PAVED explained: Progression, Amplitude, Variety, Execution, Difficulty — how six judges score your slopestyle or big air run.
"Why doesn't the guy with the biggest jump automatically get the highest score?" Because size is just one of five criteria. Slopestyle and big air judges use the internationally applied PAVED system: Progression, Amplitude, Variety, Execution, Difficulty.
Amplitude doesn't simply mean "as high as possible" — judges assess whether you land consistently within the optimal height window. A rider who shows 6 meters of height on the first jump but only 3 on the last scores lower than someone who holds a consistent 4.5 meters throughout — consistency beats a single spectacle.
Execution checks how cleanly control is maintained from takeoff to landing, including how long and precisely grabs are held. Difficulty rewards more rotations and inverts (corks, flips) — but only if execution and amplitude keep pace. Variety demands different trick types, rotation directions (frontside, backside, switch, regular) and different grabs, instead of the same combination four times in a row. And Progression is the criterion that makes competitive freestyle move so fast: judges explicitly reward tricks that look new, unique or innovative for that level.
Judging is done by six judges on a 0-to-100 scale. The highest and lowest individual scores are dropped, and the remaining four are averaged — a system that neutralizes individual outlier scores, whether deliberately harsh or overly generous.
The structural difference between the two formats also shapes the criteria: in big air, you show multiple jumps on one and the same feature; in slopestyle, you're judged on a complete run across several different features. That's exactly why variety weighs noticeably more in slopestyle — you need to show range across the whole course, while big air is more about perfecting a single, highly complex trick.
In most competitions, the first attempt alone doesn't decide things either: athletes get multiple runs, and the best one counts toward the final score — which lets you take a risk on your first run and ride safer on the next if the first doesn't land.
Before a competition run, ask yourself at every feature: does this trick add to variety or difficulty, or does it just repeat a previous one? A run with five similar spins scores worse than one with five different rotation directions and grabs.
Since judges score consistency across the whole jump series, a run with evenly high amplitude pays off more than one with a spectacular outlier jump and three mediocre ones.
Execution rewards cleanly and long-held grabs — a briefly tapped grab scores worse than one held through most of your airtime.
A trick that's new or unusual for your level is explicitly recognized. Deliberately consider which combination of grab, rotation and feature you don't yet show as standard.
The urge to add new, riskier tricks to your competition run for higher difficulty scores is real — but a trick you don't land reliably often costs more points through worse execution than the higher difficulty gains you. Only show competition tricks once you land them consistently clean in training.
Watch competition videos deliberately with the five PAVED letters in mind, not just for entertainment. You'll quickly recognize why a technically "smaller" run sometimes scores higher than a more spectacular one — the answer is almost always execution or variety.
Progression, Amplitude, Variety, Execution, Difficulty — five equally weighted criteria used to judge slopestyle and big air runs, not just jump height or rotation count.
Six judges each give a score from 0 to 100. The highest and lowest individual scores are dropped, and the remaining four are averaged.
No. Amplitude assesses consistency across the whole jump series, not just the single biggest jump. An evenly high run often scores better than one with an outlier and several weaker jumps.
Difficulty assesses technical complexity like rotation count and inverts. Progression additionally rewards when a trick looks new, unusual or innovative for that level — independent of pure technical difficulty.
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