Winter Olympics Snowboarding Halfpipe: What are the rules and score?

MAMMOTH, CA - JANUARY 20: Chase Josey competes in the final round of the Men's Snowboard Halfpipe during the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix on January 20, 2018 in Mammoth, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
MAMMOTH, CA - JANUARY 20: Chase Josey competes in the final round of the Men's Snowboard Halfpipe during the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix on January 20, 2018 in Mammoth, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The snowboarding halfpipe is one of the most exciting and popular Winter Olympic sports, but what are the rules and how do they score the event?

Snowboarding has been part of the Winter Olympics since 1998, including the halfpipe competiton. It’s one of just two snowboarding events that have been in every Olympics since 1998.

First, let’s get some basics out of the way. The halfpipe is a snowbacked U-shaped course, like a pipe cut in half. The walls are 22 feet high, and riders go back and forth, launching themselves into the air to perform tricks.

In halfpipe there are two rounds, qualification and final. In the qualification round, riders (30 in men’s and 24 in women’s) will each get two runs. The best of those two runs will be the official score, and the top 12 riders will advance to the final.

In the final round, each rider gets three runs, which is new this year. Previously riders got just two runs in the final round. The order of the riders in the final round is dependent on the scores from the qualification round, worst of the 12 going first and the best score going last. And like the qualification round, the best score is the only one that matters.

But how do they score the runs?

This is where it gets a bit tricky since it essentially subjective, like figure skating.

A team of six judges scores each run. The highest and lowest scores are dropped and the four remaining scores are averaged together for a single score per run.

Scores can range from 1 to 100 and are based on overall impression. The criteria for scoring includes:

  • Amplitude
  • Difficulty
  • Variety
  • Execution
  • Progression

Amplitude basically means the height a rider achieves, the higher the better, not only on the first hit but throughout the run. Progression is an interesting metric. This is where riders can score big points for introducing new tricks or linking together tricks in a way that has never been done before.

Next: Best Olympian from each state

For more from the Winter Olympics, make sure to follow FanSided and stayed tuned to our Olympics hub for all the latest news and results.