Running scores-based round robin

LiveHeats supports two main ways to run a scores-based round robin format, allowing all athletes to surf more than once before determining who advances. 

Below are two recommended options:

Option 1 uses total heat scores from two separate rounds to manually calculate progression

Option 2 uses athletes' top wave scores across multiple heats in a single round to generate an automatic leaderboard.

Option 1 – Use Total Heat Scores from Two Rounds to Determine Advancement

1. Draw your heats for Round 1 in your division.
2. Create Round 2 with the same number of heats as Round 1. All athletes should be advancing from Round 1 to Round 2.
3. To do so, in the Round settings for Round 1, set Progression between rounds to match the heat size e.g., if you have 4-person heats, set progression to 4 progress. Click Save to update.
4. Click Redraw (top right) to rebuild the heat draw with this setting.
5. Add the final by adding a round. Currently, Liveheats doesn't yet have an automated way to calculate a leaderboard across two rounds. So you will need to toggle “Disable Autoprogression” in the round 2 settings.
6. You will have to run the first two rounds and then manually calculate the sum of the scores to determine who will be added to the finals.
7. To calculate the leaderboard, go to “event reports”, once the event is live, on the left-hand side of the screen. Download “detailed results & scores”, which will give you the athlete's heat totals for both rounds.

See the video example below for building a round robin format using two rounds to determine progression:

Option 2 – Use Top Wave Scores Across Heats to Determine Advancement

If you're happy for each athlete’s top X waves (from either “round”) to be counted and ranked for progression, this method allows you to automate the leaderboard based on best individual wave scores (not total heat scores).

1. Draw your heats in your division. For example, you may start with 4 heats.
2. Still within Round 1, manually add additional heats to reflect your full Round Robin layout.

– For example, if Round 1 has 4 heats, add 4 more (e.g., heats 5–8), so the round contains 8 total heats.

3. Manually add athletes into the second half of the round (e.g., heats 5–8), ensuring each athlete appears only once across all heats.

– Important: Make sure to select the same version of each athlete profile to avoid duplicates.

– If duplicates appear, go to the Athletes & Teams section and merge them.

4. Name your round clearly (e.g., “Round Robin”) and note:

a. Heats 1–4 = Round Robin "Round 1"

b. Heats 5–8 = Round Robin "Round 2"

5. To configure progression, go to Division Settings > Advanced and enable Use round leaderboard for ranking.
6. Set the number of “counting rides” depending on how many waves you want to count toward the leaderboard.

– For example:

a. Use “2” to count each athlete’s best 2 waves

b. Use “4” to count their top 4 waves, and so on

7. Click Save to apply.
8. Once all heats are completed, the round leaderboard will automatically rank athletes based on their best wave scores across the entire round. You can use this leaderboard to determine who progresses to the next round or final.

If you're progressing to a Final or Bracket:

• If your Round Robin leads directly to a Final, you're all set—use the leaderboard to progress athletes into that round.
• If you're continuing into Semi-finals, Finals, etc.:

1. Wait until after all Round Robin heats are completed.
2. Return to Division Settings > Advanced and disable the Use round leaderboard for ranking option.
3. This ensures all subsequent rounds use standard heat results for progression (rather than leaderboard rankings).

See the video example below for building a round robin format using number of wave’s scores to determine progression:

Updated on: 05/08/2025