For the first time in history, the Winter Olympics will feature freeskiing as an event. For a sport where the X Games and Dew Tour were considered the ultimate venues, Sochi will now play host to a grateful generation of high-flying winter athletes who will compete in the men’s and women’s ski halfpipe and ski slopestyle events.
“A lot of people in other sports, they dream of going to the Olympics. We never had that dream. It’s blowing my mind every day,鈥 said in slopestyle.聽
This past weekend, David Wise and Maddie Bowman were the leading athletes to on the first ever U.S. Freeskiing team. Both Wise and Bowman secured their spots by winning the halfpipe event at the U.S. Grand Prix in Breckenridge, Colorado.
Other spots will be determined at the sport鈥檚 now second-most important event, the , which kick off later this month. The selection will be based off the athletes鈥 top two finishes in competition. Bobby Brown and Keri Herman currently hold the top spots in slopestyle leading up to the competition.
Video: teamed up with the U.S. Freeskiing Team during a private training camp last spring at Mammoth Mountain in California to film the segment.