Women’s vault scoring: when one vault counts and when two do

The same gymnast can have a single vault score for a team result and a two-vault average for the apparatus competition. Before comparing numbers, identify what the session is deciding. The highest individual vault shown on the screen is not automatically the final apparatus result.

This guide covers senior women’s artistic gymnastics under FIG’s 2025–2028 Code of Points, Section 10.4. Men’s, junior and youth provisions should be checked separately. The archive photograph above does not establish which rules applied to that earlier competition.

Match the number to the competition

For team and all-around purposes, the relevant performance is one vault; in qualification, the first vault counts towards those results. Apparatus qualification and the vault final require two vaults and use their average. The senior women’s rule requires the two vaults to come from different Vault Groups.

Average completed scores, not difficulty numbers

Take two hypothetical finalized individual scores of 14.200 and 13.600. Their average is (14.200 + 13.600) ÷ 2 = 13.900. These are invented completed scores, so this example does not assign a difficulty value to a real skill or reconstruct deductions from a photograph.

Keep each completed score in its own field. Our artistic gymnastics scoring guide explains the wider difficulty and execution framework. Copying only a difficulty number into this average would mix different parts of the score.

Check the conditional 0.20 bonus

The current senior women’s code adds a 0.20 bonus to the two-vault average when the saltos in second flight travel in different directions, forward and backward, and both vaults are performed without a fall. It is conditional, rather than an automatic addition for attempting two different vaults.

For the invented 13.900 average, an eligible bonus produces 14.100. Without eligibility, the average stays 13.900 before any other applicable adjustment. A worksheet should therefore have separate fields for the base average and the bonus, rather than silently building the addition into every row.

Why the best single vault can mislead

Consider a second invented pair: 14.500 and 12.500. The base average is 13.500. The first score is higher than either vault in the previous example, yet this pair’s base average is lower.

For this comparison, assume no bonus or additional adjustment for either pair. The arithmetic illustrates why a television highlight of one excellent attempt cannot establish the apparatus ranking. Both completed scores are needed.

It also explains why a result table can look different from a viewer’s memory of the most impressive landing. The table records the counting performances, not a selection of the best-looking moments.

Use a result-reading worksheet

1. Write the discipline, age division and competition stage.
2. Label the result as team, all-around or vault apparatus.
3. Record the counting score or both finalized individual scores.
4. For an apparatus result, record the base average and any bonus separately.
5. Compare the official final result before treating your arithmetic as the published ranking.

Do not fill an unknown field with a guess based on the archive image or a short clip. If the broadcast does not identify both vaults, keep that question open. Invalid vaults and rule penalties also need their actual official treatment; a simple average is a reading aid, not a substitute for the full code.