Breaking Down the 2028 Men’s Code of Points

Breaking Down the 2028 Men’s Code of Points

By Christy Sandmaier
Vice President & Co-Publisher

Breaking Down the 2028 Code of Points

By the Team at Inside Gymnastics

Perhaps the broadest overhaul of the open Code era, the 2025-28 Code of Points is a major adjustment for coaches, athletes and judges alike, with new requirements, expectations and values.

We look at the 10 biggest changes fans can expect to see in men’s competition moving forward…

1. The biggest change in the new Code may be difficult for fans to spot on sight, but it’s the reduction of counting skills from 10 to 8, almost certainly leading to lower scores overall. The specific rules of each apparatus require creatively constructed routines to ensure an athlete’s 8 best skills count. Every non-vault event has 3 element groups plus the dismount. (Floor has 4 groups, as the final pass isn’t considered a dismount by the Code.) To earn the maximum .5 tenths for Element Groups II and III requires a D or higher skill. If an A, B or C-skill is used to fulfill the group, athletes will see a .2 downgrade. Every event but vault also has a designated Element Group I (also valued at .5) that can be fulfilled with any skill in the table, regardless of value, e.g. scissor on pommel horse or press handstand on floor. (NCAA Modification Alert: In men’s collegiate competition, C-skills will be allowed to fulfill element group requirements without deduction.)

2. For pommel horse, rings, parallel bars and high bar the dismount is its own element group, worth as much as the value of the skill (C=.3, D=.4, E=.5, F=.6, etc.), essentially doubling the value of dismounts on those four events. For example, if an athlete dismounts high bar with a D-rated full-twisting double layout, they earn .8 (.4 for element group + .4 for skill). End the same routine with a tucked triple back, an F-skill, and the D-score would be credited 1.2. Dismounts are always a counting skill, no matter their value.

3. The FIG has instituted a .1 tenth bonus for stuck dismounts on every event except pommel horse, available for dismounts valued at C or better.  (Men’s NCAA Gymnastics has long used a near-identical stick bonus system.) This bonus, combined with the dismount being its own element group on most events, makes landing hard skills securely more important than ever.

4. Angle evaluation, the bane of many over multiple quads, has been relaxed. Strength skills performed within 5 degrees of perfect now have no deduction, while only skills performed 45 degrees away from the standard incur the dreaded .5 tenth loss/no credit result. Swing and circle skills get a more generous 15-degree leeway. On high bar, where angles have been the most severely penalized, deviation has been doubled in each execution deduction category. Skills within 30 degrees of handstand now receive no deduction (previously 15 degrees), while only elements that are 90-degrees or more out of alignment will be hit with .5 tenth execution penalties and no skill credit.

5. Floor Exercise has some of the most visible differences. Routines now max out at 70 seconds (previously 75) and only two consecutive diagonal passes are allowed (more incur .3 deduction), before a side pass is required. A balance skill on one leg is once again mandated (outside of the 8 skills), which likely means a return to the days when a Y-scale leading into the last pass was all but compulsory. Floor is also the only non-vault event without a “dismount” element group, but there are specifications for the final pass, including that it must include a double salto skill, ruling out the most common dismount of the previous quad, a triple twist. Flair and circle elements are also restricted to one counting skill, so expect to see less moves on the mat that look like they could also be done on horse. Floor is also home to the Code’s only J-rated skills for men (1 full point in difficulty), the Jarman, a double layout with 3-1/2 twists, and the Nagornyy, a piked triple back.

6. Pommel Horse has set a maximum of 4 elements done in the flair position per routine, which eliminated several named skills in the Code of Points and will affect multiple well-known athletes with flair-heavy routines. 

7. On Still Rings, iron and inverted crosses received skill upgrades, so expect to see even more of both, especially given the less stringent angle deductions. The popular Yamawaki (tuck double front swing) and its cousin the Jonasson (piked double front) were both downgraded but following either skill immediately by a swing to handstand, does upgrade them one degree (B to C, or C to D), so we’ll see many such combinations. 

8. Vault values take a hit, with almost all being downgraded by .4 tenths. The highest-value vaults now carry a 5.6 difficulty value. Popular vaults like the Kas 1-1/2 (2-1/2 twists) and Kas-double (3 twists) will now be worth 4.8 and 5.2, respectively. 

9. The most visible change in Parallel Bar routine construction will most likely involve the new requirement for elements following a swing to handstand to continue in that same direction. Expect to see far more half pirouettes into other counting skills, which opens a potential area for deduction if not cleanly executed.

10. In addition to relaxing angle execution deductions, the new High Bar rules feature upgrades to many once-popular releases that had fallen out of favor due to their risk-reward quotient including: Liukin, Suarez, Winkler, Walstrom, Deff, Gaylord and Pegan. All rare in recent years, but expected to make a comeback now that they’re worth more.

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