Weight types E, P, L and M, sole standards and the world federation's gauge case: what gets checked on a stock and what counts as manipulation.
In registered competition the referee checks your equipment on site — with a standardised gauge case from the world federation containing twelve specific gauges [1]. Two things above all are checked: the weight of your stock body and the running surface of your sole.
The weight is no secret but stamped in: four official types with the letters E, P, L and M cover the range from 2.73 to 3.83 kilograms [2]. Anyone playing the wrong letter in their class is out before the first stock runs — type M is banned in youth classes [2].
The reason for all this effort is unromantic: it is about preventing physical manipulation — namely the prohibited hollow grinding of the sole for better straight running, and manipulation of the centre of gravity [1]. Where centimetres decide points, cheating pays — which is why measurements happen.
The world federation recognises four weight types, each stamped in as a letter [2]:
The complete stock — handle, body and sole together — may weigh at most 5.46 kilograms [4]. Type choice is therefore not a matter of taste but of tactics: whoever places and measures reaches for P, whoever shoots away for M — as far as the class allows.
The sole is standardised too: 800 to 1,150 grams, for certain types up to 1,200 grams [2]. On material there is a clear split: a rubber sole for winter on ice, a plastic sole for summer on asphalt or plastic screed [2].
Hardness is given on two scales: Shore A for rubber, Shore D for plastic [2]. And because a lot of half-knowledge circulates here: the colour scales for hardness grades contradict each other between sources [5]. One federation does name its own sequence from heavy and slow to light and fast [2] — but what is binding for you remains Shore value and manufacturer's specification, never the colour.
The check happens on site with twelve specific gauges [1]. The most important hard value you can measure yourself: summer running soles must have an active, plane running surface of at least 120 millimetres in diameter [1].
Then comes flatness: convex raised areas in the running surface — in the jargon point runners — and concave hollows — hollow runners — are accepted only up to tightly toleranced limits that the referee checks with standardised gauges [1]. Those tolerance values are not legible in the version of the rulebook available to us; they are not guessed here. Rely on the on-site check and on the manufacturer.
Plastic expands in heat, and the rulebook addresses this explicitly: according to the test instruction for gauge no. 11, at higher outdoor temperatures the referee must tolerate expansion beyond the otherwise applicable maximum diameter [1].
What is remarkable is the approach: the sport regulates temperature dependence administratively, not metrologically — no laboratory quantification of expansion coefficients exists [1]. For you that means: a limit narrowly exceeded on a hot afternoon is not an automatic exclusion, but not a free pass either.
Two interventions are named explicitly: hollow grinding of the sole to force better straight running, and manipulation of the centre of gravity [1]. Both are the reason measurement happens at all.
The centre-of-gravity question is delicate because it borders on legal practice: weight distribution is often individually adjusted via the handle [2] — that is materials knowledge. Where it crosses into illegal manipulation is decided by the rulebook and the inspection, not by gut feeling. Invented inspection procedures, penalties or disqualification rules deliberately do not appear here — in case of doubt your federation's rulebook applies [7].
One rule surprises many: in the distance competition all athletes in a round must compete with identical running soles [3].
That removes the most important material variable from this discipline — and the competition genuinely becomes a comparison of technique and force application rather than of sole choice. Anyone banking on their favourite material in the distance event has misunderstood the discipline.
Rule compliance and safety coincide here: a stock whose running plate does not sit cleanly or whose handle has play is not only an inspection risk but an injury risk — at up to 5.46 kilograms total weight [4] you do not want a loose component in your hand. Check screws and seating before every session.
When changing soles: proper tools, sole seated over its full surface, nothing improvised. And at the venue as always: firm, grippy footwear, separated neighbouring lanes, nobody steps onto the running lane while a stock is in motion.
This guide explains standards and motivates — it never replaces a supervised club or course and never your federation's rulebook, which always prevails in case of doubt [7].
Photograph the stamped letter, the type label of your running sole and your receipt once and put it all in a folder on your phone. At equipment checks and on resale that is the fastest information you can give — and when you add a second sole for summer, you immediately know which Shore value you are changing relative to your winter set-up [2].
Four official types with a stamped letter: E at 2.73 to 2.78 kilograms for the U14 student class, P at 3.50 to 3.53 for sensitive measure play, L at 3.70 to 3.73 as standard and M at 3.80 to 3.83 for maximum impact, banned in youth classes [2]. The complete stock may weigh at most 5.46 kilograms [4].
He inspects on site with a standardised gauge case containing twelve specific gauges [1]. Among the checks are the flatness of the running surface, for summer soles the active, plane running surface of at least 120 millimetres in diameter, and compliance with weight specifications [1][2].
Named explicitly are hollow grinding of the running sole for better straight running and manipulation of the centre of gravity [1]. That is exactly what equipment inspection exists for. Individual adjustment of weight distribution via the handle, by contrast, is common materials practice [2] — where the line runs is decided by the rulebook, not by gut feeling [7].
The colours are meant to indicate hardness grades, but the scales contradict each other between sources [5]. One federation names its own sequence from heavy and slow to light and fast [2]; what is binding for you is Shore value and manufacturer's specification — Shore A for rubber, Shore D for plastic [2].
In practice a complete stock costs around 500 euros at professional level, used beginner stocks around 100 to 200 euros [6]. Those are market prices, not federation specifications. What decides eligibility is not the price but the stamped weight type and a standard-compliant running sole [1][2].
From club night to league: how competitive ice stock sport is organised