From the Judge’s Chair…Men’s High Bar!
We’ve already taken a look at how to calculate D-Scores of the best floor and parallel bar routines in the world, and now it’s time to do the same on what most consider the most exciting men’s event…high bar! Recall that on p-bars there were NO connection points, which made the calculation a little simpler. On high bar, there ARE connection points, and you’ll see that most of the top high bar workers in the world are taking full advantage of them. This particular routine from 2008 Olympic and 2009 world high bar champion Zou Kai is a perfect demonstration of today’s high bar rules:
Zou Kai High Bar 2009 Worlds Finals
Step 1: Calculate the Element Group Total
-Each EG is worth 0.5.
-The dismount must be a D to get the 0.5.
-A “C” dismount is worth 0.3, and anything lower is worth 0 points.
EG 1: Long hang swing skills
EG 2: Release skills
EG 3: In-bar skills
EG 4: Elgrip skills
EG 5: Dismount
The Rybalko counts for EG 1.
The laid-out Tcatchev counts for EG 2.
The stalder-Rybalko counts for EG 3.
The Takamoto-half counts for EG 4.
The double-double dismount fully fulfills EG 5.
EG Total: 2.5
Step 2: Calculate the Skill Value Total
Count only the ten best elements (must include the dismount).
A’s: 0.1
B’s: 0.2
C’s: 0.3
D’s: 0.4
E’s: 0.5
F’s: 0.6
G’s: 0.7
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Stalder-Rybalko to mixed elgrip
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D
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0.4
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Takamoto-half to handstand
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D
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0.4
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Laid-out Tcatchev
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D
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0.4
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Ryablko to double elgrip
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D
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0.4
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Laid-out full twisting Yaeger (Pogorolev)
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E
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0.5
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Takamoto-full to mixed grip
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D
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0.4
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Yamawaki
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D
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0.4
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Endo full turn to elgrip
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D
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0.4
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Laid out Yaeger (Balabanov)
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D
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0.4
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Laid-out double-double
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E
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0.5
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Skill Value Total: 4.2
Step 3: Calculate the Connection Points Total
On the bar Flight
D, E, or F + D, E, or F = 0.2 connection points
Flight Flight
D, E, or F + C = 0.1 connection points
D, E, or F + D, E, or F = 0.2 connection points
Takamoto-half + laid-out Tcatchev = 0.2
Rybalko + Pogorolev = 0.2
Takamoto-full + Yamawaki = 0.2
Endo full turn + Balabanov = 0.2
Connection Points Total = 0.8
Step 4: Add all three totals together
2.5 + 4.2 + 0.8 = 7.5 D-Score
As you can see from the calculation, even though he actually only does two E skills and no F or G skills, Zou Kai gets a monstrous 0.8 in connection points! Even though I don’t really care for his body line, form, and overall look on this event, he does have the most cleverly designed routine in the world for this code of points. He’s able to connect FOUR DIFFERENT on-the-bar skills to FOUR DIFFERENT release skills, all of which are of at least D-value. His D-Score of 7.5 was the highest of the final, and this was the biggest reason why he won. Curiously, his execution scores ranged from a 7.8 from the Irish judge to a 9.0 from the Indian judge!! When these two were dropped, his final E-Score of 8.65 gave him the gold, with a total of 16.15 Can anyone else come up with this many 0.2 combinations? It sure seems like that’s the smart way to go on this event.