Olympic Slopestyle Explained: The Course, The Tricks, and How Judges Score

A slopestyle course is a downhill run featuring two main types of features: rail/jib sections and jump sections. Athletes ride through the entire course in a single continuous run lasting 30-60 seconds.

Rail Section (Top of Course)

The first half typically includes 3-6 rail features — metal or snow-covered structures like flat rails, rainbow rails, down rails, wall rides, and boxes. Athletes slide, grind, and spin onto these features. Judges watch for creative entries, technical rail tricks, and clean landings off each feature.

Jump Section (Bottom of Course)

The second half features 2-4 massive jumps (called kickers or hits) built from shaped snow. Athletes launch off these jumps and perform aerial tricks — spins (360, 720, 1080, 1440+), flips (cork, double cork, triple cork), and grabs (mute, safety, japan, tail). The bigger jumps allow for more complex tricks.

How a Run Works

Athletes ride the full course once per run, performing a trick on each feature. They typically get 2-3 runs, and their best single score counts for the final ranking. Six judges evaluate the entire run holistically on a 0-100 scale using the PAVED criteria explained below.

PAVED is the judging framework used by the International Ski Federation (FIS) for slopestyle, halfpipe, and big air competitions in both freestyle skiing and snowboarding. Rather than scoring individual tricks in isolation, judges assess the entire run holistically across five interconnected criteria. Each judge provides a single overall impression score from 0 to 100. In FIS-sanctioned events, a panel of six judges evaluates each run independently. The highest and lowest scores are dropped, and the remaining four are averaged to produce the final result. This system minimizes the impact of outlier scores and ensures consistency. Understanding PAVED is essential for athletes, coaches, and spectators who want to decode why one run scores higher than another, even when both contain similar tricks.

Progression is arguably the most forward-looking criterion in the PAVED framework. It rewards athletes who push the sport's boundaries by attempting tricks that have never been performed in competition, introducing new rotation axes, or combining elements in unprecedented ways. In practice, progression is what separates the highest scoring runs — those in the 90+ range — from technically clean but conventional performances.

Judges look for several indicators of progression. A first-ever trick landed in competition is the clearest example, but progression also includes performing established tricks on unexpected features, linking elements in creative sequences, or demonstrating a new technical approach such as a novel grab variation or an unconventional rail entry. At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, athletes who debuted new combinations in their finals runs were rewarded with significantly higher scores than those who repeated known runs.

Progression also applies to how the overall run is constructed. An athlete who builds momentum from feature to feature, increasing the difficulty and spectacle as the run develops, demonstrates progression in run structure. This "building" quality keeps judges and spectators engaged and signals confidence and intentionality.

Amplitude measures how high and how far athletes travel during their tricks. In halfpipe, this means the height achieved above the 22-foot (6.7-meter) walls — Olympic-level skiers regularly reach 15 to 20 feet above the coping. In slopestyle and big air, amplitude refers to the distance and height athletes achieve off jumps and features.

Bigger amplitude directly translates to more time in the air, which gives athletes the opportunity to complete more complex rotations and hold grabs longer. Judges view high amplitude as a demonstration of superior speed management, takeoff technique, and confidence. Critically, amplitude must be consistent throughout the run. An athlete who launches 20 feet on the first hit but only 10 feet on the final one will score lower than someone who maintains 15 feet consistently. In slopestyle, judges also notice amplitude off rail features — popping high off a rail exit shows control and skill.

Variety ensures that the highest scores go to well-rounded athletes rather than one-dimensional specialists. Judges evaluate whether a run includes different trick types (spins, flips, grabs, rail slides), different rotation directions (frontside, backside, switch, regular), and diverse grab positions (mute, safety, tail, japan, and others).

A run consisting entirely of frontside 1080s, no matter how cleanly executed, will score substantially lower than one mixing backside rotations, cork variations, and different grab selections. Judges also reward variety in feature approach — for instance, entering a rail switch versus regular, or performing left and right rotations across different jumps. In halfpipe, variety means demonstrating both left-wall and right-wall tricks with different rotational directions. The principle behind this criterion is that a truly elite athlete should be able to perform at a high level in multiple directions and styles.

Execution is where the details matter most. Even the most difficult trick loses much of its value if it is landed with a hand drag, a wobble, or an off-balance recovery. Judges evaluate the quality of every phase: the takeoff (controlled, deliberate, with proper edge set), the air position (grabs held at the peak rather than quickly tapped, body aligned and stylish), and the landing (clean, absorbed, riding away smoothly).

Small mistakes have real consequences. A hand touching the snow on landing can cost 2 to 5 points from a judge's overall impression. A significant wobble or revert on landing may cost more. A fall typically drops a score by 10 to 15 points or more, depending on where it occurs in the run. Execution also encompasses style — the personal flair an athlete brings to their tricks. Tweaked grabs, smooth transitions between features, and an effortless appearance all elevate execution scores. The best athletes make incredibly difficult tricks look easy, and that perception of ease is itself a hallmark of excellent execution.

Difficulty reflects the raw technical complexity of the tricks an athlete attempts. Judges assess the number of rotations (720, 1080, 1260, 1440, 1620 and beyond), axis variations (cork, double cork, bio), whether tricks are performed switch (backwards) or regular, and the complexity of grab combinations held during rotations.

Difficulty is critical to competitive scoring, but it does not exist in a vacuum — it must be balanced against execution. A cleanly landed 1080 can and often does outscore a sloppy 1440 because the execution deficit outweighs the difficulty advantage. This balance is fundamental to how PAVED works as a holistic system. Judges reward athletes who find the sweet spot between pushing technical limits and maintaining clean execution.

At the elite level, difficulty standards evolve rapidly. Double corks were once considered the pinnacle; today, triple corks appear in big air finals and switch double cork 1620s push slopestyle boundaries. The degree of difficulty expected for a podium finish increases with each competition season, which is why progression and difficulty often work hand in hand.