Iconic 6.0 Scoring Laid to Rest

[Sylvia]

July 8, 2026 USFS article:

Iconic 6.0 Scoring Laid to Rest - U.S. Figure Skating

On June 28, U.S. Figure Skating bid a final farewell to the 6.0 judging system. The day was a bit nostalgic as the once popular, if sometimes controversial, 6.0

usfigureskating.org

Excerpts:

On June 28, U.S. Figure Skating bid a final farewell to the 6.0 judging system. The day was a bit nostalgic as the once popular, if sometimes controversial, 6.0 system for scoring and ranking skaters' performances was officially retired after more than a century.
A handful of lower-level events in the U.S. had continued using 6.0 scoring in conjunction with the implementation of the international judging system (IJS) in 2004, but last month, several nonqualifying events used 6.0 for the last time in U.S. Figure Skating history.

At the 69th Annual Lake Placid Figure Skating Championships on June 27, organizers recognized the end of the era of 6.0 scoring and the computer software that brought it to life, Hal 2.0, developed by Hall of Fame member Al Beard in 1972.
"Thank you, HAL 2.0. You've earned one last perfect 6.0," the public address announcer told the audience.
Starting on July 1, 2026, event organizers began using the CJS in place of 6.0. Judges now evaluate a skater's performance based on the quality and difficulty of their technical elements, skating skills and composition/presentation, in that order of importance. They produce a numerical score, not the placement ordinals of 6.0.
Levels affected by this change are Compete USA competitions and events and select levels of adult, high school and intercollegiate skating competitions, as well as jumps 1–4, spins 1–4 and compulsory events at nonqualifying competitions.

"The need to replace 6.0 was long talked about but a feasible replacement was not developed until 2025," Brenda Kickertz, past competitions committee chair for U.S. Figure Skating, said. "The retirement of 6.0 will certainly make our officials and coaches who judged and competed under 6.0 a little nostalgic. I think this was probably more true when IJS replaced 6.0 for our qualifying competitions. Everyone reminisces about Michelle Kwan's artistry and her record number of perfect 6.0 marks."

Michelle Kwan earned a record 57 perfect 6.0 marks during her illustrious career, which spanned the early 1990s to the middle 2000s.6.0s rain down on Michelle Kwan at the 2004 U.S. Championships in Atlanta.
Dorothy Hamill garnered two 6.0s for presentation at the Olympic Winter Games in 1976, winning without a triple jump.
The legendary ice dance team of Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean earned 12 6.0s for their iconic Boléro performance at the 1984 Olympics; every judge awarded a perfect artistic presentation score. The team accumulated a staggering 56 perfect 6.0s across their career.

The evolution to digitized scoring — from rinkside numbers to handwritten paper tabulation — took root around 1972. Though expensive and complicated, this shift was bridged and facilitated by Al Beard, a pioneering architect of computerized American competition scoring.
A skating dad and high-level computer engineer in the early mainframe era, Beard brought professional expertise. Manual results required hours to calculate, leaving room for error. Beard created the HAL 2.0 scoring program, ultimately commencing today's wholly digital judging infrastructure.
The 1992 U.S. Championships featured in-arena scoreboard results for the first time. Conversion wasn't only technological; it profoundly altered choreography, training, officials' education and what fans valued. Socially, discussions became "subjective artistry vs. quantifiable athleticism" battles, questioning whether objectivity pursuit eradicated the most fanatically powerful scoring system in sports.

 

[Aussie Willy]

Thanks for this. They have posted some great resources on the USFSA website with the CJS.

 

[Yuri]

Thanks for posting this article! As a former USFSA Accountant, I was once an avid user of HAL 2.0--which was admittedly quite rudimentary, but it did the job--for entering skating orders, judges, and the scores for posting around the rink. It was during my time period that it became possible to integrate it with the arena scoreboards, so I guess 1992 would be the Orlando Nationals. Many will recall that the USFSA had to truck around and install its customized scoreboards which displayed only the time and had room for nine marks on the 6.0 scale.

The concept of a "Technical" Accountant came into being during the transition when at least one of us (at a US Nationals, Skate America, or perhaps a 6.0 scale Pro-Am competition popular in this era) needed to be able to understand not only how to connect (lots of wiring!) the old USFSA scoreboards but also transmit the data to the arena scoreboards. For these major competitions, I recall the judges had simple keypads to record their marks, so the accountants didn't enter them manually.

 

[Aussie Willy]

We used to use an Excel macro based system I think called Skatescore for judging. It was when that wasn't supported any more that we transitioned to IJS for everything, including our learn to skate events. I kind of developed the IJS version (based on the CJS) here for those lower levels and had to convince some of the judges to use it but it worked. However I really like how the USFSA have set it up with all their documentation so will be taking it a step further using what they have done as a basis.

 

[jägerbomb]

RIP 6,0

 

[Matryeshka]

I feel like 6.0 is your hijinks/shenanigans/could-have-gotten-arrested/cancelled-if-social-media-was-a-thing friend from high school. You would never be friends with them again, would run the other way if you saw them again, but dominate your conversations about the good ole days. The highs were higher, but the lows were...low. Looooowwwwww.