To qualify for selection for the GB Freeski Team, athletes must prove themselves on the competition circuit. Once established, athletes should qualify for Europa Cup and World Cup level competition in either Halfpipe or Slopestyle events.
Team Qualification
The Freestyle Selection Policy introduced by British Ski & Snowboard has been the subject of a lengthy review over the past season and the new version will be used by the Selection Panel with effect from 13 January 2012. This will govern the progression of athletes through the junior and development squads to the Elite Performance Squad and ultimately their eligibility for selection by the British Olympic Association to represent Great Britain at the Winter Olympic Games.
Sections have also been added to deal with Youth Olympic Winter Games and World Junior Ski Championships. A section has also been added setting out the information required from athletes about their intended training and competition schedules when applying for a Licence. As this has been introduced rather late in the season, athletes should note the need to send details of their current plans to BSS as soon as possible, to kick-start this process.
Additional criteria will be developed under the guidance of the British Ski & Snowboard Performance Director, and are likely to incorporate measures of each athlete’s personal development and commitment to structured programmes of training and competition, to the extent that these can be objectively evaluated.
The Great Britain Freeski Team is for the foreseeable future to consist only of those athletes awarded an A Licence. This is to ensure that British Team status accurately reflects that the athlete is engaged at the highest level of competition, that is World Cup, World Championships or Olympic Winter Games.
The expectation of Half Pipe and Slopestyle athletes’ performances in order to compete at World Cup has been revised upwards, in line with observation of the general levels of performance in those events. It is intended that those levels will be kept under constant review, especially in new events such as SlopeStyle where the practice of the sport within FIS is rapidly evolving.
Olympic Qualification
Representing Great Britain at the XXII Winter Olympics in freeski means satisfying the eligibility of the international governing body FIS, and selection criteria set out by GB governing body, British Ski & Snowboard during the programme leading up to the Games.
A maximum of eight entries (four male, four female) in each of Freeski Slopestyle and Freeski Superpipe may represent their National Olympic competition within the FIS quota at the XXII Winter Olympic Games. Any athlete achieving a Top 30 placement in a FIS World Cup or FIS World Championship event in either Superpipe (Halfpipe) or Slopestyle with a minimum total of 80 points (50 for Slopestyle) on the Olympic FIS Points List will qualify to represent Great Britain. The current ranking and points standing of all freeski athletes is available on the Official FIS website.
Superpipe
In addition, athletes within the Top 100 World ranking AND a minimum of two Top 20 (male), Top 12 (female) finishes in FIS World Cup Events, OR one Top 12 Finish in the 2013 FIS World Championships OR a minimum of two Top 15 (male), Top 12 (female) finishes in the X Games, Aspen Open or Dew Tour, will also be nominated by BSS for selection by the BOA.
Slopestype
In addition to the Top 30, the BOA will also nominate for selection any athlete within the Top 100 World ranking AND a minimum of two Top 20 finishes in FIS World Cup Events OR a minimum of two Top 20 (male), Top 12 (female) finishes in the 2013 FIS World Championships OR a minimum of two Top 15 finishes in the X Games, Aspen Open or Dew Tour.
Pre-selection is automatically awarded to any British athlete having a World ranking within the top 12 competitors as of mid-January 2014.
British Ski & Snowboard will make its final nomination of selected athletes to the BOA by the close of Tuesday 21st January 2014, for confirmed selection announcement by the BOA as soon as possible after the Wednesday, 22nd January 2014.
These will be the athletes going on to carry the freeski flag for Great Britain from the 7th February, 2014 at the XXII Winter Olympic Games
