How Does Degree of Difficulty Work in Freestyle Skiing Aerials?

The Degree of Difficulty (DD) is a predetermined numerical value that the FIS assigns to every recognized aerial maneuver. It quantifies how complex a trick is by accounting for three main factors: the number of somersaults (single, double, or triple), the number of twists added within those somersaults, and the body position during the maneuver (tuck, pike, or layout).

A layout back somersault with no twists is among the simplest inverted maneuvers and carries a relatively low DD. Add a full twist and the DD increases. Stack two somersaults with twists in each and the DD rises further. At the extreme end, triple-somersault combinations with multiple twists push DD values above 5.0, representing maneuvers that only a handful of elite athletes in the world can perform.

The DD system serves a critical competitive purpose: it ensures that athletes who attempt harder tricks are proportionally rewarded. However, the reward is conditional. Because the DD is a multiplier, a poorly executed high-difficulty jump can score lower than a cleanly executed easier one. This creates the fundamental strategic tension in aerials: athletes must weigh the potential reward of a higher DD against their ability to execute the maneuver cleanly enough to benefit from that multiplier.

Aerials scoring follows a precise, formula-driven process. A panel of five judges independently evaluates each jump across two components:

Air and Form (up to 7.0 points) covers the quality of the takeoff, the execution of rotations and twists, body position throughout the maneuver, and the height achieved. Landing (up to 3.0 points) evaluates the touchdown itself, impact absorption, balance, and the controlled outrun. Together, these two components give each judge a score from 0.0 to 10.0.

Once all five judges have scored, a trimming process is applied at the component level. Within each component (Air/Form and Landing separately), the highest and lowest of the five marks are dropped, and the three middle scores are retained. The three middle Air/Form scores are summed, and the three middle Landing scores are summed, producing the execution total.

Finally, the execution total is multiplied by the DD of the performed maneuver. This single multiplication is what makes the DD so strategically important: it amplifies both excellent and mediocre execution equally, rewarding clean technique on hard tricks and punishing sloppy form on easy ones.