Freestyle Slalom : Marking System

Official document about the rules (download it)
Annexes 2008 (download it)

Style slalom demands that four judges be present; each one is in charge of a marking sheet. The sum of the four sheets will define the number of points in a run. Competitors are entitled to two runs; at the end of a competition, judges will obtain a mark for both, and only the best one will count for the final ranking.

The way of proceeding is common to all categories. There are only two categories, female and male. As a consequence, the youngest competitors will be judged exactly in the same way and by the same standards as adults.

Each judge is in charge of one criterion only during the whole competition. They do not have access to the other marking sheets and therefore cannot know the result before the addition of all criteria, which the judge responsible for calculations carries out after the competition. It is the judge manager's responsibility to check there is no miscalculation and to validate the ranking obtained.

It should be noted that the four marks are independent in this notation system

Let us have a close look at each of the four marking sheets :

The penalty sheet
It gathers five important parameters that will define the overall penalty mark.

Fallen cones: each cone the competitor knocks down or displaces will cost 0.5 points.

Avoided cones: each cone the competitor did not slalom at the end of the allotted 90-second period results into a penalty (-0.5 points).

Falls: Judges appreciate how serious they are and mark them from 0 to 5 accordingly. For example, a hand touching the ground will cost 1 point, and a big fall on the belly will cost 5 points.

Run duration: A run lasts for 90 seconds at most, after 90 seconds the performance is not judged.
The competitor should stop skating himself : in between 80 seconds & 100 seconds. Else a penalty of 5 points will be provided

There is no limit to penalty points.

The run management sheet
It gathers two essential parameters: trick families and rhythm. When added up, these will give the run management mark.

Trick families: there are five of them.

Eagles or Reverse Eagle : The feet must be open (think Charlie Chaplin...) with an angle superior to 90°. Eagle proper, crossed eagle and Z belong to this family. Or for the reverse eagles : These are tricks in which the feet are closed with an angle greater than 90°. Reverse eagle proper (a mere snake-like move among the cones with toes facing each other), crossed reverse eagle, reverse Z

Sitting tricks: These are tricks in which one squats while balancing on one foot. The competitor's buttocks are at the same level as, or below, the knee of their leg that touches the ground.
Footgun (aka "cafetière"), christie and kazachoc belong to this family.

Wheelings and side-wheel balances: These are tricks performed on one foot only and one wheel only. There is an exception for quads; balancing on two wheels from the same skate (the side, heel or toe wheels), qualifies as a trick of this family.

Spin : Tricks performed on 1 or 2 wheels for inlines (or even 4 wheels (toe or heel wheels) for quad skates), 2 circles around the cones, around the same cone, in between the cones ... as long as it is more than 720°

Jumping tricks:
These are tricks that include a phase in which neither foot is in contact with the ground, as well as an impulsion phase and a landing phase.
Jumping X, wiper, foot-spin, kazachoc... belong to this family.

The judge marks each trick family on a 2-point scale. They take into account the best performance for this particular family in the whole run.
They must mark each family performed on 4 or more cones.(Spin Family rule is 720° instead of 4 cones)
A trick performed correctly on 4 cones is worth 2 points.(Spin Family rule is 720° instead of 4 cones)
If a competitor performs a trick on 4 cones (or more) and knocks down or avoids one of them, the judge still grants 2 points provided that the competitor respected the trick's move.
If the skater does not respect the move on one cone at most, the judge grants only one point (a typical situation is when the skater does not get the move right from the start ; e.g. their sitting trick is not low enough at the first cone, or their eagle gets open enough only when they are passing the first cone).

The maximal mark will be 10 points.

Rhythm:
This mark is about the judge's appreciation of the overall rhythm of the run. The final mark must reflect the proportion of concordance with the music. The concordance relates to two aspects (5points & 5points) : general rhythm (tempo) and musical peaks (tune). The mark will comprise rhythm variations related to the music, and timing consistent with the music, either generally or on specific occasions.

The maximal mark will be 10 points.

The maximal management mark is 20 points.

The style sheet
It gathers two parameters. When added, theses give the style mark.

Execution quality of tricks & transitions : 20 points
This mark is about the judge's overall appreciation of all tricks & transitions in each line of cones, no matter how many cones they have been performed on. The style mark will be good if the run displays command, fluency, pleasant curves and a nice balance

Choreography : 5 points
This part of the marking deals with all extra choreographic feats the competitor may perform. Choreography will be marked according to the difficulty, originality, beauty, consistency and number of the feats.
Some examples of feats:
Blocks, special entries and exits (jumps, shuffles), stunts, splits, dance figures...

The maximal style mark is 25 points.

The technical sheet
It gathers four parameters. When added, they give the technical mark.

Technical tricks:
They get marked according to flexibility (Y, reverse eagle, christie...), balance (wiper, wheeling...), strength (kazachoc...) and potential loss of bearings (tricks that may disorientate the skater: foot-spin, backward tricks...)

Each trick performed on 4 cones or more must be marked.
If a competitor performs a trick on 4 cones (or more) and knocks down or avoids one, the judge grants them the mark if they respected the slalom move.

The mark is granted in reference to a standard. The standard is worth 1 point; it does not define a ceiling in marking. It relates to the current high common difficulty.

E.g.: Crazy = 0 point
Volte = 0.50 points
Footgun = 1.00 points
Christie = 1.25 points
Backward wheeling = 1.25 points

The maximal mark will be 20 points.

Technical transitions:
They get marked according to balance (heel wheeling to toe wheeling), strength (sitting trick to standing trick), flexibility (reverse eagle to crossed reverse eagle), potential loss of bearings (backward one-foot to backward footgun), and changes in rhythm or direction.
The mark is granted in reference to a standard. The standard is worth 1 point; it does not define a ceiling in marking. It relates to the current high common difficulty.

E.g.: Sun to eagle = 0.0 points
Technical change of direction (forward trick to backward trick) = 0.50 points
Forward one-foot to forward footgun = 0.75 points
Backward one-foot to wiper = 1.00 points

The maximal mark will be 10 points.

Overall technical appreciation:
The judge takes into account the skater's global performance in comparison to all that is possible in slalom skating. They appreciate the technical quality of the run taken as a whole, as well as that of all its technical elements.

The judge will mark the proportion of technical difficulty in the whole run according to the quantity of tricks and to the quantity of transitions.

The maximal mark will be 10 points.

Execution speed:
This mark relates to the judge's appreciation of the overall execution speed, in comparison to all that is possible in slalom skating.

The maximal mark will be 5 points.

The maximal technical mark is 45 points.

Some important details
A repetition is defined as the execution of the same element on several occasions. Repeating element, whatever they may be, is not penalised. It is not rewarded either. An element (a trick, a transition, a choreographic feat) will lose its technical value as it is repeated, by 50% each time. In other words the technical element will be valued at 100% the first time, 50% the second time, and 0% the next times.
Note that performing a move on two different lines does not count as a repetition if the technical difficulty is regarded as different.

The point count begins when the skater passes the first cone. Anything performed before that just will not count.