Vault Numbers, Groups and Difficulty Explained

Unlike every other apparatus, a vault’s difficulty isn’t built up from a routine — it’s a single, named entry in the Code of Points with its own fixed value.

Three ways onto the table

Almost every vault starts in one of three ways:

• Handspring entry — the gymnast takes off from the springboard facing forwards and goes over the table in a front handspring. See handspring vaults.
• Tsukahara entry — a forward take-off like a handspring, but with a quarter or half turn onto the table, followed by a salto backward. See Tsukahara vaults.
• Round-off entry — a round-off onto the springboard, so the gymnast arrives backwards, then a back handspring onto the table. See round-off entry vaults and the Yurchenko.

The five women’s groups

The 2025–2028 WAG Code of Points sorts vaults into five groups:

1. No salto — handspring, Yamashita or round-off entries, with or without twists
2. Handspring forward, then a salto forward or backward (including the Produnova)
3. Tsukahara — handspring with a quarter or half turn on, then a salto backward
4. Yurchenko — round-off entry (with or without a three-quarter turn on), then a salto backward
5. Round-off with a half turn on, then a salto forward or backward (including the Cheng and the Biles)

The five men’s groups

The 2025–2028 MAG Code of Points also has five groups, but splits them partly by how complex the twisting is:

1. Handspring entries with a single salto and complex twists
2. Handspring salto vaults with simple or no twists, and double saltos forward (including the Roche and the Dragulescu)
3. Handspring sideways and Tsukahara vaults with simple or no twists, and double saltos backward
4. Round-off entries with a single salto and complex twists
5. Round-off entries with simple or no twists, single saltos without twist, and double saltos

How the numbers work

Each vault has a number that begins with its group. In the men’s Code it’s three digits: the Code’s own example is 319 — group 3, vault 19. In the women’s Code it’s written with a decimal point, and the table is laid out like a grid. In group 4, for instance, vaults 4.10 to 4.15 are tucked saltos with increasing twist (none, a half, a full, and so on), 4.20 onwards are piked, and 4.30 onwards are stretched. So 4.10 is a Yurchenko tucked (3.00) and 4.35 is a Yurchenko stretched with 2½ twists — the Amanar (5.40).

Before each vault, the gymnast or coach shows the intended number to the judges on a board or electronic display.

Why difficulty is fixed in advance

Because every vault already has a published value, a gymnast’s D-score on vault is known before she or he runs — unlike the other apparatus, where it’s built from the skills chosen for that routine. If the vault performed doesn’t match the one shown — say, a twist is short or the body shape isn’t clear — the judges credit the vault that was actually performed, which may be worth less.

Why groups matter in finals

In qualification, the team final and the all-around final, a gymnast performs one vault. To qualify for the vault final, and in the final itself, she or he must perform two vaults from different groups, and the scores are averaged. That rule rewards gymnasts who can perform more than one kind of vault rather than two versions of the same one. In women’s gymnastics, a further 0.20 bonus applies when the two vaults have saltos in different directions. See women’s vault and men’s vault.