For 15 years, the Winter X Games have acted as an incubator for hip, new Olympic sports that tend to lure larger and younger television audiences. Although officials at the International Olympic Committee do not credit the X Games directly with influencing what winds up in their program, many recent additions — and the athletes who star in them — earned their start at the Winter X Games, which begin Thursday on Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colo.
It began with halfpipe snowboarding. Next came snowboard cross, and ski cross. Now three more events — ski halfpipe and snowboard and ski slopestyle — appear set to become the latest, in time for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
“The chances are extremely high for ski slopestyle, ski halfpipe and snowboard slopestyle to be part of the Olympic program in 2014,” Christophe Dubi, the I.O.C. sports director, said in an e-mail.
Competitors in ski halfpipe use the same 22-foot-tall halfpipe as snowboarders, and they perform similar soaring, spinning aerial maneuvers. Ski and snowboard slopestyle share a downhill course familiar to anyone who has seen a mountain resort terrain park filled with features like picnic tables, handrails and massive jumps, from which competitors perform a series of tricks for a judged score.
All three events are already part of the 2012 Youth Olympic Games. Adding them to the Winter Games would continue a trend.
After the success of ski cross and snowboarding halfpipe in Vancouver, the International Ski Federation, known as F.I.S. — the sanctioning body for skiing and snowboarding at the Olympics — has fast-tracked Winter X Games mainstays ski halfpipe and snowboard and ski slopestyle. In October the I.O.C.’s executive board empowered Jacques Rogge, the committee’s president, to make a final decision about which new sports to add.
Rogge is expected to announce their inclusion by the end of April.
“We’re all expecting it and training right now, basing the next few years on it being in,” said Sarah Burke, who will compete in the women’s ski superpipe final at the X Games on Thursday. Burke, a Canadian, won gold medals in superpipe from 2007 to 2009.
“It’s kind of a no-brainer in my eyes,” Simon Dumont said about the Olympics adopting halfpipe. On Friday Dumont, 24, will ride in the men’s superpipe final, where he has won six medals, including two golds (2004 and 2005).
If selected, ski halfpipe and slopestyle would be the first freeskiing events in the Olympics. Freeskiing is a new-school movement and has a sensibility similar to snowboarding.
“Ski slopestyle and ski halfpipe are the type of events that the younger generation practices every weekend in snow parks,” Dubi said. “Observing what happens on the ground is the best way for the I.O.C. to remain relevant in its choice of Olympic program content.”
The Olympics, in turn, have made mainstream stars of competitors like Shaun White and the Australian Torah Bright, who each won gold medals in snowboard halfpipe at the Vancouver Games and will compete in superpipe and slopestyle at the Winter X Games this week.
Still, the marriage between the Olympics and snowboarding provides a cautionary tale for freeskiers.
In the early 1990s, before the principals in snowboarding were well organized, F.I.S. recognized the sport. In turn the I.O.C. deemed F.I.S. the governing body for Olympic snowboarding. A rancorous relationship between the ski federation and snowboarding worsened, and several of the world’s best riders, including Terje Haakonsen of Norway, boycotted the debut of snowboarding at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.
Ever since, snowboarders have criticized F.I.S. judging criteria, contest formats and Olympic qualifying requirements, all of which they say stifle the sport. Although many of these concerns have been addressed, some snowboarders still prefer not to compete at F.I.S. events.
Last week, as F.I.S. held the world snowboard championships in La Molina, Spain, several of the world’s top competitors were in Killington, Vt., at a Winter Dew Tour event.
“Snowboarding has its own tours, which are far more competitive than the actual F.I.S. tour, which is how you qualify for the Olympics,” Bright said. “I would very much like the I.O.C. to work with us to make it easier for us to participate in the Olympics.”
Last week, Haakonsen, who has gone on to help create Ticket to Ride, known as T.T.R., a rival tour to F.I.S., criticized the skiing body in an open letter published by several news media outlets.
Freeskiers have taken note. Dumont and Chris Schuster, ski sport organizer at the Winter X Games, helped create the Association of Freeskiing Professionals, an international rating system for competitions meant to ensure progressive courses and consistent judging.
“We wanted to make something that wouldn’t repeat the problems with snowboarding,” Schuster said.
This season there has been buzz about a new generation of freeskiing tricks, including a 1,260-degree triple flip, an inverted maneuver while spinning three and a half rotations. In an attempt to put on the best show at the freestyle world ski championships next month in Utah, the freeskiing professionals have discussed using their judges with F.I.S. officials.
“The cool thing about our sport is how unique it is, the creativity, and how it’s changing each year and the progression,” Dumont said.
After all, landing in the Olympics is one thing. The competitors also want to land the gnarliest tricks.
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