Hardest Gymnastics Vaults: Values and How to Recognize Them
The Biles II, a Yurchenko double pike, is the highest-valued women’s vault in the current 2025–2028 Code of Points at 6.4. In the men’s Code, several vaults share the top listed value of 5.6. Those are two different rulebooks, so the numbers do not establish that one group is harder than the other.
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Difficulty value is a useful starting point for comparing vaults within the same program. It is not a guarantee of a high final score, a measure of how many gymnasts have performed a vault or a prediction of who will win.
The tables below use the current international Codes checked on 2 November 2026. Names, shapes and rotations describe the skills; they are not instructions for attempting them.
How to Read a Difficult Vault
A vault name can tell you about its entry, its second flight or the gymnast who introduced it. To make sense of the skill, look at those parts separately.
- Entry: How does the gymnast reach the table? A Yurchenko entry has a roundoff before the board and a backward handspring onto the table. A handspring entry reaches the table facing forward.
- Somersaults: How many times does the gymnast turn head over heels after leaving the table?
- Body shape: Are the knees bent in a tuck, the hips folded with straight legs in a pike, or the body extended in a layout?
- Twists: How much does the gymnast turn around the body’s head-to-foot axis?
A half-turn onto the table and a twist after leaving it happen in different parts of the vault. That distinction matters when comparing the Cheng with a Yurchenko vault. Our guide to vault entries explains the families, while tuck, pike and layout covers the shapes.
High-Value Women’s Vaults
This is a selection of notable vaults near the top of the women’s table, not a complete list of every vault or tie at each value. Values apply to the whole vault, including its entry.
| Vault | Entry and flight after the table | 2025–2028 value |
|---|---|---|
| Biles II | Yurchenko entry; two backward somersaults in pike, without a twist after the table. | 6.4 |
| Biles I | Roundoff entry with a half-turn onto the table; one forward layout somersault with two twists. | 6.0 |
| Produnova | Handspring entry; two forward somersaults in tuck. | 6.0 |
| Yeo | Handspring entry; one forward layout somersault with two twists. | 5.8 |
| Cheng | Roundoff entry with a half-turn onto the table; one forward layout somersault with one and a half twists. | 5.6 |
| Amanar | Yurchenko entry; one backward layout somersault with two and a half twists. | 5.4 |
The Biles I and Yeo show why the entry cannot be left out. Their flight descriptions both include a forward layout somersault with two twists, but they reach the table differently and have different values. The Biles I also deserves a place in any comparison that includes the lower-valued Cheng.
The Biles II and Produnova each have two somersaults after the table. They differ in direction, shape and entry. Calling both “double flips” loses information that identifies the vault.
For the highest-valued women’s vault on its own, see the Yurchenko double pike explained. For the similarly named floor element, our Biles II comparison separates the floor skill from the vault.
Men’s Vaults Sharing a 5.6 Value
The men’s table has a different scale and different groups. These five named vaults share a 5.6 difficulty value in the current Code.
| Vault | How to recognize it | 2025–2028 value |
|---|---|---|
| Yang Hak-seon | Handspring entry; forward layout somersault with three twists. | 5.6 |
| Ri Se-gwang | Tsukahara entry into a double backward somersault in tuck with a full twist. | 5.6 |
| Ri Se-gwang 2 | Handspring entry; double forward somersault in pike with a half-twist. | 5.6 |
| Shirai 2 | Yurchenko entry; backward layout somersault with three and a half twists. | 5.6 |
| Yonekura | Tsukahara layout with three and a half twists, or the Code’s equivalent Kasamatsu description with two and a half twists. | 5.6 |
The Yonekura row uses two descriptions because the Code groups the Tsukahara and Kasamatsu versions in the same entry. The twist counts follow those descriptions; they should not be mixed into a new name or counted as two additional named vaults.
Equal value does not mean identical movement. The Yang Hak-seon emphasizes a twisting layout after a handspring entry. The Ri Se-gwang 2 combines two forward somersaults in pike with a half-twist. Each presents a different task, even though the judge begins with the same difficulty number.
What to Look for in Video
Watch USA Gymnastics’ footage of Biles at the 2023 Core Hydration Classic. The vault is around 0:15–0:20. Follow the contacts first: roundoff hands on the hand mat, feet on the board, then hands on the table. After the table, the folded hips and straight legs identify the pike shape.
The video is a historical performance example. A difficulty value or score shown in old footage belongs to that competition and its rules. This is especially important when comparing pre-2025 men’s videos with the current men’s table.
A replay may help you identify a shape or entry. It does not make a high-level vault suitable to learn from a screen, and it cannot by itself show every detail a judging panel evaluates.
Why the Hardest Vault Does Not Always Win
An international vault score combines the difficulty value with an execution score, then subtracts any neutral penalties. Execution covers the performance, including body position, flight and landing. A higher difficulty value can be offset by larger deductions.
For example, consider two hypothetical vault scores with no neutral penalty. A 6.4 vault with 8.4 execution totals 14.8; a 5.6 vault with 9.3 execution totals 14.9. The lower-valued vault finishes ahead in that example. These are teaching numbers, not results from a particular meet.
Vault finals also involve two vaults under the event’s requirements, rather than simply choosing the biggest single score. Our vault scoring guide explains the formats. For the equipment and program differences behind the two tables, see men’s and women’s vault compared.
Final Takeaway
Use the current difficulty value to compare vaults within the same rulebook, then look at the entry, body shape, somersaults and twists to understand what differs. The women’s Biles II leads its table at 6.4; several men’s vaults share 5.6. Neither number guarantees the best performance or the winning result.
Main Sources
- World Gymnastics, Women’s Code of Points 2025–2028, current vault table: 2.34, 2.50, 4.35, 4.61, 5.33 and 5.34.
- World Gymnastics, Men’s Code of Points 2025–2028, current vault table: 118, 133, 232, 321 and 410.
- USA Gymnastics, Biles’ vault at the 2023 Core Hydration Classic: historical performance example.