Aerials Scoring and Degree of Difficulty

Freestyle Skiing Aerials Scoring: Difficulty Meets Execution

Aerials is freestyle skiing’s most purely acrobatic event: athletes launch off a snow-covered kicker, perform twisting and flipping maneuvers 15 meters above the ground, and land on a steep, groomed slope. The scoring, governed by FIS, hinges on the interplay between how hard the trick is and how well it’s executed.

The Scoring Formula

Score = Form Judges’ Average × Degree of Difficulty (DD)

Five judges score each jump on a 0–10 scale for form and execution. The highest and lowest marks are dropped. The remaining three scores are summed (not averaged), then multiplied by the DD.

Example:

• Judges award: 8.5, 8.2, 8.0, 7.8, 8.3
• Drop highest (8.5) and lowest (7.8)
• Sum of remaining three: 8.2 + 8.0 + 8.3 = 24.5
• Trick DD: 4.525 (full-double full-full, a triple flip with twists)
• Score: 24.5 × 4.525 = 110.86

Degree of Difficulty

Every possible acrobatic maneuver has a pre-assigned DD, published by FIS. The DD reflects the number of flips, twists, and their combination:

Higher DD tricks can produce enormous scores if executed well — but a fall or poor form on a high-DD trick scores lower than a clean, moderate trick.

What Judges Look For

Takeoff (20% of form evaluation):

• Clean departure from the kicker.
• Proper body position and initiation of rotation.
• Height and angle appropriate for the intended trick.

Air Position (40%):

• Tight body form (straight layouts, tight tucks).
• Controlled rotation speed.
• Symmetrical twist execution.

Landing (40%):

• Feet-first contact on the steep landing slope.
• Absorbed impact with bent knees.
• Stable, balanced finish without stumbling or touching the snow.

A hand-down on landing (touching the snow for balance) costs roughly 1.0–2.0 from each judge. A complete fall (sitting or tumbling) drops form scores to the 2.0–4.0 range.

Competition Format

Olympic aerials uses a multi-round format:

1. Qualification: two jumps per athlete. The sum of both jump scores determines the top 12 who advance.
2. Final (Round 1): 12 athletes perform one jump each. The top 6 advance.
3. Final (Round 2): 6 athletes perform one jump. The combined score of Final Round 1 + Round 2 determines the medals.

Athletes must declare their intended trick before each jump. The trick declaration determines the DD that will be applied.

Trick Declarations and Strategy

Athletes submit their declared tricks before the competition. In qualifying, many athletes perform a safer trick in their first jump (to secure advancement) and a harder trick in their second (to build their total). In the finals, the strategic decision sharpens: go for maximum difficulty and risk a crash, or execute a clean mid-difficulty trick and hope others fall?

At Beijing 2022, the women’s aerials final was decided when Xu Mengtao of China nailed a full-full-full (bFFF) with a DD of approximately 4.293, scoring 108.61 to win gold on home snow. Her decision to attempt the harder trick rather than play it safe was the decisive moment.

Training and Safety

Aerials athletes train year-round using water ramp facilities — jumping into a pool rather than onto snow. This allows thousands of repetitions without the injury risk of hard landings. FIS mandates that Olympic-venue kickers meet specific angle and size requirements, and the landing slope must maintain a steep, smooth surface to cushion impacts.