It's clearly dynamic and acrobatic. From the spectator's perspective, aerials have a circus-like appeal rather than a sport. Even knowing a little about the sport makes it much more entertaining to watch. Here, we'll explain the key points of aerials, the highlight of which is the high jump that pushes human limits
Aerial
A festival of bird people that you can enjoy without any reason.
The aerial feats at a height of 15m above the ground are a sight to behold.
■ Beijing Olympics Aerial Competition Schedule
All aerial competitions are held at night. Because the competitions are conducted while watching the wind, waiting times are long, starting with the new mixed team event, and then the women's qualifying and finals, as well as the men's qualifying and finals, are all scheduled on separate days. (The schedule is subject to change due to weather and other factors.)
| Date and time | venue | Broadcast schedule | |
| February 10th (Thursday) 19:00-20:05 (20:00-21:05 Japan time) | Aerial Mixed Team Finals 1-2 | Big Air Neck Steel | Will add if announced |
| February 13th (Sun) 19:00-20:45 (20:00-21:45 Japan time) | Women's Aerial Qualifiers 1-2 | Big Air Neck Steel | Will add if announced |
| February 14th (Mon) 19:00-20:15 (20:00-21:15 Japan time) | Women's Aerial Finals 1-2 | Big Air Neck Steel | Will add if announced |
| Tuesday, February 15th, 19:00-20:15 (20:00-21:15 Japan time) | Men's Aerial Qualifying Rounds 1-2 | Big Air Neck Steel | Will add if announced |
| Wednesday, February 16th, 7:00 PM - 8:15 PM (8:00 PM - 9:15 PM Japan time) | Men's Aerial Finals 1-2 | Big Air Neck Steel | Will add if announced |
■Highlights of the Beijing Olympic Aerials
Aerials became an official Olympic event at the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics. It is a judged competition in which competitors skate on an approach and then jump off a long, vertical kicker (jump ramp), competing on the difficulty and perfection of their aerial tricks. The shape of the ramp differs from that of Big Air, and it is designed to fly higher, with competitors performing high jumps 15 meters above the ground
The tricks consist of front flips and back flips, with positions such as tucks (tucked positions), pikes (shrimp positions), and layouts (straight positions), as well as twists such as half twists (somersaults with half a turn), full twists (somersaults with one twist), and rudies (somersaults with one and a half twists)
This event is a specialty of host country China, and they will undoubtedly be aiming for the gold medal again this season. In the women's overall World Cup rankings this season, Xu Mengtao, a silver medalist at the Sochi Olympics, is in first place, followed by Chinese athletes in second, sixth, eighth, and ninth places. In the men's category, Chinese athletes occupy second through fifth and seventh places. Russia is also a strong contender, with Maxim Burov winning the men's World Cup overall and World Championships last season and leading the overall World Cup this season as well
There is a big topic for aerials at this year's Olympics. At last year's Tokyo Olympics, there was a rapid increase in mixed-gender events such as table tennis, swimming, and judo, and in fact, this trend is also happening at the Winter Olympics, with a mixed aerial team event being added. This will be a national battle between teams of three men and women. In the mixed team event, China and Russia will likely compete for the gold medal
▼2018 PyeongChang Olympic Aerial Video
■ Beijing Olympics Aerial Competition Format
In the "individual", the flow is like this from the preliminary round to the final round.
- Qualifying 1: All competitors will jump once, and the top six will advance to Final 1
- <Qualifying 2> Athletes ranked 7th and below in Qualifying 1 will each jump once, and the top 6 will advance to Final 1
In this case, the higher score of Qualifying 1 or Qualifying 2 will be used
- The 12 competitors who pass the qualifying rounds for Final 1 and Final 2 will jump once each in Final 1 and Final 2, and the top 6 will advance to Final 3
In this case, the higher score from Final 1 or Final 2 will be used
- <Final 3> The six winners will each jump once to determine the final ranking
The format of the "mixed team" match is as follows:
<Final 1> All members of each team (3 mixed gender members) will jump once, and the ranking will be determined by the team's total points, and the top 4 teams will advance to <Final 2>
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<Final 2> All members of each team will jump once, and the final ranking will be determined by the total points
*The match format and ranking format may change depending on the weather on the day.
Aerials is also a sport of strategy. To aim for a medal, you need to perform at least four jumps, and strategy here is crucial. Currently, the most difficult trick for men is the triple five twists. However, even if a skater has mastered this, it doesn't mean they can land it every time. This is because there is a rule that a different trick must be performed each time. In other words, it is often saved for the final three, the final showdown. For this reason, skaters who can perform multiple versions of the triple four twists, which are the second most difficult jump after the triple five twists, are strong. However, depending on the situation, it is possible that a triple five twist will be performed in the final two
*The match format and ranking format may change depending on the weather on the day.
■Beijing Olympic Aerial Venues
Big Air Neck Steel
■ Japanese aerial representatives at the Beijing Olympics 
Unfortunately, there are no competitors.
Aerials is a sport with a small number of competitors, and each country tends to have a small number of elite athletes who remain active for a long time. Veteran Naoya Tahara competed at the Pyeongchang Olympics, but unfortunately no athletes from the Japanese team qualified to compete this time.
Text/Daisuke Mizorogi
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