Winter Olympics 2022 - How are figure skating scores judged? Who chooses outfits?

Figure skating can be as complicated as it is beautiful. Already, Nathan Chen has wowed us with sublime skill at the Winter Olympics, while Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron produced an ice dancing performance which was simply stunning — but how do judges get the scoring right? And who decides on those outfits? Ad/> It is pure theatre and that is why figure skating is widely considered to be the most popular sport at the Games. But beyond being wowed by its elegance and beauty, it is often difficult to understand how the competitors are scored, and what constitutes a mistake — but don't worry, Eurosport has you covered.

Beijing 2022Papadakis and Cizeron get 'revenge' after horror dress malfunction in 2018AN HOUR AGO How does scoring work? First up, there are two different disciplines in figure skating, with singles and pairs judged slightly differently to ice dance. Singles/Pairs When a score flashes up on your TV/tablet/smartphone, chances are your eyes immediately dart to the ranking given it's hard to know what the number actually means. So how is figure skating scored? Well, nine judges rate the skaters in two categories: technical score (TES) and programme component score (PCS).

The TES component sees the judges grade the difficulty level and execution of the various moves – jumps, spins and step sequences. Each move has a base value, with judges awarding points on a sliding scale depending on how it is performed. Once the points for each move are totted up, the highest and lowest scores are eliminated.