What makes freestyle aerials different from other ski disciplines?

The sport of freestyle aerials isn’t an actual race — it’s a judged performance under pressure. Speed is the runway to flight, but execution decides everything. Athletes have only a few seconds to convert approach speed into height, control, and a touchdown on snow that holds. Then the jump’s degree of difficulty amplifies the result — which is why clean execution is everything. The hardest skills only matter when they’re done masterfully — and the margin between “great” and “almost” can be a single detail.