
The most difficult gymnastics skills combine power and grace to produce jaw-dropping movements.
As gymnastics software developers, we’re amazed by these feats. We’re also deeply appreciative of the inspiration that top gymnasts provide for young athletes across the world.
That’s why we’ve collected 14 of the most difficult gymnastics moves ever completed by women in competition. They include moves like the Jurkowska-Kowalska on beam, the Biles and Biles II on floor, the Produnova on vault, and many more. We hope you enjoy learning about them as much as we enjoy watching them!
What are the most difficult gymnastics skills on beam?
The beam is a piece of gymnastics equipment that requires extreme precision. Even the best gymnasts in the world may lose their balance on something as innocent-looking as a split jump. The hardest skills on beam include dismounts and skills completed solely on the apparatus, like the Back-full.
Back-full (beam)
Description: A standing back salto tucked with a full twist (360°). The Back-full is not a dismount; it’s a skill completed on the beam, which means it takes a great deal of precision. If the gymnast is thrown off axis by even a fraction of an inch, they may miss their landing and fall to the floor.
To create enough power for this skill, some gymnasts link a back handspring into the Back-full. Gabby Douglas famously completed a flawless Back-full from a standstill — an incredibly impressive show of strength.
Origin: The first women’s gymnast to complete the back tuck with a full twist was Aleftina Pryakhina of the former Soviet Union, at the 1986 Junior Europeans.
Level of difficulty: F (5.613)
The Jurkowska-Kowalska (beam dismount)
Description: A gainer salto layout with two full twists (720°) completed as a dismount off the beam. Unlike many beam dismounts in which gymnasts launch straight off the beam, the Jurkowska-Kowalska requires the gymnast to launch up and begin flipping backwards while travelling forward off the beam. Add in two full twists and this feat is dizzying to master!
Origin: The first women’s gymnast to complete the gainer layout with two full twists was Katarzyna Jurkowska-Kowalska of Poland at the 2018 World Championships in Doha, Qatar.
Level of difficulty: E (6.507)
Full-in (beam dismount)
Description: A double back salto tucked or piked with a full twist (360°). One of the most difficult parts of this dismount is generating enough power and height. The floor and the vault let a gymnast build speed and power for complex flipping movements, but the beam affords only a short, extremely narrow runway with no natural spring. Completing a double back salto with a full twist requires a massive amount of speed and power.
Level of difficulty: G (6.705)
The Biles (beam dismount)
Description: A double back salto tucked with two full twists (720°). This dismount takes the Full-in and adds another full twist. As with the Full-in, one of the biggest challenges is generating the speed and power to complete the movement with control. The extra twist arguably makes the Biles (or “double-double”) the hardest dismount on beam — and the only woman to ever land it is Simone Biles.
Origin: Simone Biles of the U.S.A. first completed the skill at the 2019 U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Kansas City.
Level of difficulty: H
What are the hardest gymnastics skills on floor?
Floor routines mix artistic movement with powerful tumbling. There is no beam, vault, rings or other apparatus to navigate, so the hardest floor skills truly push the limits of what the human body can do on its own.
The Biles (floor)
Description: A double salto layout with a half twist (180°). This skill takes a high degree of core strength to hold the layout position through two flips at high velocity. It also demands technical skill because of the blind landing: the gymnast can’t see the ground while inverted, so the skill depends on muscle memory and control. Mid-air adjustments are not an option!
Origin: Simone Biles landed the first double salto layout with a half twist at the 2013 World Championships in Antwerp.
Level of difficulty: G (5.703)
The Silivas (floor)
Description: A double back salto tucked with two full twists (720°). It takes great finesse to combine two twists with two flips, and enough power to launch high enough to complete them with control. The Silivas remained the most difficult skill on floor for 25 years, until Victoria Moors completed it in the layout position (see the Moors II below).
Origin: First completed by Romania’s Daniela Silivas at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea.
Level of difficulty: H (5.802)
The Moors II (floor)
Description: A double salto with a double twist (720°) in layout position. Like the Silivas, the double-twisting double layout requires enormous power to gain the height for both flips and both twists. The layout position makes it far harder, because the forces of the flips and twists naturally push a gymnast to bend their knees. The gymnast must be extremely strong to stay in a straight layout.
Watch closely and you’ll see that gymnasts who execute this skill poorly often finish with slightly bent knees and flexed feet, rather than straight legs and strong, pointed toes.
Origin: Canadian Victoria Moors landed the first double-twisting double layout in competition at the 2013 World Championships in Antwerp.
Level of difficulty: I (5.903)
The Biles II – triple-double (floor)
Description: A double back salto tucked with a triple twist (1080°). The Biles II is the most difficult women’s skill ever completed on floor, adding another twist to the Silivas, which had been the hardest skill for a quarter of a century. Gymnasts attempting the triple-double need even more power to gain enough airtime to complete it with control.
Origin: Simone Biles first completed the skill at the 2019 U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Kansas City.
Level of difficulty: J
What are the most difficult gymnastics skills on vault?
Unlike floor and beam, there is no routine on vault. Gymnasts can’t make up for a slip or falter — they get one shot to execute their skill.
The Cheng (vault)
Description: A round-off entry onto the springboard, a half twist onto the table and a front salto layout with one and a half twists (540°) before landing. The round-off gives a blind entry onto the table: when the gymnast hits the springboard, they’re carrying the full speed of their run and the power of the round-off backward, towards a table they can’t see. The front salto with one and a half twists must then be completed using upward momentum from that blind, twisting entry.
Origin: China’s Cheng Fei was the first women’s gymnast to complete the vault, at the 2005 World Championships in Australia.
Level of difficulty: 6.0
The Biles (vault)
Description: A round-off entry onto the springboard, a half twist onto the table and a front salto layout with two twists (720°). The Biles takes the Cheng and adds another half twist, which also means the gymnast lands blind. It is tied as the second most difficult vault.
Origin: First performed by Simone Biles at the 2018 World Championships in Doha, Qatar.
Level of difficulty: I (6.40)
The Produnova (vault)
Description: Known as the “Vault of Death”, the Produnova is a front handspring onto the table followed by two tucked front saltos off the vault. It was previously rated higher, but its value was lowered after complaints that gymnasts who executed it poorly were outscoring those who precisely executed easier vaults. It remains tied with the Biles as the second most difficult vault.
Why is it so difficult? It takes a massive amount of power to complete both tucked saltos, and the entire skill is completed blind. The gymnast only glimpses the floor for a fraction of a second, so the landing depends completely on timing and muscle memory.
The Produnova has been criticized for its high injury risk, but every so often a gymnast competes it internationally. Most recently, India’s Dipa Karmakar landed it at the 2016 Rio Olympics. You can read more about her in our female athlete role models guide.
Origin: Yelena Produnova was the first gymnast to complete this vault, at the 1999 World Championships in Tianjin, China.
Level of difficulty: I (6.40)
The Yurchenko double pike (vault)
Description: A round-off onto the springboard and a back handspring onto the table, followed by a piked double salto off the vault. Before Simone Biles, only a handful of male gymnasts had ever competed it.
The gymnast must generate huge power off the table to spring high enough for two piked saltos. Holding a pike while flipping backwards goes against what the body naturally wants to do, which is open up into a flatter position, so it takes extra strength and technique. Finally, two piked backflips create a great deal of rotational force that the gymnast must absorb and control on landing.
Origin: First performed by Simone Biles at the 2021 U.S. Classic in Indianapolis.
Level of difficulty: 6.60
What are the most difficult gymnastics skills on uneven bars?
The uneven bars are where gymnastics can truly soar. Dismounts are high-flying and strenuous, but we’ve picked two release moves as the most difficult skills on bars.
The Def (bars)
Description: A Gienger release with an extra full twist. The gymnast releases the bar and completes a back salto layout with one and a half twists (540°) before catching the bar again.
Origin: The first women’s gymnast to complete the move in international competition was Snejana Hristakieva at the 1992 World Championships in Paris. Its creator was French gymnast Jacques Def, and the skill is most commonly referred to by his name.
Level of difficulty: G (3.705)
The Shaposhnikova with full twist (bars)
Description: A clear hip circle on the low bar to a flight release with a full twist (360°) before catching the high bar. The gymnast starts on the low bar with her back to the high bar, and after the release and full twist she catches the high bar in a similar position. The blind catch from low bar to high bar magnifies the difficulty.
Origin: Russian gymnast Aliya Mustafina was the first to complete the skill, at the 2013 World Championships in Antwerp.
So, what is the hardest gymnastics move in the world?
As Simone Biles continues to rack up new skills, this question keeps getting harder to answer! In 2021 she completed a brand-new vault for women’s artistic gymnastics, the Yurchenko double pike — and to us, that’s now the hardest gymnastics move in the world.
It was initially awarded the highest difficulty value of any vault, and it is so difficult that no other woman had even tried it in competition. We previously named the Produnova the most difficult skill because of its high risk, but several women have competed that vault. So for now, and the foreseeable future, the Yurchenko double pike takes the title.
The future of women’s gymnastics skills
We’re excited to see what the future holds. Simone Biles keeps upping the ante with skills that were previously out of reach. What will she do next, and who will the next innovator be? To read more about athletes redefining their sports, see our definitive guide to female athlete role models.
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