Figure Skating in
Northern Ontario
Understand Figure Skating
How marks are determined
0.0 - 6.0 Marking Scale
All judges in Figure Skating are familiar
with the 0.0 to 6.0 ISU marking scale. The whole number values
correspond with the following word scale:
0 - not skated
1 - very poor
2 - poor
3 - mediocre
4 - good
5 - very good
6 - faultless, perfect
Decimals to one place are used. Judges
mark independently - they are not permitted to converse once an event is
in progress or to discuss their placings with anyone until the event is
completed. Each judge's placings have an impact on the result. High and
low marks are not discarded as in some other sports.
Ordinals
The marks allotted a skater is of value
only in relation to the marks allotted by that judge to other skaters.
It is the ranking that is important, not the actual value of the marks.
Therefore, the skater with the highest marks from a judge receives a
first place from that judge, regardless of what the marks are.
All the marks given by each judge for
each skater must be seen before a winner can be determined. Until the
final skater has skated, there can be no guarantees as to who has won.
The winning skater is the one who
receives the majority "wins" from the panel. For the One-By-One (OBO)
Results Calculation system each skater is compared to those that have
skated before in order to determine the ordinals awarded by each judge.
The overall winner of the event (or portion of the event) will be the
skater with the higest total number of wins.
Marking for International Events
The place for each skater or team for
each portion of the competition is multiplied by a specific factor which
reflects the proper percentage of the total.
The skater or team with the lowest
factored place value for all parts of the competition will receive the
best final placement.
Ties
Although rare, it is possible for skaters
to end up tied in the final result of a competition. If two skaters
receive the same marks from a judge in any event other than the free
program, each skater receives the same ordinal. For example. if three
skaters are tied for second place in the short program, each receives
the ordinal two. No ordinals would be given for three and four because
of the ties, so the next best-placed skater would receive a fifth-place
ordinal after the tied skaters.
In the free program, ties are broken on
the basis of the marks for Presentation. If a judge's marks for
Presentation and Technical Merit total the same for two skaters, the
skater with the highest mark in Presentation will be awarded the higher
ordinal from that judge. For short programs, ties are broken on the
basis of the required elements marks. If a tie occurs in the final
result, the skater with the highest total marks in the free skating or
free dancing will receive the higher placement.
