These last three seasons of college gymnastics have been unique; the option for athletes to take a fifth year has lent a new level of intrigue to the sport, affecting team rosters and scholarship availability. An equally impactful—though perhaps lesser known—change was the new code that took effect for the 2020 season. For years, the building blocks of a typical college floor routine consisted of three tumbling passes combined with required dance elements. Barring extenuating circumstances like nagging injuries, two-pass routines were few and far between. As a result of the new code, that norm is changing, and two-pass routines are quickly supplanting three-pass sets as the go-to construction for teams in Power Five schools.
Beginning with the 2020 season, the baseline start value for a floor routine decreased from 9.5 to 9.4. To balance out this change, the NCAA added extra opportunities for athletes to earn the six tenths of bonus required for their routine to start from a 10.0. The change most frequently reported on is the one-tenth difficulty bonus for the final tumbling pass being a double salto or an E-valued acro skill (a few examples being twisting double saltos, back triple twists, or front double twists.) The other added bonus opportunity is awarded…
