ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships

Latvia Team Amber competing in 2013

The ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships (WSSC) are the world championships for the sport of synchronized skating. Held since 2000, the World Synchronized Skating Championships is an annual event organized by the International Skating Union and attracts the most elite senior-level synchronized skating teams from around the world to compete for the World Championship.

Since the beginning, the top positions have been mainly dominated by Sweden and Finland: the Swedish Team Surprise have won six World titles, four silver medals and one bronze medal and the Finnish Marigold IceUnity are five-time World Champions with seven silver medals and two bronze medals. Rockettes from Finland have earned three World titles, four silver medals and six bronze medals. Other major teams include the Canadian Les Suprêmes (with three World titles and one bronze medal), NEXXICE (with two World titles, three silvers and two bronzes), the Russian Team Paradise (with three World titles and two bronze medals), the Finnish Team Unique (with one gold and one silver), as well as the American teams, Miami University (with one silver medal) and the Haydenettes (with four bronze medals.) Other medalists include the (now-discontinued) Canadian black ice with one silver medal and two bronze medals.

At the 2024 World Figure Skating Championships, Les Suprêmes made history by winning three consecutive World Championships. The previous consecutive world championships were achieved in 2000-2001 by Team Surprise, 2010-2011 by Rockettes and 2016-2017 by Team Paradise.

Although initially dominated by just a handful of teams and countries, the sport has arguably become more competitive over time, as supported by an analysis of the point 'gap' between the 1st and 10th placed teams. Starting from the 2005 WSSC (the first year the current ISU Judging System was introduced), the point 'gap' has tended to decrease over time:

WSSC (year) 1st vs. 10th place (∆ points)
2005 85.27 [1]
2006 77.56 [2]
2007 77.03 [3]
2008 63.06 [4]
2009 48.02 [5]
2010 56.42 [6]
2011 52.69 [7]
2012 38.32 [8]
2013 55.12 [9]
2014 56.32 [10]
2015 50.39 [11]
2016 53.32 [12]
2017 53.41 [13]
2018 40.03 [14]
2019 63.20 [15]
2020 Event not held [1]
2021 Event not held
2022 66.39 [16]
2023 61.76 [17]
2024 56.92 [18]

Medalists

Year Location Gold Total SP FS Silver Total SP FS Bronze Total SP FS Source(s)
2000 United States Minneapolis, United States Sweden Team Surprise 1.5 0.5 1.0 Canada black ice 3.0 1.0 2.0 Finland Marigold IceUnity 4.5 1.5 3.0 [19][20]
2001 Finland Helsinki, Finland Sweden Team Surprise 1.5 0.5 1.0 Finland Rockettes 4.0 2.0 2.0 Canada black ice 4.0 1.0 3.0 [20]
2002 France Rouen, France Finland Marigold IceUnity 2.0 1.0 1.0 Sweden Team Surprise 2.5 0.5 2.0 Canada black ice 4.5 1.5 3.0 [21]
2003 Canada Ottawa, Canada Sweden Team Surprise 2.0 1.0 1.0 Finland Marigold IceUnity 3.5 1.5 2.0 Canada Les Suprêmes 3.5 0.5 3.0 [22]
2004 Croatia Zagreb, Croatia Finland Marigold IceUnity 1.5 0.5 1.0 Sweden Team Surprise 3.0 1.0 2.0 Finland Rockettes 4.5 1.5 3.0 [23]
2005 Sweden Gothenburg, Sweden Sweden Team Surprise 207.75 71.23 136.02 Finland Rockettes 188.40 64.33 124.07 Finland Marigold IceUnity 187.17 68.67 118.50 [1]
2006 Czech Republic Prague, Czech Republic Finland Marigold IceUnity 197.29 69.89 127.40 Sweden Team Surprise 188.57 69.09 119.48 Finland Rockettes 180.32 62.66 117.66 [2]
2007 Canada London, Canada Sweden Team Surprise 222.24 77.54 144.70 United States Miami University 198.71 69.75 128.96 Canada NEXXICE 194.08 68.54 125.54 [3]
2008 Hungary Budapest, Hungary Finland Rockettes 210.48 72.55 137.93 Sweden Team Surprise 205.71 74.72 130.99 Canada NEXXICE 198.81 70.67 128.14 [4]
2009 Croatia Zagreb, Croatia Canada NEXXICE 223.58 80.12 143.46 Finland Team Unique 220.28 82.36 137.92 Sweden Team Surprise 209.30 78.24 131.06 [5]
2010 United States Colorado Springs, United States Finland Rockettes 223.90 81.40 142.50 Finland Marigold IceUnity 216.98 75.34 141.64 United States Haydenettes 216.48 78.62 137.86 [6]
2011 Finland Helsinki, Finland Finland Rockettes 215.43 74.81 140.62 Finland Marigold IceUnity 213.48 73.54 139.94 United States Haydenettes 205.40 71.16 134.24 [7]
2012 Sweden Gothenburg, Sweden Sweden Team Surprise 194.87 64.63 130.24 Canada NEXXICE 193.64 63.76 129.88 United States Haydenettes 192.78 62.14 130.64 [8]
2013 United States Boston, United States Finland Team Unique 208.77 69.28 139.49 Canada NEXXICE 208.25 72.84 135.41 United States Haydenettes 202.53 71.87 130.66 [9]
2014 Italy Courmayeur, Italy Finland Marigold IceUnity 223.45 76.14 147.31 Canada NEXXICE 220.88 74.85 146.03 Finland Rockettes 220.66 74.98 145.68 [10]
2015 Canada Hamilton, Canada Canada NEXXICE 214.73 71.06 143.67 Finland Marigold IceUnity 214.06 70.39 143.67 Russia Paradise 203.48 66.25 137.23 [11]
2016 Hungary Budapest, Hungary Russia Paradise 212.69 73.86 138.83 Finland Rockettes 207.84 70.03 137.81 United States Haydenettes 206.95 68.09 138.86 [12]
2017 United States Colorado Springs, USA Russia Paradise 208.70 72.62 136.08 Finland Marigold IceUnity 208.58 70.88 137.70 Canada NEXXICE 197.54 67.17 130.37 [13]
2018 Sweden Stockholm, Sweden Finland Marigold IceUnity 209.02 72.61 136.41 Sweden Team Surprise 207.99 72.83 135.16 Russia Paradise 200.97 76.05 124.92 [24][2]
2019 Finland Helsinki, Finland Russia Paradise 234.38 87.12 147.26 Finland Marigold IceUnity 228.70 85.90 142.80 Finland Rockettes 228.61 82.12 146.49 [25][3]
2020 United States Lake Placid, NY, USA Event cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Originally scheduled for 3–5 April 2020) [4]
2021 Croatia Zagreb, Croatia Event cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Originally scheduled for 8–10 April 2021) [5][6]
2022 Canada Hamilton, ON, Canada Canada Les Suprêmes 236.31 81.51 154.80 Finland Marigold IceUnity 228.72 77.48 151.24 Finland Rockettes 226.20 82.76 143.44 [26][7][8]
2023 United States Lake Placid, NY, USA Canada Les Suprêmes[27] 240.98 79.00 161.98 Finland Rockettes 239,56 78.61 160.95 Finland Team Unique 239.56 78.01 161.55 [9][10]
2024 Croatia Zagreb, Croatia Canada Les Suprêmes 237.97 78.89 159.08 United States Haydenettes 233.85 76.74 157.11 Finland Rockettes 229.84 78.00 151.84 [11][12]
2025 Finland Helsinki, Finland To be held on 4–5 April 2025
2026 Austria Salzburg, Austria To be held on 10–11 April 2026
2027 United Kingdom Nottingham, United Kingdom To be held on 2–3 April 2027

Summary

Medals by country
RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Finland912930
2 Sweden65112
3 Canada54615
4 Russia3025
5 United States0257
Totals (5 entries)23232369
Medals by team
RankTeamGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1Sweden Team Surprise65112
2Finland Marigold IceUnity57214
3Finland Rockettes34613
4Russia Paradise3025
5Canada Les Suprêmes3014
6Canada NEXXICE2338
7Finland Team Unique1113
8United States Haydenettes0156
9Canada Black Ice0123
10United States Miami University0101
Totals (10 entries)23232369

See also

References

  1. ^ a b The first two sites show the official 2005 WSSC results, the third is an Yle news article:
    • "Senior Teams - Short Program". International Skating Union. 2005-04-22. Retrieved 2014-04-07.
    • "Senior Teams - Free Skating". International Skating Union. 2005-04-23. Retrieved 2014-04-07.
    • "MM-muodostelmaluistelusta hopea ja pronssi" [Silver and bronze at Synchro Worlds] (in Finnish). Yle. Suomen Tietotoimisto. 2005-04-23. Retrieved 2014-04-07.
  2. ^ a b The first two sites show the official 2006 WSSC results, the third is an Yle news article:
  3. ^ a b The first two sites show the official 2007 WSSC results, the third is a Helsingin Sanomat news article:
  4. ^ a b The first two sites show the official 2008 WSSC results, the third is a Savon Sanomat news article:
  5. ^ a b The first two sites show the official 2009 WSSC results, the third is a Helsingin Sanomat news article:
  6. ^ a b The first two sites show the official 2010 WSSC results, the third is a Helsingin Sanomat news article and the fourth is a U.S. Figure Skating news article:
  7. ^ a b The first two sites show the official 2011 WSSC results, the third is an Iltalehti news article:
  8. ^ a b The first two sites show the official 2012 WSSC results, the third is an Yle news article:
  9. ^ a b The first two sites show the official 2013 WSSC results, the third is an Ice Network news article:
  10. ^ a b The first three sites show the official 2014 WSSC results, the fourth is an article by the Finnish Figure Skating Association about the competition:
  11. ^ a b The first two sites show the official 2015 WSSC results, the third is an ISU news article:
  12. ^ a b "2016 ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships". International Skating Union. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  13. ^ a b "2017 ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships". International Skating Union. Retrieved 2017-04-12.
  14. ^ "2018 ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships". International Skating Union. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  15. ^ "2019 ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships". International Skating Union. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  16. ^ "2022 ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships". International Skating Union. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
  17. ^ "2023 ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships". International Skating Union. Retrieved 2023-04-01.
  18. ^ "2024 ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships". International Skating Union. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
  19. ^ "2000 World Synchronized Skating Championships". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-04-07.
  20. ^ a b The first two sites show the official 2001 WSSC results, the third is an Yle news article:
  21. ^ The first two sites show the official 2002 WSSC results, the third is an Yle news article:
  22. ^ The first two sites show the official 2003 WSSC results, the third is a Kaleva news article:
  23. ^ The first two sites show the official 2004 WSSC results, the third is a Kaleva news article:
  24. ^ "ISU World Synchronized Skating Championship 2018". www.isuresults.com. Retrieved 2020-09-12.
  25. ^ "ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships 2019". www.isuresults.com. Retrieved 2020-09-12.
  26. ^ "ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships 2022". www.isuresults.com. Retrieved 2022-04-10.
  27. ^ "Canada's Les Suprêmes successfully defend world synchronized skating title". CBC Sports. 2 April 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2023.