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It's the next big thing in wintersports, and it's set to take the Winter Olympics by storm in February 2010. Question is, how do you survive skiing's most gladiatorial contest - and how do you win? Ski cross racer Max Hardy gives the low down on what it will take to pick up next year's gold medal.

World Cup Champion Tomás Kraus (centre right) and GB's Craig Robinson (far right) battle it out (©noteam.at)

"So what is ski cross?" they always ask, confused. My answer is always the same: "you know motocross? It's like that, but with skis, a steep hill and ice." This always gets them concerned for my well-being - and with good reason. Ski cross is a straight race between four competitors down a course of rollers, kickers and tightly-banked turns, and the first one down, or the last one standing, is the winner. Injuries are commonplace. Last season - my first on the Europa Cup circuit - I nearly bit my tongue off and chipped four teeth on a training run in Alpe d'Huez. My tongue needed seven stitches...

This winter the sport comes of age when the final of the first-ever Olympic ski cross final is broadcast to millions across the globe on February 21, 2010. It's not just a gold medal that's at stake. If the success of snowboard cross at the Turin Olympics in 2006 is anything to go by (it drew the largest TV audiences of any event at the Games) then the winner is going to become an instant star.

Here's what it will take to make it onto that podium.

1. Bring a spare change of underwear

And he thought the Hahnenkamm was scary (©daronrahlves.com)

Even downhill racers find ski cross intimidating. US downhill hero Daron Rahlves made the switch to ski cross a few years ago, and at this year's World Championships in Inawashiro, Japan, was faced with a behemoth of a kicker near the bottom of the course. The 12-time World Cup winner was overheard saying it was "bigger than anything [he'd] ever done, Hahnenkamm or elsewhere." Rahlves eventually faced his fears, finishing in 9th. I imagine his next stop was the hotel bar for a stiff drink of saki.

Here's the man himself in action. If might not seem very big on a headcam, but even a World Cup downhill looks like the easy blue run you used to cruise to lunch when it's on television. Trust me, those jumps are huge.

2. Skin to win

The Japanese team suits look like they're made out of rubber... (©noteam.at)

Clothing disputes have been a big feature of ski cross over the last year. The sport was born out of a backlash against classical alpine racing, and part of its appeal was that lycra suits were banned. Not anymore: in 2008 FIS changed the rules to allow two-piece, skin-tight suits. To begin with there was uproar, but once World Cup events were being won by racers in the new outfits, everyone followed suit (!). Since no-one manufactures two-piece catsuits anymore, competitors have had to be creative: highlights I witnessed this season included skinny jeans (yes, jeans), leather motorcycle pants, and an array of terrible 80's two-piece slalom suits. One guy even turned up in a wetsuit. Despite all this, FIS have made only the most token of efforts to rectify the situation for 2009/10, increasing the minimum bagginess of clothing but not banning stretchable material.

As it stands, it looks like we'll be seeing lycra on the podium in February. Shame really, as snowboard cross has never had this problem.

I wonder if a Speedo LZR swimsuit might work?

3. Don't try a grab on that final kicker

It was all going so well... until this.

If you don't remember American Lindsey Jacobellis' antics during the snowboard cross at the 2006 Olympics, you were living under a rock. Just metres from certain gold, Jacobellis famously attempted a method air (or was it an indy grab? I don't think she was sure herself) over the last jump, having led for the whole final. She stacked it, and was only able to recover enough to claim silver.

Let's hope the skiers were watching. Although we did hear rumours that Canadian Brian Bennett was practicing his back flips off the big kicker during training at X Games back in January. Check out the size of that thing, too. What a nutter:

4. Watch out for them crazy cannucks

The Canadian government is on a mission for medals with Own the Podium 2010 (©ownthepodium2010.com)

Despite Czech Four-Time World Cup Champion Tomás Kraus having his eye on the prize, the smart money for the men's event in Vancouver is on a Canadian one-two-three. No expense has been spared in the home nation's Own the Podium 2010 initiative - a government-funded quest to top the medals table at the Games. The be-all and end-all for Canada Ski Cross is gold in February, and the athletes have worked closely with the course design team to ensure success. Many would say too closely.

The most telling sign of all was at February's World Cup event on Cypress mountain - the exact same place that the Olympic race will be staged. The course was unlike anything seen on the tour this year in terms of size and scale, yet the Canadians seemed completely unphased. Combined with a strength in numbers and good teamwork, Team Canada outmaneuvered Kraus, with Chris Del Bosco in 1st, X Games Gold Medalist Stan Hayer in 2nd, and Davey Barr in 3rd (all Canadians). The Czech racer finished a distant 4th.

If that wasn't bad enough, Aleisha Cline and Ashleigh McIvor (guess where they're from) took a one-two in the women's event.

5. To finish first, you must first finish

McIvor in 2nd place looks for a way past World Cup Champion Ophelie David (©ashleighmcivor.com)

McIvor also learnt a valuable lesson in Japan during the World Championships last season. It seemed as if all was lost during the time trials, as she hooked a ski round one of the gates and fell during the all-important seeding run. Refusing to give up, Ashleigh hiked up the hill for almost two minutes and put her skis back on to finish in 28th place - the final qualifier for the knockout heats.

With the worst position in the start gate for each heat -given her poor qualification position - the odds were massively against her, and yet with a clever line, some hard work and a heap of luck, she proceeded to the final. Out of nowhere a medal was now on the cards, and taking an early lead, she stuck it out to take gold and become world champion.

"I don't know how I did this," the 25-year-old from Whistler later admitted. But her competitors will heed her doggedness: nothing is for granted in a sport where a collision can turn disaster into triumph in seconds.

6. You need eyes in the back of your head

Here's one I made earlier: Casey Puckett falls spectacularly during the 2007 Jeep King of the Mountain

And doesn't Casey Puckett know it. I almost don't want to share this one, it looks so painful.

The Grindelwald stage of the 07/08 World Cup season is the setting, as the veteran Olympian and ski cross star cruises to an early lead during the first round of knockout heats. With a berth in the quarter finals all but sewn up for Puckett, Frenchman Florian Noyrey makes a desperate move for second place. It doesn't go well, and he ends up landing on the head of Swede Tommy Eliasson as he tries to jump down the inside. Eliasson is hurled forward by the impact, and takes out Puckett - who is just about to hit a jump and has been minding his own business in first place. Mirco Auer of Switzerland has been trailing far behind, and ends up qualifying first, if slightly in shock.

7. Leave your 'SX' skis at home

Manufacturers change the designs on race skis to stimulate sales of recreation models (©noteam.at)

It's a dastardly trick that has worked extremely well for ski manufacturers in recent years. Endless models of 'SX', 'Supercross' and 'Crossmax' skis have dominated the intermediate market for a while now, and yet they couldn't be less related to what ski cross racers are using. The reality is that every athlete on the FIS circuit uses super-stiff, super-long factory-production giant slalom skis just like the lycra brigade. World Cup winners with marketability then get a different top layer on their skis to make them look like the 'Crossmax' models, and in turn the masses buy what they see on TV.

It's a nice ploy, but if you're in the medal hunt this winter you won't be settling for planks which are any shorter than 191cm.

8. Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme

Get on up, its ski cross time: the Jamaican ski team at the World Championships opening ceremony (©errolkerr.com)

For all the talk about Czechs and Canadians, let's not forget Errol Kerr. What a great story it will be if Jamaica beat Great Britain in the medal haul in Vancouver. That's right: Jamaica. Errol is the former US Team downhill racer from Truckee, California, that switched disciplines and national allegiance after growing tired of the alpine game. The son of a Jamaican, Errol has found a huge amount of support from the little island nation, who traditionally spend big sums backing sporting success.

So keep an eye out for his trademark pink scarf and goggles: with a top 10 at the World Championships under his belt, plus a top 5 at X Games, Errol definitely has an outside chance of making Cool Runnings a reality. Hollywood producers, form an orderly queue please...

Also see Max's World for more on ski cross.