What to watch for, and how a program is scored
Program & Scoring
The total scorecomes from three parts.
The technical score (TES) and the component score (PCS) are added together, and deductions such as falls are subtracted. Two groups of officials, each with several people, are involved. The technical panel decides which elements were performed. The judges score how well each element was executed, and the program components.
TES: Total Element ScorePCS: Program Component Score
156.57Total score=85.12TESTechnical score+72.45PCSComponent score−1.00Deductions
ExampleA program has a setnumber of each element.
The Short Program has 7 elements: 3 jumps (an Axel, a solo jump and a jump combination), 3 spins and 1 step sequence. A jump combination counts as one element.
The Free Skate has 11 elements: 6 jumps (one of them an Axel), 3 spins, and one step sequence and one choreographic sequence. Up to 2 jumps can be combinations.
This season the Free Skate goes from 7 jumps to 6 jumps, and one of the spins becomes a choreographic spin.
An element’s score is its base value plus its GOE.
The technical score is the sum of the scores of every element in the program. Each element score is the base value, which depends on the kind and difficulty of the element, plus the grade of execution (GOE). The GOE is the number the judges give for how well the element was performed.
Element score=Base valueSet by the kind and difficulty of the element+GOEGOEUp to 9 judges grade the execution
A jump’s base value depends on its kind and rotations.
There are six kinds of jump, and within each kind the base value rises sharply with every extra rotation. The Axel, the only jump that takes off facing forward, always has half a rotation more than the others.
| Jump | 2 rotations | 3 rotations | 4 rotations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toe loop | 1.30 | 4.20 | 9.50 |
| Salchow | 1.30 | 4.30 | 9.70 |
| Loop | 1.70 | 4.90 | 10.50 |
| Flip | 1.80 | 5.30 | 11.00 |
| Lutz | 2.10 | 5.90 | 11.50 |
| Axel2.5 / 3.5 / 4.5 rotations | 3.30 | 8.00 | 12.50 |
A combination’s base value is the sum of its jumps’ base values
A jump combination counts as one element, but its base value is the base values of the jumps in it added together.
5.90Triple Lutz+4.20Triple toe loop=10.10
Jumps in the second half are worth 1.1× the base value
Jumps get harder as skaters tire late in a program. The bonus applies to the last jump in the Short Program and the last 3 jumps in the Free Skate.
An element’s execution is graded from −5 to +5, in 11 steps.
For each element, the judges grade how well it was performed on a scale of 11 steps. One step is 10% of the base value, so the higher an element’s base value, the more its GOE can move the score.
PlusThere are up to 9 judges. The highest and the lowest grade are dropped, and the average of the rest becomes the GOE.
About under-rotation
If a jump is judged short of a full rotation, the score drops according to how much was missing.
- Up to a quarter short
- The base value stays. The GOE goes down.
- A quarter to half short
- The base value becomes 80%.
- Half or more short
- It is scored as a jump with one rotation fewer.
The component score (PCS) is built from 3 components.
Apart from the score for each element, the judges score the performance as a whole. They grade Composition, Presentation and Skating Skills from 0.25 to 10 in steps of 0.25.
- Composition0.25–10
- Presentation0.25–10
- Skating Skills0.25–10
Component score
Each component score is multiplied by a factor that depends on the discipline and on the segment, and the results are added up. The maximum scores are as follows.
| Maximum | Short Program | Free Skate |
|---|---|---|
| Women and Pairs | 39.90 | 80.10 |
| Men | 50.10 | 99.90 |
A quad,or a well-executed triple?
Skaters go for quads, even though they are hard to land, because the base value is so much higher. A quad Lutz is worth almost 2 times a triple Lutz.
The GOE runs from −5 to +5. Each step moves the score by 10% of the base value, so a quad swings further up and down.
Even with a GOE of −2, a quad Lutz scores higher than a triple Lutz performed at +4.
A fall, though, lowers the GOE by 5 steps and costs a further 1-point deduction.
Attempt the quad, or perfect the triple? Skaters build their plan around how reliably they can land the quad.
Example: all the judges give the same grade
The triple Axel for women
In the women’s Short Program, solo jumps and combinations are limited to triples, so no quads. The one exception is the required Axel, which may have up to three and a half rotations. Landing a triple Axel (3.5 rotations) instead of a double Axel (2.5) raises the base value of that one jump by 4.70, and changes how high a technical score the skater can aim for in the Short Program.
3.30Double Axel8.00Triple Axel
The second jump of a combination
Changing the second jump of a combination from a toe loop to a loop raises the base value. The loop takes off from the landing foot without using the toe pick, which makes it a hard jump to do second.
- Triple Lutz+ triple toe loop
- 10.10
- Triple Lutz+ triple loop
- 10.80
Recovering whena program goes off plan
In the Free Skate, up to 2 jumps can be combinations. Jumps get harder as a skater tires later in the program, so many skaters open the program with a combination.
In this example, the second jump of the opening combination is missed, so it becomes a solo jump. The 4.90 points for the loop are lost.
If the Lutz in the second half is also solo, that is the same triple jumped solo twice, and the second one’s base value drops to 80%.
So the skater adds a triple toe loop, an easier jump, to the second-half Lutz. The base value of the second Lutz no longer drops.
Jumps in the second half are worth 1.1× the base value, so the gap to the plan shrinks to 0.28 points.
Changing the rest of the program after a jump goes wrong, so as to lose fewer points, is called recovery.