How does a street skateboarding final work?
B · Beginner · The formats · 4 of 4In two parts. Each skater first has two or three 45-second runs around the course. Then come single trick attempts, three or five of them, one trick at a time on any obstacle. The best run score and the best one or two trick scores are added to give the total.
How it works
- Runs plus tricks: used in street semi-finals and finals. Qualifiers use runs only.
- The 2/3/2 format: "two 45-second runs followed by three single trick attempts". Best run plus best trick.
- The 3/3/2 format: three runs and three tricks. Best run plus best trick.
- The 2/5/3 format: two runs and five tricks. Best run plus the best two tricks.
- The order: every skater in the heat completes their runs first. Then the heat takes turns at tricks.
- A single trick: performed solo, "with complete freedom of choice over the obstacles and the kind of tricks".
- Scored the same way: five judges, 0 to 100, top and bottom marks dropped.
- A missed trick: scores zero.
- Run-only rounds: two or three runs of 45 to 60 seconds, with the best run counting.
- Helmets: compulsory in street for skaters under 18.
- Five seconds: a skater must begin within five seconds of the course manager's signal.
The glossary has street, the runs plus tricks entry, the best trick format, the run, the trick and the stuck entry.
Tricky cases
A skater falls on four of five trick attempts and lands one. Are they out of it?
Not in a format that counts the best single trick. In the 2/5/3 format two trick scores count, so one landed trick leaves a zero in the total.
What do the three numbers in "2/5/3" mean?
Two runs, five trick attempts and three scores counted: the best run and the best two tricks.
Can a skater use their runs to practise and rely on the tricks?
No. The best run is always part of the total, so a weak run section costs points that tricks cannot fully replace.
Which format do the Olympic Games use?
That is set for each Games and was not read. These rules list the three formats World Skate uses for its events.
Why the rule exists
Runs reward a skater who can put a whole course together. Single tricks reward the one hardest thing a skater can do, with several attempts to land it. Adding the two means a winner needs both, and the trick section, where a skater can fail four times and win on the fifth, keeps the result open to the end.
Where it differs
| Where | What changes | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2/3/2 and 3/3/2 | One trick score counts | WSK Rules, Competition Formats: Street |
| 2/5/3 | Two trick scores count | WSK Rules, Competition Formats: Street |
| Qualifier | Runs only | WSK Rules, Competition Formats: Street |
| Park | No trick section | WSK Rules, Competition Formats: Park |
From the rule book
World Skate, Street & Park Competition Rules (April 2025), Competition Formats: Street, and Timekeeping. Checked 14 October 2026. Official documents: Skateboarding Street & Park Competition Rules and Skateboarding Judging Criteria (PDF).