The 2024 college gymnastics season is mere days away (no really), so I have updated the annual rundowns of college gymnastics scoring on each event—Vault, Bars, Beam, Floor.
As for an abridged version, here’s what we’re dealing with exclusively in terms of revised judging standards for the brand new season.
Finish Position
The biggest change in college gymnastics judging in 2024 comes from the addition of a .05 deduction on vault, bars, and beam for not holding a “finish position” for at least 1 second at the conclusion of the routine. Because what college gymnastics most needs is to sound even more like a cotillion. Gracefully and grandly.
So, what is a finish position?
The finish position is specifically defined as having your legs straight and your hands up (like if the police just caught you trying to steal a tenth) and must be shown facing the same direction that you landed.
All other deductions that already existed still apply, but now after you’re done with all the various stepping or sticking that came with your landing, you have to freeze in an extended position for 1 second, otherwise you lose .05.
The finish position is considered the end of the routine, and gymnasts do not then have to turn and salute the judges, but they also physically won’t be able to help themselves because of their entire lives of being immediately murdered if they didn’t turn and salute the judges.
So, but, for why?
The finish position is a thing now because of a desire to curb the epidemic of 10s being given out for “college sticks.”
A college stick is a situation in which a college gymnast—full of the newfound adult freedom of getting away with things—will realize that there is zero chance in any timeline that she’ll be able to hold her landing under control for a real stick. So instead, she just pretends that she stuck and then got so bored of her obvious stick that she had to step out of it. She’ll land, leaning, and then immediately slide-step and turn toward the judges to salute them, while at the same time celebrating and running far away from that definitely real stick that happened. Even though at no point was actual landing control shown.
College judges will then say, “Yes, I will go on this character journey with you and score this a 10.” For example:
Last season, this vault received a 10.000 from one judge and a 9.950 from the other.
In 2024, this vault cannot receive a 10.000 because the arms-up finish position was not held for one second (.05 deduction), which will also hopefully serve to emphasize a lack of landing control to ensure that gets deducted as well. If your momentum prevents you from holding a finish position for one second, then it wasn’t a stick anyway.
At least, that’s the whole plan behind making finish position a thing. Last season, one judge went on the journey with Suni and gave this landing a 10.000.
Perhaps being required to continue watching the whole routine to the end to see if she held the finish position for a full second would also force one to see the obvious landing movement and admit to oneself that it happened for a deduction? But at the very least deduct for not holding a finish position.
Medium Step
While the finish position is the headline, there are other landing changes that should be priced into the scores to change slightly how things are evaluated.
In terms of steps, judges now have the opportunity to deduct .15 for a single medium-sized step. Previously, the landing deductions were
.05 = tiny scoot/rebound
.10 = actual step
.20 = lunge of a yard or longer
(maximum .40 total for steps)
Now, judges have a .15 deduction to use for a single medium lunge/hop that’s larger than a normal step but shorter than a yard.
Squat Deduction
The deductions for a landing squat have been revised so that a landing where the hip joint and knee joint are both at horizontal is no longer a deduction (previously that was .10).
Now, the hip joint has to be below the knee joint in order to start receiving a deduction. Basically, this change was made in order to ensure that the Kyla landing is not deducted for squat.
Short Vaults
On the topic of vault landings, a slight change was made to the deduction for under-rotation of salto vaults. A short landing was previously a flat .10 deduction but is now an “up to .10” deduction.
This has been a point of contention for Yurchenko 1.5s in NCAA because if a vault was short enough that a gymnast had to step back, then it should never have scored higher than 9.800 because of the flat .10 for the step and the flat .10 for the short landing.
But we’ve seen lottttsss of short Yurchenko 1.5s score higher than 9.800. Now, the judges basically have cover to give that short vault a 9.850 because they can decide to take .05 instead of the full .10 for short salto rotation.
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At last, a well and truly stuck stick
Amen! We’ve always called them cheater landings because they’re obviously trying to cover up off-balance landings. It’s also way past time to drop the 10 charade and move on up to real scoring.
I’m ok with the finishing position requirement, so even if a gymnast doesn’t get hit for a (borderline) non-stick, she will get hit for the consequences of a non-stick (not holding the finishing position). Technically, you can truly stick a landing and then forget to hold the finishing position with the legs and arms for at least one second, but it’s an easy case to avoid and should not deter from this change in the right direction. The squat position clarification guidelines are also fine.
In contrast, the short landing changes for vault are completely in the wrong direction. If anything, any step back in the landing should be a mandatory, non-flexible 0.2 deduction (to punish both the step and the short landing for a tenth each). Now, we will see a lot more loose scoring for short landings, since up to 0.1 deductions can also include 0 or 0.5 deductions and still be valid by the rules.
I wonder how long it will be until someone nearly (or completely) falls over because they were trying to hold their leaning non-stick for a second. This is a great rule and should have been in place for awhile.
I actually like the “up to 0.1” for short vault landings because there are big differences in short landings. Some steps back on Y1.5s are to prevent a gymnast sitting down their vault and deserve the 0.1 deduction while others are near sticks and only deserve 0.05 or no deduction. If a gymnast nearly sticks their vault, I wouldn’t consider a tiny step backward any worse than a tiny step forward.
The new 0.15 deduction for medium steps is also a step in the right direction as judges who would normally give a large step just 0.1 instead of 0.2 might now give that same step a 0.15. I’m in favor of more deduction being in 0.05 increments because the judges are more likely to take them.