Scoring Values

Alpine competition event scoring formulas are based on a variety of scoring values. A scoring value is typically based on a competitor's finish time or position, either directly or by using some value derived from one of these fundamental values.

• result time
• handicapped result time
• race points
• World Cup points
• Divisions Cup points

Scoring may be done within age groups, across multiple age groups, or within other interesting groupings (all competitors in the event, all racers on the same course, all racers of the same gender, etc.)

Two of the most commonly used scoring values for alpine ski competitions are race points and World Cup points. The Divisions Cup points system is used for awarding the Division's Cup at the USSA Master's National Championships.

Race Points

Race points (also known as FIS points or USSA points) are a time-based scoring value which attempts to produce a normalized rating of a competitor's result in a race which can be compared with results from other races. The formula for computing race points is based on how close the competitor was to the winner of the race, adjusted by a factor which normalizes times across different disciplines to try to scale results to a common ranking system.

Race points are computed according to a standard formula defined in the FIS International Competition Rules. Race points are computed from the finish times of competitors in the race and provide the basis for ranking competitors across multiple races and locations.

Race points are computed based on the ratio of a competitor's time to that of the winner of the race, with an adjustment factor depending on the type of race:

(See the F Values for Race Points Computation section for details on the F values.)

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World Cup Points

The World Cup points system awards points based on a racer's finish position. The points scale starts at 25 points and awards finishers in the top 15 places in the standings:

(Note: The new World Cup points system currently in use on the World Cup uses a 100-point scale and awards points deeper into the standings than the old World Cup points system.)

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Divisions Cup Points

The Division's Cup standings are determined by the division with the best points/start ratio of all their competitors in each event of the championship.

A division must have at least 10 competitors to qualify in the standings.

The Divisions Cup points system awards points based on a racer's finish position within age class. The points scale starts at 5 points and awards finishers in the top 5 places in each class:

(Note: the points scale is adjusted downwards for age classes with less than 5 competitors.)

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F Values for Race Points Computation

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