing — different forms of freestyle skiing including Aerial skiing, Mogul skiing, Ski ballet, Ski cross, Half-pipe skiing, Slopestyle skiing.
- Slopestyle Skiing — athletes on skis perform on a course with different types of obstacles.
- Ski Cross — multiple downhill skiers race head-to-head on a course including big jumps, rollers and high-banked turns.
- Slalom Skiing — an alpine skiing discipline that involves skiing downhill through gates, with the gates closer together therefore tighter turns than in Giant Slalom or Super-G.
- Aerials — a freestyle skiing discipline in which athletes ski along a take-off ramp, then perform various on-air tricks.
- Snowboarding — involves descending on a slope covered in snow using a single board attached to both feet.
Related Pages
- Moguls is part of Freestyle Skiing at the Winter Olympics
- Complete list of sports
- The Encyclopedia of Sports