About - Judging

JUDGING

Five criteria and “the overall impression” are taken into account to determine the riders’ final score:

• Difficulty of the Line

But let’s look at each category a little closer. Difficulty of line is pretty straightforward: it’s all about the path a competitor chooses to take down the mountain. What’s the danger factor like on his line? How does the rider link up the tricky passages along the way? How unique, imaginative, is her route compared to other riders? Is it a cool line? Does it tickle people’s imagination? That’s what the judges have to determine here.

• Control

Control is key in big-mountain riding. Possess it and your golden. Lose it and you can die. That’s why the judges can be ruthless with those who don’t show enough of it during their competition run. Did the athlete fall? Did he run the ragged edge of recovery all the way down? Or did he ride like he knew exactly what he was doing from start to finish? Often times, this is the category where neophytes struggle.

• Fluidity

Nobody likes watching stop-and-go action. And the Fluidity mark is all about rewarding those athletes who can ride from start to finish with no hesitation, no stoppage and no confusion. Did the rider have to embark on a long traverse to hit his landmark cliff? Did he get lost on the way down and have to climb to regain his line? Did she hesitate before dropping the big cliff? This is what the judges are looking for in this sector. Again – flow is what it’s all about.

• Jumps

For many in the sport, the next category, Jumps, is what makes freeride competitions so exciting. Why? Because nothing is man-made – what you see is what you get. But like any other aerial sport, style and aggression play huge. How big was the jump? How did the rider enter the jump? What happened in the air? How well did he stick his landing? Was it like a cat thrown out of a speeding car? Or did they know exactly where they were at all times? This is what the judges need to assess before assigning their overall mark.

• Technique

Technique is a criteria which will be looked at closely in the Junior or amateur competitions. For Pros, judges will ask themselves if a control issue occured because of a lack of technique but otherwise, if a rider is in control, he can have his own technique and won’t be penalized. One can lose points however when side slipping down a section where other fellow competitiors were carving turns. This would fall under the Technique criteria.

==> To evaluate the run, judges use a point system of a hundred increments from 0 to 100. The goal of this rider-approved system is to have a unified judging system for all FWT, Qualifiers and Juniors competitions that allows every style of riding the possibility to win. If a competitor is riding in a part of the face that cannot be seen by judges, what he does (good or bad) will not be scored unless judges have live video feed showing the action.

==> Judges are fully certified and supervised by a head judge. They are using an evolving method and there will always be a human factor left which could lead to different interpretations of the run. This is part of freeriding as a sport and has to be accepted by riders as well as judges.

A final score can only be changed if:

- If the scores have been entered wrong on the computer/web by accident

- If a rider was penalized for riding into a closed area but judges were wrong about the limits of the closed area

- If a rider was not penalized for riding into a closed area

- If a rider falls after the end-of-judging line but still got penalized for it

Riders can only complain about scores on the day of the competition by talking to the head judge if they are convinced that their score is not correct based on the description above. After the competition day no complaints will be accepted.

2023 judging Handbook

 

HOW TO BECOME A JUDGE

1. First, read the Judges' Handbook (see above). You can click links in the blue bubbles to watch short videos all through the document.

2. Then watch the video following this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j6DJ3gwJbs

3. Finally, try and judge the few runs at the end of the video. Use the judging sheet above to do so (print and take notes)

4. Then scan or take a good quality picture of your filled-in judging sheet and return it to cyril@freerideworldtour.com. Cyril will corrected and comment and come back to you with the next steps.