Freestyle Skiing

Freestyle Skiing

Freestyle Skiing
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 4 to 5
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	4.75

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		aerial, ahhs, backscratcher, creativity, daffy, landing, oohs, take-off, presented, airborne, spectacular, stunts, based, skier, flips, purpose
	content words:		Olympic Games, Stein Eriksen, Freestyle Moguls, In Freestyle Moguls, Freestyle Ballet

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Other Languages
     French: Le Ski Acrobatique
     Spanish: Estilo Libre
     German: Freestyle Skifahren

Freestyle Skiing
By Jane Runyon

¹     Freestyle skiing is a fairly new event in the Olympic Games. It has quickly become one of the favorite events to watch. Imagine sliding down the snow at almost forty miles an hour. While you are traveling down the hill, you are dodging huge bumps. While you are dodging the bumps, you are jumping off ramps. While you are jumping off the ramps, you are doing flips, twists, and somersaults.

²     Freestyle skiing is said to have started in the late 1960's. A former Olympic skier named Stein Eriksen may have gotten tired of going up to the top of mountains and skiing down. When he hit a bump on the way down, he found himself airborne. He did a flip in midair. It gave him such a thrill; he tried to find another bump. This time he did the flip on purpose. His friends tried this new stunt. A new sport was born.

³     Today, freestyle skiing is divided into three different categories. Freestyle Moguls was the first category accepted by the Olympics. The first medals were presented in 1992. In Freestyle Moguls, the skier must make his/her way through and over mounds of snow on the course. Some of these mounds are the size of cars. Two eight foot jumps are placed on the course. The skier must do aerial tricks off these two ramps. The names of these aerial stunts are helicopter, daffy, iron cross, and backscratcher. Judges award points for three things. They see how easy the skier makes the run look. They judge the two aerial tricks. Finally, they see how fast the skier completes the course.

Paragraphs 4 to 6:
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