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A Beginner's Guide to SLS, Olympic, and Competition Judging in Street & Park Skateboarding
Last updated: February 21, 2026
In most major competitions, five judges score each run or trick on a scale of 0 to 100 (or 0.0–10.0 in some formats). Skateboarding uses an Overall Impression philosophy — judges evaluate the entire performance holistically rather than scoring individual tricks. At the Olympics, street skaters perform two 45-second runs plus five individual best tricks; park skaters get three 45-second runs with only the best single run counting. There is no official difficulty multiplier — a clean kickflip can outscore a sloppy 900 if the execution and style are superior.
Whether you're watching the Olympics, Street League Skateboarding (SLS), or a World Skate sanctioned event, the core scoring philosophy is the same: judges rate performances on a 0-100 scale (sometimes expressed as 0.0-10.0) based on overall impression.
A panel of five judges watches each run or trick and assigns a score independently. The highest and lowest scores are dropped, and the remaining three are averaged. This trimmed-mean approach prevents any single judge from having outsized influence.
Unlike gymnastics or figure skating, skateboarding has no base value or difficulty multiplier table. A trick's score depends entirely on the judge's holistic assessment of difficulty, execution, style, and creativity in context.
At the Paris 2024 Olympics and expected at LA 2028, skateboarding features two disciplines with different formats:
Each skater performs two 45-second runs on a street-style course with stairs, rails, ledges, and gaps. Then they get five individual trick attempts ("best trick" round). The best single run score plus the two highest trick scores are combined for the final total — a maximum of 300 points (three perfect 100s).
This means only 3 of 7 performances count: the best run and the two best tricks. A skater can afford one poor run and three failed trick attempts without it affecting their final score.
Each skater performs three 45-second runs on a bowl-style course with transitions, coping, and extensions. Only the single best run counts — there is no best-trick round. This puts enormous pressure on landing at least one clean, complete run.
Both disciplines use the same 0-100 scoring scale and five-judge panel.
Street League Skateboarding is the premier professional street skating competition series. The current SLS format (since the 2023 season) uses a "Ranked" system:
SLS has evolved its format several times over the years. Earlier formats (2010-2018) used a fixed "2 runs + 5 tricks" system where the best run score plus the best two trick scores were combined. The current system emphasizes head-to-head competition and cumulative performance.
Regardless of format changes, the judging criteria remain consistent: difficulty, execution, creativity, style, and use of the course.
Skateboarding judges evaluate performances using five interconnected criteria. These are not weighted separately — they form a holistic impression:
| Criteria | Description |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | Technical complexity of tricks: flip tricks (kickflip, heelflip, tre flip), grinds (smith, feeble, crooked), and combinations. Switch and nollie stances add difficulty. |
| Execution | How cleanly tricks are landed. Smooth pop, proper catch, stable landing, controlled roll-away. A slight wobble or credit-card (landing on the board sideways) reduces the score. |
| Variety / Creativity | Mix of trick types (flips, grinds, slides, manuals), use of different obstacles, and creative line choices. Repeating the same trick type is viewed negatively. |
| Style / Flow | Personal flair, smooth transitions between tricks, natural movement, and confident body language. Two skaters can do the same trick — one with style scores higher. |
| Use of Course | Utilizing different obstacles and sections of the course rather than sticking to one area. In park: using the full bowl including extensions, hips, and deep end. |
Unlike figure skating or gymnastics, skateboarding has no official difficulty table assigning point values to specific tricks. Judges use their professional experience and knowledge of the sport to assess difficulty contextually.
That said, there are general difficulty tiers that judges recognize:
Lower difficulty: Basic grinds (50-50, boardslide), kickflips, standard ollies over obstacles
Medium difficulty: Technical grinds (smith, feeble, crooked), flip-in/flip-out grinds, manual combinations, consistent switch skating
High difficulty: Nollie/switch flip tricks into grinds, big spin variations, handrail tricks, gap-to-grind, 540+ rotations in park
Cutting edge: First-ever tricks (e.g., first kickflip backside lipslide on a specific rail), 900+ rotations in park, multi-flip combinations into technical grinds
Important: Difficulty alone doesn't win. A perfectly executed medium-difficulty trick with style can outscore a barely-landed high-difficulty trick. Judges reward the complete package.
While both disciplines use the same scoring scale, the emphasis shifts:
"Harder tricks always win" — False. A clean kickflip crooked grind with style can outscore a sloppy double kickflip. Judges reward the combination of difficulty AND execution.
"Judges score each trick individually in a run" — Not exactly. In the run portion, judges score the entire 45-second performance as one holistic piece. In the best-trick round, each individual attempt is scored separately.
"The scoring is completely random and subjective" — While there's no mathematical formula, judges are trained professionals who follow consistent criteria. Scores from a five-judge panel rarely vary by more than 5-10 points, showing strong consensus.
"You need to land every trick to score well" — In the best-trick round, you get five attempts and only your best scores count. Even in runs, a small bobble doesn't destroy the score if the overall impression is strong.
"Park and street use different scoring systems" — They use the same 0-100 scale and the same judging criteria. The format differs (runs only vs. runs + tricks), but the scoring philosophy is identical.
Let's walk through how a skater's Olympic street competition might unfold:
Run 1 (45 seconds): The skater links together a kickflip backside 50-50 on the long rail, a frontside boardslide on the hubba ledge, a nollie heelflip over the gap, a switch frontside crooked grind on the flat bar, and a tre flip off the end section. Clean, flowy, good use of the course. → Score: 82.4 (strong variety and flow, medium-high difficulty, clean execution)
Run 2 (45 seconds): Slightly more ambitious: backside smith grind on the big rail, kickflip frontside boardslide on the hubba, hardflip down the stairs, but slips on the last trick. → Score: 71.8 (higher difficulty attempted, but the slip costs points)
Best Trick Attempts:
Final Calculation: Best run + 2 best tricks: 82.4 (best run) + 88.1 + 86.2 = 256.7
(Only the best run counts, plus the two highest trick scores. Run 2 at 71.8, the 78.5 trick, and both falls are dropped.)