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.
