Synchronized skating

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Marigold IceUnity

Synchronized skating, a large and fast-growing, yet little recognized discipline, consists of 12-20 athletes skating on ice at one time moving as one flowing unit at high speeds. This discipline of figure skating was originally called precision skating in North America because of the emphasis on maintaining precise formations and timing of the group.

1 Details
2 Competitions
3 History
4 Present Day
5 Results of World Synchronized Skating Championships
6 See also
7 External link

[edit] Details

For a synchronized team to flow in unison, individual skaters must be competent at a variety of skating skills, including speed, footwork and ice presence. The team performs a program set to music, with required formations including circles, lines, blocks, wheels, and intersections. The teams are required to perform difficult step sequences involving a number of complicated turns. Teams in the senior division are also permitted to perform lifts involving 2 or more people which can be extended overhead to full arm height. In Junior and Senior divisions, teams are required to perform two different routines; a short program and a free skating program. Generally, the Short program is more technical in nature, where the free skating has a longer time limit giving more opportunity to showcase expression, emotion and interpretation. The senior division free skating program is the only program that is allowed to feature lifts .

[edit] Competitions

There are international synchronized skating competitions at the novice, junior, and senior levels, and the International Skating Union held the first World Synchronized Skating Championships in 2000. In the United States and Canada, there are several other recognized age and skill levels from preliminary (young children) to masters (older adults). The top junior teams from around the world compete against one another in what is known as the World Challenge Cup for Juniors, held in a different location every year. Recently the top novice teams in the world have had an opportunity to compete against one another with the Leon Lurje Trophy which was held for the first time in the 2006-2007 season. While most skaters participating in "synchro" are female, the rules allow mixed-gender teams.

[edit] History

The first synchronized skating team was formed by Dr. Richard Porter, who became known as the 'father of synchronized skating'. The 'Hockettes' skated out of Ann Arbor, Michigan and entertained spectators during the intermissions of the University of Michigan Men’s Hockey Team. In the early days, precision skating (as it was then called) resembled a drill team routine, or a precision dance company such as The Rockettes.

During the 1970’s, the interest for this new sport spawned tremendous growth and development. As each season passed, more and more teams were developing more creative and innovative routines incorporating stronger basic skating skills, new maneuvers and more sophisticated transitions with greater speed, style and agility. Due to the enormous interest in the sport in North America, the first official international competition was held between Canadian and American teams in Michigan in March of 1976. With the internationalization of the sport, it has evolved rapidly, with increasing emphasis on speed and skating skills, and "highlight" elements such as jumps, spins, and lifts that originally were not permitted in competition.

[edit] Present Day

At the senior level, the best teams in the world are currently Team Surprise of Sweden and Marigold Ice Unity of Finland. Other top teams include Rockettes of Finland, Les Supremes and Nexxice of Canada and the United States' Haydenettes and Miami University Senior Synchronized Skating Team.

Although not currently an Olympic sport, fans and participants of this fast-growing discipline have begun to strive for recognition by the rest of the skating and athletic world. Synchronized skating has been covered by Skating magazine since the sport's inception, is a varsity sport at several colleges such as Miami University (and many more are developing club-level collegiate teams without varsity status), and has been already been reviewed for Olympic eligibility. Miami University has been a trailblazer in collegiate synchronized skating, fielding the first completely funded varsity synchronized skating program in the United States, as well as their coach Vicki Korn working towards gaining "synchro" NCAA status in the United States.

[edit] Results of World Synchronized Skating Championships

Medalists
Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze
2000	Minneapolis, USA	Team Surprise	black ice	Marigold IceUnity
2001	Helsinki, Finland	Team Surprise	Rockettes	black ice
2002	Rouen, France	Marigold IceUnity	Team Surprise	black ice
2003	Ottawa, Canada	Team Surprise	Marigold IceUnity	Les Suprêmes
2004	Zagreb, Croatia	Marigold IceUnity	Team Surprise	Rockettes
2005	Göteborg, Sweden	Team Surprise	Rockettes	Marigold IceUnity
2006	Prague, Czech Republic	Marigold IceUnity	Team Surprise	Rockettes
2007	London, Canada	Team Surprise	Miami University	Nexxice
2008	Budapest, Hungary