How are points scored in snowboard big air?
- Published
Big air is the newest discipline in Olympic snowboard, having made its debut at the 2018 Winter Games.
Athletes ride down a ramp and perform one trick when they launch into the air and land in a designated zone.
There are three jumps to execute, with the scores from two highest-scoring tricks combined to determine the athlete's overall ranking.
There are minimum height and length specifications for the jump to be Olympic standard. The big air structure at Milano Cortina's Livigno Snow Park has a total length of 225 metres, a peak height of 40 metres and an average gradient of 28%.
Athletes who qualify for either big air or slopestyle will also compete in the other discipline.
Three team GB athletes will participate in big air at the 2026 Games
How does scoring work?
How do athletes achieve big points in big air?
Big air is scored under four categories: difficulty, execution, amplitude and landing (DEAL):
Difficulty: Athletes are rewarded for doing brand new tricks. Generally, more spins and flips, the more points athletes will pick up
Execution: Points are scored by how an athlete maintains control of the trick, holding grabs properly for as long as possible. The judges look for clean techniques and athletes making difficult moves look easy
Amplitude: Athletes must land in a designated spot in a sloped area. Judges can mark down if there is too much or too little amplitude
Landing: Athletes must land in full control when the trick is completed. Judges do not want to see reverts, where a trick has landed but the board is still spinning. Reverts count as a fall in big air
What are the types of tricks?
Tricks in big air can be broadly categorised into grabs, spins and flips.
Grabs are any trick which involve holding the board. More complex and hard-to-reach grabs will gain more points.
Spins are tricks that rotate on the horizontal axis, so turning in circles.
Flips rotate on the vertical axis - so the rider is upside down.
A cork is when a spin is combined with a flip, resulting in an 'off-axis' direction of travel resembling a corkscrew.
There are also terms for hand positions.
If the rider has a 'natural' stance, the 'front' hand is the left hand positioned close to the 'nose' of the board. The rear or 'trailing' hand is the right hand, positioned close to the tail of the board.
If their stance is 'goofy' then it is the opposite - the right hand is the leading hand and left is trailing, both still corresponding to the nose and tail of the board respectively.
19-year-old Mia Brookes will participate at the 2026 Winter Olympics
What are spins and flips?
Spins go in increments of 180 degrees. There are two kinds of ways to land from a spin, 'switch' and 'natural' position.
Switch sees the athlete land in a different direction to where they started, after a 180, 540, 900, 1260, or 1620 rotation.
Landing in a natural position comes after a spin with rotations of 360, 720, 1080, 1440, or 1800 degrees.
A backside spin, shorted to 'back' in the trick name, are set from the toe edge of the board and see the rider's chest facing downhill initially. A frontside spin, shortened to 'front', is set from the heel edge and sees the rider's chest facing uphill for the first part of the trick.
The higher the number, the more difficult the trick. Numbers are shortened to just the first number in the trick - so 'frontside 360' is shortened to 'front 3' in the trick name.
A 'hard way' spin is one done from the opposite edge of the natural spinning edge, considered the 'unnatural' direction for a trick.
There are various types of flips that have unique names that don't spell out exactly what the trick contains - including wildcat, tamedog, backflip, frontflip, rodeo, backside rodeo and corked spin.
These all involve varying degrees and direction of rotation - and can incorporate grabs.
Txema Mazet Brown will also compete for Team GB at the Winter Games
What are the different parts of a board?
The nose or tip is the front part of the board, corresponding with the athletes front hand and pointing in the direction of travel. The tail is the opposite end.
The 'toe' side or edge is the side in front of the athletes toes, making the 'heel' side or edge the one behind the heels.
These parts of the board will often be referenced in grabs, for example a nose or toe grab - but some have their own unique titles that don't specify in the trick name which part of the board the rider is grabbing.
Common examples of this are the 'indy', where the rider grands the toe edge between the foot bindings with their back hand, and the 'stalefish', where the same hand again grabs between the bindings - but this time on the heel edge.
This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team.
