Mogul skiing was one of the first ‘freestyle’ disciplines in FIS history. The competition was a huge hit because it blended exciting aerials with technical prowess on moguls- a feature that all skiers and riders have experience with.
The FIS was reluctant to allow inverted flips until enough public pressure was put on them when ’98 Gold Medalist Jonny Moseley landed his legendary ‘Dinner Roll’ trick for the first time in ’02.
Moseley received a poor score despite the ground-breaking trick. At the time, a skier’s head could not go below his skis or else it was considered an inverted trick.
Moseley’s head doesn’t go completely under his skis in his ‘Dinner Roll’, but it was close enough for the judges to knock him for it.
You can watch it below:
The FIS started allowing inverted tricks in 2003, and the sport of mogul skiing was changed forever. Athletes were not only allowed to throw inverted tricks, they were encouraged to in order receive the highest score.
The various disciplines of freestyle skiing have continued to progress since 2003 with the best athletes regularly throwing double-inverted tricks in Slopestyle, Big Air, and Halfpipe competitions.
In spite of their athlete’s abilities, the FIS has not wavered in their ban of double-inverted tricks in mogul competitions.
Some might find it odd then, that the Olympics, which largely uses FIS rules for mogul competitions, including the ban on double inverts, commented with praise on a video of mogul skiing GOAT Mikaël Kingsbury landing a double-inverted trick during a recent training session.
The official Olympics Instagram account responded to video by saying, “Helicopter, helicopter 🎶🤩”, which is an odd thing to say, but it implies that they’re impressed by the trick.
You can click the right arrow in the embedded Instagram post to see Kingsbury’s dub 10 that they were commenting on:
Hmmm… shouldn’t they allow athletes to throw double-inverted tricks in competitions if they’re so impressed? That would make sense, right?
The argument is that it’s not safe for mogul skiers to attempt double-inverted tricks under the FIS’s current regulations for jump and landing size on their courses.
That a load of BS if you ask me. If the best mogul skier in the world can throw a dub, then let him, and watch as the rest of the sport progresses with him. That’s what freestyle action sports are all-about after all.
Mogul skiing has lost some of its luster in recent years thanks to the rise of Big Air, Slopestyle, and Half Pipe competitions. Let’s let the mogul skiers go big with dubs and bring their discipline back into the limelight.
Who’s with me?
It seems like a lot of ski pros around the world are on board. Just take a look at some of their comments left on Kingsbury’s video:
Mike Douglas (@mikedski): “This is so rad, Mik!! 🙌 Are comp dubs allowed now?”
Alex Ferreira (@alexferreiraski): “Lfg 🔥”
David Kantermo (@davidkantermo): “@olympics it you like it, allow it ✅”