How is the winner decided when an event has more than one routine?
B · Beginner · Judging and results · 4 of 4The scores of the sessions are added. At the Olympic Games the team result is the sum of the technical, free and acrobatic routines, and the duet result is the technical routine plus the free. Scores are calculated to four decimal places. If they are still level, the higher free routine score decides first.
How it works
- Adding up: "The final result is determined by adding the final score of each performed session".
- One session: the result is that session's score.
- Two sessions: a technical and a free routine, or figures and a free routine: the sum.
- Three sessions: technical, free and acrobatic routines: the sum.
- Finals replace preliminaries: where a routine has both, the final's score is the one used.
- Ties in a single routine: to four decimals. The highest elements score decides, then the highest choreography and musicality score, then the highest verified declared difficulty.
- Ties in a combined event: the higher free routine score decides. Then the free routine's elements score, then its choreography and musicality score, then the elements score of the technical routine.
- Did not start: an entry that does not appear in the last call room. It is listed at the foot of the results.
- Disqualified: listed at the foot of the results, after everyone with a score.
The glossary has the tie-break, the elements score and choreography and musicality.
Tricky cases
Can a team win the free routine and still lose the event?
Yes. The result is the sum of the sessions, so a larger margin in another routine can outweigh it.
Is there a separate medal for each routine at the Olympic Games?
No, not on the reading of the rules used here. They treat the Olympic Games as an event "with combined results". At world championships each routine is listed as an event of its own.
Two teams have the same total to four decimals. Do they share the place?
It depends on why the decision is needed. The tie-break is applied when a decision "has to be made" for a final, a draw, qualification or promotion.
What does DNS mean in the results?
Did not start: the entry was registered and did not appear in the last call room. The rules note that "scratched" is used for the same thing.
Why the rule exists
Each routine tests something different, so the medal goes to the entry that is best across all of them. The tie-break looks first at the free routine and at the elements score, the parts of the result that are built on difficulty.
Where it differs
| Where | What changes | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Olympic Games | Combined results across the routines | AS 20.2.3; AS 20.3 |
| World championships | Each routine is its own event | AS 2.2.2 |
| Youth championships | Figures plus the free routine | AS 20.2.2 |
From the rule book
World Aquatics, Competition Regulations, Part Seven: Artistic Swimming Rules (in force as from 1 January 2025), Articles 2.2, 20.1 to 20.5. Checked 14 October 2026. Official document: World Aquatics Competition Regulations (PDF).