The Most Difficult Floor Skills in Women's Gymnastics #floor #gymnastics

The double layout is one of the most beautiful skills in women's gymnastics, when properly executed, of course. It consists of a double salto backward with a fully straight body. However, a slightly arched position is allowed, which also helps to make the skill more aesthetically pleasing in most cases. It carries an F rating, and some gymnasts perform it in combination to increase their start values, like the explosive Vanessa Attler, who added a punch front at the end, the powerful Kristen Maloney, who linked it to a backward whip, or the dynamic Claudia Fragappani, who jumped out of it. The double layout has been around since the 80s, and was very popular during the 90s, with many of the top athletes using it as their opening pass. Three decades later, it continues to be a pretty common skill in a multitude of floor routines. The three-and-a-half twist carries an F rating as well, but it's much less common. It consists of a salto backward laid out with three-and-a-half rotations, and it's fair to say it can be a bit of a deduction-prone skill, since we often see under-rotated landings, which are pretty dangerous for the knee and ankle joints. In addition, we may also find some of the most common deductions associated with twisting elements, like the crossing or separation of the legs, which incur a one-tenth deduction each, or the slightly bent knees, also a one-tenth deduction. Nonetheless, some gymnasts have taken the three-and-a-half twist to a whole new level by adding a salto at the end of the pass, which increases their difficulty score by two-tenths and helps to control the landing. The Podkopaeva II consists of a double salto forward in a tucked position with a half-twist off, and is valued at F. It was submitted by Ukrainian gymnast Liliya Podkopaeva in 1995, and only a select group of gymnasts have performed it since. Forward tumbling is, unfortunately, not very common in women's gymnastics, and in most performances, athletes will cowboy their legs to rotate faster, which causes body-shaped deductions up to three-tenths depending on the width, and on top of that, it also makes the skill less pleasing to watch. The Dowel was submitted at the 2015 World Championships by American gymnast Brenna Dowell and given an F rating. It consists of a double salto forward in a hiked position and favors the most explosive and dynamic athletes, especially when performed without a hand-supported element. This skill was actually first performed by Swedish gymnast Veronica Wagner all the way back in 2006. However, she was unable to successfully submit it at an official competition. As mentioned before, forward tumbling, especially this hard, is pretty rare in women's gymnastics, so don't expect to find the dowel in many routines. The Dos Santos I looks similar to the dowel, however, this one has a backward takeoff, therefore joining the Arabian family of elements. It carries an F rating as well, and is described by the technical committee as an Arabian double salto forward in a hiked position. Brazil's Dayane dos Santos successfully landed this outstanding tumbling pass at the 2003 World Championships, hence carrying her name in the rulebook of the discipline. It's not an extremely common skill when compared to a double layout, for example, but its popularity has grown in the past decade. Some athletes add a dance element at the end to earn an extra tenth in bonus and avoid landing deductions. Overall, the double-piked Arabian is beautiful to watch when the correct execution is presented. The Maldonado is definitely one of the rarest skills on this list. It was born in 2019, after Andrea Maldonado submitted it at the Cottbus World Cup, and it consists of a salto forward laid out with three twists. To date, the Puerto Rican gymnast has most likely been the only female athlete to perform it in competition. Twisting elements with a forward blind landing can be quite taxing on the knees and ankles if under-rotated, so this F-rated skill does require a good amount of height and a sharp twisting technique to avoid a dangerous landing. The Geron is the most recent addition to the list of most difficult skills on floor. It was from Panama at the 2024 Cairo World Cup and received an F rating from the technical committee. This element had been performed by multiple gymnasts since at least 2004. However, it took 20 years to finally be added to the rulebook of the discipline as it hadn't been successfully executed at an FIG official competition yet. It consists of a double salto backward tucked with one and a half twists, and its blind landing makes it a bit more of a challenge to perform cleanly. The Biles One is the only G-rated floor skill in the Women's Code of Points. It consists of a double salto backward laid out with a half twist off, and was submitted by American gymnast Simone Biles at the 2013 World Championships. The half turn at the end makes it much more difficult to stick, since the gymnast cannot spot the ground properly. However, the Olympic champion has been performing this skill consistently for more than a decade, and added the dance element at the end to earn an extra tenth in bonus and avoid landing deductions. Besides Simone, only four other female athletes have performed it in competition so far. The Syllavas has steadily grown in popularity throughout the past 11 years, a direct result of it being upgraded from G to H in 2013. It consists of a double salto backward in a tucked position with two twists, often referred to simply as a double-double. It carries the name of Romania's Daniela Syllavas, who debuted it back in the late 80s. In recent years, we've witnessed a couple of gymnasts, like Simone Biles or Jade Carey, being able to link it to other skills, which is super impressive, since on paper the double-double is in the top five most difficult floor skills. Considering this, along with its increased popularity among female athletes, an intriguing question in the community has been raised. Does the Syllavas actually deserve an H rating, or is it time to be lowered to a G? Like the Syllavas, the full twisting double layout was also upgraded from G to H in 2013, and its popularity has also increased since. It's named after two different athletes in the coat of points, former Soviet gymnast Tatyana Tazaikova and Uzbek gymnast Oksana Shusavitina. Tatyana actually debuted it first in 1987, using a full-in technique, which means the twist is performed in the first salto. Oksana, however, did it a few years later with a full-out technique. Therefore, both are credited, and their respective versions of this element are considered the same, just performed with a different technique. It's described as a double salto backward laid out with a full twist, and it's important to maintain the hips fully stretched throughout to avoid piking deductions. The Dos Santos, too, entered the coat of points in 2004, and is described as an Arabian double salto in a layout position. It's the second eponymous skill of Brazil's Daiane Dos Santos, who has been the only female gymnast to attempt it in competition so far. In 2017, its value was raised from G to H, but not even that was enough to increase its popularity, given its massive level of intricacy. Maintaining a fully stretched body position while rotating forward seems to be the most challenging part of this skill, and that is one of the main criticisms the Brazilian gymnast still receives to this day. Daiane's hips were visibly piked during her performances, and under today's stricter rules, the element would most likely not be credited by the judges. Nonetheless, we have to admire the guts and explosiveness it takes to perform such an incredible move, which many consider ahead of its time. The Moors consists of a double salto backward laid out with two twists, and is the only I-rated element in women's gymnastics at the moment. It was submitted by Canada's Victoria Moors at the 2013 World Championships, and has been slowly gaining some traction among female gymnasts. Like in any major twisting skill in a layout position, the most problematic area is to maintain the body fully aligned. We often see slightly piked hips right before the landing, which can incur a 1 to 3 tenth penalty. Given its massive level of difficulty, the Moors ranks among the toughest skills to master and polish execution-wise. And to finish off this list, we have the queen of all skills, the triple double tuck, aka the Biles 2, the highest rated element in the entire women's code of points, with a J rating, which means this move alone is worth a full point. It was submitted by none other than the incredible Simone Biles at the 2019 World Championships, and consists of a double salto backward tucked with three full rotations. No other female gymnast has attempted this element in competition so far. Given it takes a tremendous amount of height, a precise tuck shape, and a refined twisting technique to put it to their feet, we have to commend Simone's ability to push the limits of the sport and to create unique moves that will go down in history as some of the boldest ever attempted. What's your favorite floor skill in this list?