Les Suprêmes (CAN) win the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships in Zagreb, Croatia © ISU
Les Suprêmes (CAN) reigned supreme once more at the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships and skated off with their third consecutive gold medal as the Championship concluded in Zagreb (CRO) Saturday.
Les Suprêmes (CAN) on top of the Synchronized Skating world
Les Suprêmes of Canada top the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships and skated off with their third consecutive World title. The Haydenettes (USA) moved up from third to claim the silver, ending an eight-year-long medal drought. The Helsinki Rockettes of Finland settled for the bronze, the eighth World medal in the history of their team.
Les Suprêmes opened their program named “Mount Everest”, in honor of one of the World’s highest mountains, with a spectacular move with one Skater diving into the arms of her teammates from the top of a pyramid they formed.
Les Suprêmes (CAN) in action at the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships in Zagreb, Croatia © ISU
The Canadians, dressed in silver-blue and grey costumes with a glittering mountain silhouette, went on to produce smooth footwork and well synchronized moves. The now three-time World Champions collected a level four for the move element, pair element, the intersections, the group lift, the travel and no hold elements.
Les Suprêmes set a new season’s best of 159.08 points in the Free Skating and totaled 237.97 points for their confident victory.
“We're really happy with how we performed today,” team captain Olivia Di Giandomenico said at the post event press conference.
“Our goal coming into the competition was to have a clean skate and be happy when we get off the ice, regardless of what the result was. As soon as we hit the ending position, we were really happy no matter what was going to happen.”
Team co-captain Julia Bernardo added: “Our Free program theme is Mount Everest, so we go through the journey of climbing the mountain: the different challenges you face, different emotions. You get tired, you start having doubts but then towards the end of the program we get really excited that we're almost there, and we work together to achieve this goal of climbing the mountain,” she concluded.
Skating to “Who Wants to Live Forever”, The Haydenettes put out another excellent performance that was highlighted by difficult elements, great speed and unison.
Silver medal winners Team Haydenettes (USA) at the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships Zagreb, Croatia © ISU
The team from Boston collected a level four for all nine level-elements to achieve a season’s best of 157.11 points. Overall they accumulated 233.85 points and overtook the Finnish team to take their first silver medal after five bronze medals earned in the years 2010 to 2016.
“This is definitely the first big medal that I've won with the team,” team captain Stephen Murray shared. “We all are ecstatic with the fact that we came here and did our job, and were able to put out two phenomenal performances knowing that we could,” he continued.
Team Haydenettes (USA) take to the podium at the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships Zagreb, Croatia © ISU
“Our long program is to Who Wants to Live Forever: I think is something we all emotionally attached to,” team captain Maia Laats said. “The lyrics themselves, everyone can understand them, and find their own meaning, and your life, and how you go through it, and all the struggles that are there, and then the joy of the love that you find at the end is something so powerful. It really takes you through every single emotion you could possibly think of when you just sit there and listen to it, which is what we got the chance to do all year, which is really powerful.”
The Helsinki Rockettes had chosen an interesting mix of modern music including “Arboles Bajo El Mar” and “Spacetime Fairytale”. They Finns impressed with seven level-four elements. However, they struggled a little with the group lift which cost them a level and grades of execution.
Team Helsinki Rockettes (FIN) take bronze at the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships Zagreb, Croatia © ISU
The multiple World medalists scored 151.84 points for the Free Skating for a total of 229.84 points and slipped to third place.
“We had a little mistake, so it's a little disappointing, but we managed to have fun, and the rest of the program was really good, so we are really proud of what we did there,” team captain Eveliina Tikkinen said.
Team Helsinki Rockettes (FIN) in Zagreb, Croatia © ISU
“Our Free program is called Incantation, and we are in our own spiritual world. There are spells and curses and it's about things you can do with your mind. Your mind can be really powerful, or even dangerous, and the program is really mythical,” Tikkinen elaborated.
2023 World bronze medalists Team Unique (FIN) remained in fourth place with a powerful performance on 227.11 points. Nova Senior (CAN) came fifth with 211.58 points followed by The Skyliners (USA) at 206.27 points.
A total of 21 teams with 479 Skaters representing 17 ISU Members competed in the Championships. It was the 23rd edition of the event that started in 2000. Zagreb (CRO) hosted the event for the third time after 2004 and 2009. Zagreb was allocated the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships in 2021, but the event was cancelled (and as well in 2020) due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gold medalists Team Les Supremes (CAN), top, silver medalists Team Haydenettes (USA), left, and bronze medalists Team Helsinki Rockettes (FIN) © ISU
Originally called Precision Skating, Synchronized Skating was introduced in the 1950s. It is a highly technical form of Figure Skating characterized by speed, precision, unison, intricate formations, synchro elements, difficult footwork, spectacular lifts and exciting transitions. A synchronized team consists of 16 skaters (plus up to four alternates).
Zagreb (CRO) hosts the event for the third time after 2004 and 2009. Zagreb was allocated the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships in 2021, but the event was cancelled (and as well in 2020) due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Schedule of the event
The schedule of the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships is as follows:
Friday, April 5: Short Program
Saturday, April 6: Free Skating
For full entries and results, please see the ISU event page and the official event website.
The event is live streamed on the ISU YouTube Channel. Follow the event on social media using the hashtag: #WorldSynchro and #FigureSkating.
Where to watch the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships 2024:
The ISU World Synchronized Figure Skating Championships will be live streamed on the Skating ISU YouTube Channel. Geo-restrictions will apply in markets where TV rights are in place. You will find the full list in the Where to Watch news here.
Subscribe to the Skating ISU YouTube Channel to receive alerts when the live streams start and when new videos are posted.
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