The city of Zagreb and the Croatian Figure Skating Federation played hosts to the10th World Synchronized Skating Championships over this extended weekend.

Team Unique (Finland 2) skated their short program with great interpretation to “I am a Woman” by Leiber-Stroller. With impressive intersections and an overall solid performance, Unique earned their first gold. The team captain was elated with the win as, up until this point, the team had been the only Finnish team to have not won a medal.

Bronze medalists at both 2007 and 2008, Nexxice (Canada 1) picked up their first silver in the short program with 80.12 points after a clean skate to “Bata Yetu” by Christopher Tin. After making some minor mistakes in some of the elements, Marigold Ice Unity (Finland 1) placed third with 78.68 points but did receive the highest scores for choreography and interpretation (each with 8.55). The team receiving the highest score for their skating skills was Team Surprise (Sweden 1) who finished fourth. Unfortunately, their performance was marred with a serious error in the second intersection although the second part of their program was executed perfectly.

The free program was next and it looked like any of the top five teams could take the gold. After some disasterous spills in the starting group, the audience was looking for a strong performance from Nexxice. The Canadians skated a medieval-inspired program to thrill the audience and judges alike. The team was justly rewarded with impressive scores of 143.46 and a total of 223.58. Later at the press conference, the Nexxice team captain said that they had “wanted to go out there and do their best”. In skating their best and winning the gold, Nexxice became the first Canadian gold medalists in World Synchronized Skating Championships history.

Finishing with the silver medal, Team Unique opened their free program to the powerful “Nessun Dorma”. The audience was enthralled with the performance that finished with a superb linear lift. It was a fall in the pair element and some minor mistakes that lowered their score to 137.92 and an 220.28 overall.

Taking the bronze was Surprise. With a drum mix from “Ghost in the Shell” and “Love in Venice”, Surprise took to the ice knowing they had to make up for their disappointing short program and gave an excellent performance with high speed lifts and pair elements. During the last element, however, one of the girls had a bad fall and, as a result, the team finished with 131.06 points and a 209.30 tally.

The final standings for the Championships therefore saw Nexxice taking the gold, Team Unique the silver and Surprise the bronze. Next year’s World Championships will be held in Colorado Springs, USA.

For full results please see Entries/Results

For further information please contact:
Devra Pitt Getaz ISU Communications Coordinator
+41 216126666
email: pitt@isu.ch