Gymnastics Explained
Composition Requirements in Artistic Gymnastics
In brief
Key takeaways
- Composition requirements reward a well-rounded routine: credit is earned for covering a set mix of skill types, rather than deducted for missing them.
- Women's bars, beam and floor each have four requirements worth 0.50, up to 2.00.
- Men's apparatus use element groups instead: each group covered adds up to 0.5, and the dismount group is worth the dismount's own value.
- Vault has no composition requirements — a vault is a single skill.
Difficulty isn’t only about how hard individual skills are — it also rewards building a well-rounded routine across a defined set of skill types.
Why they exist
Without composition requirements, a routine could repeat one high-value skill type to maximise the D-score without demonstrating a fuller range of technique. Requiring a mix pushes routines towards the variety the Code of Points wants to reward.
Credit, not a deduction
Composition requirements work as credit to be earned: a routine that doesn’t cover a requirement simply doesn’t receive that part of the D-score. Only elements from the Code’s tables can fulfil a requirement, and one element can fulfil more than one — but an element can’t be repeated later in the routine to fulfil another.
Women’s requirements
In the 2025–2028 WAG Code of Points, uneven bars, balance beam and floor each have four composition requirements worth 0.50 each, up to 2.00:
| Uneven bars | Balance beam | Floor |
|---|---|---|
| A flight from the high bar to the low bar | A connection of two different dance elements, one a leap or jump with a 180° split or straddle | A travelling dance passage of two different leaps or hops, one with a 180° split or straddle |
| A flight on the same bar | A turn (or one of a short list of rolls and flairs) | A salto with at least a full twist |
| Skills in different grips (not the cast, mount or dismount) | An acrobatic series of at least two flight elements, one a salto | A double salto |
| A non-flight element with at least a 360° turn (not the mount) | Acrobatic elements in different directions — forward or sideward, and backward | A salto backward and a salto forward (no aerials) |
On beam and floor, the eight counting skills must also include at least three dance and three acrobatic elements. For the skills involved, see uneven bars release moves, beam acrobatic series, dance elements in women’s floor and floor tumbling passes.
Men’s element groups
The 2025–2028 MAG Code of Points uses element groups instead. Each apparatus has three element groups plus a dismount group — floor has four element groups — and a routine must include at least one counting skill from each:
| Apparatus | Element groups |
|---|---|
| Floor | Non-acrobatic; acrobatic forward; acrobatic backward; single saltos with twists |
| Pommel horse | Single-leg swings and scissors; circles and flairs; travels; dismounts |
| Rings | Kip and swing elements; strength and hold elements; swing to strength; dismounts |
| Parallel bars | Elements from upper-arm position; elements in support; long swings and underswings; dismounts |
| Horizontal bar | Long hang swings; flight elements; in-bar and Adler elements; dismounts |
Each element group covered adds 0.5 to the D-score if it’s met with a D-value or harder skill, or 0.3 with an easier one (group 1 is worth 0.5 with any skill). The dismount group is worth the dismount’s own value — an F dismount, for example, adds 0.6. Some apparatus add specific requirements on top: a multiple salto and a one-leg balance on floor, and a swing to handstand on rings.
Vault
Vault has no composition requirements, because a vault is a single skill with a fixed value. In vault finals, the requirement is instead to perform two vaults from different groups — see vault numbers and groups.
Sources
- Women's Artistic Gymnastics — 2025-2028 Code of Points — International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) (accessed 31 August 2026)
- Men's Artistic Gymnastics — 2025-2028 Code of Points — International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) (accessed 31 August 2026)
Written by Claire McDonald
Published 25 October 2026 · editorially reviewed 10 October 2026 · High review risk
This page has not been independently reviewed by a gymnastics technical expert.
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