Nexxice

Marigold IceUnity: 2014 World Champions

The 2014 ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships wrapped up today in Italy, with some familiar names landing on the podium. Finland 1 (Marigold IceUnity) were gold medalists after last medaling in 2011. Canada 1 (NEXXICE) won the silver medal for the third straight year, narrowly edging out Finland 2 (Rockettes), who won bronze after not qualifying for the event last year. All three teams skated clean in both segments, and were the only teams to get all of their technical calls in the short or the free.

Complete results are available here.

Some other fun facts about the 2014 Worlds podium:

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Videos from the 2012 World Championships

If you missed seeing last weekend’s World Championships live from Gothenburg, you can see some of the performances online. I’ll add more links as they surface.

[ADDED April 19: CAN2 short and free and USA1 short.]

[ADDED April 20: USA2 short and free, GER short and free.]

[ADDED April 23: FRA, HUN, JPN short and free, RUS1 free, and new versions of SWE1 free, RUS1 short, and GER short and free.]

Fintastic claims sixth consecutive Junior World Challenge Cup gold medal

The Finnish teams continued to dominate at the Junior World Challenge Cup in Gothenburg on Saturday, as Fintastic won their sixth consecutive (and seventh total) JWCC gold medal, while Musketeers claimed silver. Musketeers finished more than 20 points ahead of the bronze medal winners from Canada, Les Supremes, who moved up from fourth place after the short program, putting Canada back on the podium after missing out on a medal in 2011.

Canada’s Nexxice took advantage of errors made by USA’s Team Braemar and Skyliners, and Sweden’s Convivium, to move up to fourth place in the free, though they ultimately finished sixth overall behind the American teams. Braemar and Skyliners finished fourth and fifth overall respectively, Convivium seventh, and Russia’s Spartak Junost eighth.

Full results are here.

Next year’s Junior championship has been provisionally allotted for Helsinki, Finland, from March 8-9, 2013 and is scheduled to be the first official ISU World Championship for Juniors, rather than a Challenge Cup.

Congratulations to all of this year’s participating teams!

Finns take early lead at Junior World Challenge Cup

Finland’s Fintastic and Musketeers lead the pack after the short program competition at the Junior World Challenge Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden. The only two teams in the event to crack the 50-point barrier, they sit first and second with 55.90 and 54.04 points respectively going into tomorrow’s free program. USA’s Team Braemar are third after the short program with 49.94 points, and Canada’s Les Supremes are close behind in fourth place with 48.64 points. They’re followed by Skyliners (USA), Convivium (SWE), Nexxice (CAN), and Spartak Junost (RUS). Full results are here.

Though the Finnish teams may appear to have a comfortable lead, the free program presents opportunities for trailing teams to make up ground. Valuable points can be gained in the free program: more elements are included, and whereas some elements in the short program are restricted to specific difficulty levels, that’s not the case in the free. Teams will need to be at their best tomorrow to remain in the fight for medals.

The free program begins at 10:30 a.m. EDT tomorrow. Links to live streaming (which was of excellent quality today!), results, and starting orders are available here.

Best of luck to all teams!