What’s the Hardest Skill in Men’s Gymnastics?

Only three skills in the current Code of Points hit the top “J” value—plus the vault that was deemed too dangerous to continue.

The Code of Points, the definitive guide for assigning value to gymnastics skills, rates every skill with a letter from A to J, with each letter representing an increment of 0.1 in difficulty. For example, an “A” skill, which is considered basic, is worth 0.1 points, while a “D” skill is worth 0.4 points. Each subsequent letter in the sequence adds another 0.1 points to the skill’s difficulty value.

In the current Code of Points, two skills hold the highest difficulty rating of “J,” worth a full 1.0 point. Both of these skills are performed on the floor exercise.

Vault, however, is judged differently from the other five events and is assigned a flat difficulty score. At present, the most challenging vaults are rated at 5.6 points in difficulty.

Many consider Igor Radivilov’s vault at the 2016 Olympic Games vault final to be one of the most difficult vaults ever attempted. He performed a handspring triple forward vault, though he was unable to land it successfully. Following the competition, the FIG (International Gymnastics Federation) banned this vault from future events due to the extreme danger it posed and the potential risk to athlete safety.