How FIS points work in snowboard, freestyle and freeski
In snowboard, freestyle skiing and freeski, every athlete has FIS points in each event, and higher is better (the opposite of alpine skiing). Points come from where you finish and how important the competition was:
- Winning an Olympic Games, World Championships or World Cup event is worth up to 1,000 points.
- Smaller events are worth less: a Continental Cup winner gets up to 500, a national championship up to 290 to 360, an ordinary FIS race up to 220 to 260.
- The Asian Winter Games counts as a level 4 event, worth up to 260 or 360 to the winner depending on the discipline.
Your FIS points in an event are the average of your two best results of the season.
There are three ways of turning a finishing place into points:
| Disciplines | Method |
|---|---|
| Snowboard alpine (parallel slalom, parallel giant slalom); freestyle moguls and aerials | A fixed percentage table |
| Snowboard and freeski park and pipe (halfpipe, slopestyle, big air) | A formula that depends on field size |
| Snowboard cross and ski cross | The same kind of formula, with different settings |
1. The percentage table (snowboard alpine, moguls, aerials)
Each place gets a fixed percentage of the winner's points:
| Place | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 | 30 | 35 | 50 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % of winner | 100 | 80 | 60 | 50 | 45 | 40 | 36 | 32 | 29 | 26 | 16 | 11 | 6 | 3.2 | 2 | 1.55 |
Below 35th the percentage falls by 0.03 a place, to 0.2% at 100th. In snowboard alpine, points go only to the top 90% of finishers (or the top 100).
What the winner gets. Level 1 events (Olympics, World Championships, World Cup) use the 1,000 scale. For other events, the FIS averages the FIS points of the five best-ranked starters, and the event gets the highest scale whose "entry points" that average reaches, within the limits for its level:
| Scale (winner's points) | 650 | 500 | 450 | 400 | 360 | 320 | 290 | 260 | 240 | 220 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry points needed | 626 | 476 | 426 | 381 | 341 | 306 | 276 | 251 | 231 | 211 |
Points are given only if at least five athletes start and three finish.
Limits by level (freestyle): Junior Worlds and Continental Cups 500 to 50; Super Continental Cup 650 to 50; FIS Open 1000 to 50; Youth Olympics 260 to 50; national championships 360 to 50; FIS races and the Asian Winter Games 260 to 50. (Snowboard alpine): Junior Worlds 360 to 240; Continental Cups 360 to 160; national championships 290 to 50; FIS races 220 to 50; Asian Winter Games 260 to 50.
2. Park and pipe formula
The winner gets the event factor EF (the scale). Everyone else gets:
P = EF × [ (1 − d) × ( e^(−(R−1)/t) − (R−1) × e^(−(N−1)/t) ÷ (N−1) ) + d × ( 1 − (R−1) ÷ (N − 0.96) ) ]
where R is the athlete's place, N the number ranked, d = 0.25 and t = 4. Points are rounded up to one decimal, with a minimum of 0.1.
In a 30-athlete field with EF 1,000 this gives about 825.5 for 2nd, 687.7 for 3rd, 491.5 for 5th, 251.5 for 10th and 92.6 for 20th.
EF by level: Olympics, World Championships and World Cup 1000 to 500, set by the average world rank of the top 5 women or top 8 men who started (for example, an average rank of 6 or better for women, 9 or better for men, gives 1,000). Lower levels use the average FIS points of those starters, as in the percentage table. Asian Winter Games: 360 to 50.
3. Snowboard cross and ski cross formula
The same formula with d = 0.3 and t = 6. In a 30-athlete field with EF 1,000 this gives about 882.1 for 2nd, 780.6 for 3rd, 617.4 for 5th and 361.5 for 10th.
For levels 2 to 4, EF = (A + B) ÷ 16, where A is the FIS points of the top 8 finishers and B the FIS points of the 8 best-ranked athletes in the top 10, limited to the event's maximum (Continental Cups 500; national championships 320; FIS races 220; Asian Winter Games 360). If fewer than five finish, the winner can get at most 10 points per finisher (40 for four).
Turning results into a points list
- Base list (end of June): the average of the best two results of the season in each event.
- Only one result: that result minus 40% (or last year's base, whichever is better).
- No results: last year's base minus 80%.
- Injury status: points are protected to last year's base minus 10%, if approved.
- During the season (from 1 July): the average of the best two results, or the base list, whichever is better.
- Ties: compare the athletes' single results from the best down.
A worked example
Made up to show the arithmetic. An Indian snowboarder finishes 5th in a 20-rider halfpipe at the Asian Winter Games (EF 360) and 3rd at a FIS race with EF 220 and 15 riders. With the park and pipe formula:
- Asian Winter Games: P = 360 × [0.75 × (e^(−1) − 4 × e^(−4.75) ÷ 19) + 0.25 × (1 − 4 ÷ 19.04)] ≈ 360 × 0.4720 = 169.93, rounded up to 170.0
- FIS race: P = 220 × [0.75 × (e^(−0.5) − 2 × e^(−3.5) ÷ 14) + 0.25 × (1 − 2 ÷ 14.04)] ≈ 220 × 0.6661 = 146.53, rounded up to 146.6
FIS points in halfpipe: (170.0 + 146.6) ÷ 2 = 158.3.
Variations
| Discipline | Covered here |
|---|---|
| Snowboard alpine, moguls, aerials | Yes (percentage table) |
| Park and pipe (halfpipe, slopestyle, big air), snowboard and freeski | Yes (formula) |
| Snowboard cross, ski cross | Yes (formula) |
| World Cup standings | No |
| Para snowboard | No |