How Does Dual Moguls Scoring Work?

Dual moguls is a head-to-head competition format within freestyle skiing moguls. Two athletes race simultaneously down parallel mogul courses built side by side on the same slope, each navigating their own field of moguls and performing two mandatory aerial maneuvers off designated jumps. The format transforms moguls from an individual time-trial style event into a direct elimination tournament with immediate, visible outcomes.

The side-by-side racing creates an electric atmosphere that distinguishes dual moguls from its singles counterpart. Spectators can watch both athletes at once and instantly see who is skiing faster, turning more cleanly, and performing more impressive aerials. This visual clarity makes dual moguls one of the most spectator-friendly events in freestyle skiing.

Dual moguls first appeared on the FIS World Cup circuit in the 1990s and steadily grew in popularity. The format gained its most significant recognition when it was added to the Winter Olympic program at the 2014 Sochi Games. It has been contested at every Winter Olympics since, and will return at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games, where competitions are expected to take place at the Livigno venue. Both men's and women's dual moguls are Olympic medal events.

The dual moguls bracket follows a structured progression from qualification through to the medal round.

Qualification Round: All athletes complete a single run down one of the parallel courses, scored using the standard moguls system — 60% turns, 20% air, 20% speed. Seven turn judges score carving quality on a 0-5 scale (highest and lowest dropped, remaining five averaged), two air judges evaluate form and difficulty for each of the two jumps, and an electronic timing system captures the pace score. These qualification scores determine seedings for the elimination bracket.

The top 16 athletes from qualification advance to the head-to-head rounds. In some competitions, a round of 32 is used when field sizes are large enough. The bracket is seeded so that the top qualifier faces the lowest-seeded qualifier in the first round, the second-highest faces the second-lowest, and so on — ensuring that the strongest athletes do not meet until the later rounds.

From there, the competition follows a single elimination format: round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, and the final. Each round consists of a single head-to-head duel. The winner advances; the loser is eliminated. A small final (bronze medal match) is typically held between the two semifinal losers to determine third place.

In the head-to-head elimination rounds, judges evaluate both skiers using the same 60/20/20 component system (turns, air, speed) that applies to singles moguls. Each skier receives a full score breakdown: turn scores from seven judges, air scores with degree of difficulty multipliers from two air judges, and a pace score from electronic timing.

The critical difference from singles moguls is that the scores serve a comparative purpose. In each duel, the athlete with the higher combined score wins the head-to-head and advances to the next round. The raw scores are still calculated using the standard methodology, but the outcome is binary: win or lose.

Some FIS competition formats have experimented with preference-based judging in dual moguls, where each judge simply selects which of the two athletes performed better, and the athlete receiving the majority of judge preferences wins the duel. However, the predominant format at the Olympic and World Cup level uses full scoring, which provides greater transparency and detailed feedback for athletes and coaches.

A key tactical element of dual moguls is that athletes can see their opponent during the run. This creates strategic dynamics absent from singles competition. A skier who sees their opponent fall may choose to dial back difficulty and focus on clean execution to secure the win. Conversely, a skier trailing in speed may push harder on aerial difficulty to compensate.

While dual moguls and singles moguls share the same foundational scoring system, the competition formats differ in several important ways that change strategy, excitement, and outcomes.

In singles moguls, athletes compete individually against the entire field. Two or three runs determine qualification and finals, and the best single score wins. Consistency across a full run is paramount, but athletes only need one exceptional performance to claim victory. In dual moguls, athletes must deliver strong performances across multiple elimination rounds — typically four or five head-to-head duels to win gold — making sustained excellence under mounting pressure the defining challenge.

The course setup also differs. Singles moguls uses a single course, while dual moguls requires two parallel courses that must be built to equivalent specifications to ensure fairness. Both courses must have the same gradient, mogul spacing, and jump placement, though the FIS allows athletes to switch lanes between rounds to account for any minor course differences.

The psychological dynamic is fundamentally different. Singles moguls rewards the athlete who can deliver peak individual performance. Dual moguls rewards the athlete who can consistently outperform a direct opponent while managing the mental pressure of elimination. Many athletes thrive in one format but struggle in the other, which is why dual moguls often produces surprising results compared to singles standings.