What is the penalty for support on the mat with 1 or 2 hands during a vault landing?

The correct penalty for support on the mat with one or two hands during a vault landing is 0.5. This penalty reflects the understanding that when a gymnast lands and requires additional support to stabilize or control their landing—whether by using one hand or two—this introduces an element of instability or error in the execution of the skill.

Supporting oneself on the mat indicates that the gymnast did not achieve a clean landing, which is a crucial element of vault execution. The penalty is designed to effectively reflect the impact of this error on the gymnast's overall performance. In gymnastics judging, each type of error or deviation from expected performance standards incurs specific deductions, and the support on the mat deduction is standardized at 0.5 to maintain consistency in scoring.

Understanding this penalty helps judges maintain fairness across all performances by applying the same standards regarding landings and stability.