Synchronized skating

Figure skating is a sport that takes place in different forms. There are four branches that includes ice dance, pairs, singles and synchronized skating.

In Synchronized skating, there are sixteen athletes competing together on the ice, as a team. The goal is to show perfect unison among the skaters, while performing a program with complex shapes, individual high technique and beautiful movement. For an untrained eye, the sport could be explained as “sixteen figure skaters flowing over the ice as a unit”.

The history of synchronized skating started in 1956, entertaining the crowd between hockey games at the university of Michigan. Ever since, the number of active teams has increased and the complexity of the rule book is constantly moving the sport forward. The first official “ISU world Synchronized skating championships” took place in the united states 2000.

Competing in the sport includes two days of participation. Every competition is a two-day event where each team performs one time per day. The programs are in a range of 3-5 minutes and include obligatory elements that include blocks, wheels, circles, intersections, step sequences and lifts.

Each element gets judged by the technical panel, that decides what level is reached. Each level in every element has a base value that differs when the judges grade the execution from -5 to +5. These points are the technical element score. The judges also award points for program components which includes skating skills, transitions, performance, composition and interpretation of music.