Skicross anyone?

This weekend Deer Valley Resort is premiering the first skicross world cup event in Utah; this will be part of its annual freestyle world cup competitions. For years, I’ve always felt that ski racing badly needed some spicing up and alpine events in particular had grown just too boring to garner spectators in decent numbers. Well, skicross might precisely be just what Doctor Fun ordered…
A cocktail of the old pro racing format, terrain park activities and indoor motocross, skicross (also known as skiercross or skier-X) is a timed event, that’s considered part of freestyle’s new school because it incorporates terrain features. In a time trial or qualification round, every competitor skis down the course, built to encompass both natural terrain and manmade features like jumps, rollers and banks. After the time trial, the fastest 16 (in women's events) or 32 skiers (in men's events) compete in a knockout-style series in rounds of four. A group of four skiers start simultaneously and attempt to make it to the bottom. The first two to cross the finish line will advance to the next round. At the end, the final and small final rounds determine 1st to 4th and 5th to 8th places, respectively. Competitors are not allowed to pull or push each other during the knockout (KO) finals. Any intentional contact to the other competitors is penalized by disqualification or exclusion from the next race. It’s a bit messy, quite exciting and totally fresh, so there’s nothing left to complain about!