ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships London, Ontario
(CAN) 30-31 March 2007
The 8th ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships concluded
on Saturday the 31st of March to a packed rink at the John
Labatt Centre in London, Ontario. 21 teams participated from
16 countries worldwide.
Friday the championships started with the short program with
the favourite teams all skating within the first half of the
short program. Canada 1 skated an energetic program to the
“Unchained Melody”. Finland 2 put in a strong
performance taking 4th place in the Short Program and just
passing Canada 1. Last to skate in the first group was Russia
1. The audience visibly appreciated the Russian precision
spin preformed almost to perfection and their clean skating
throughout the program. With 70.55 points team Russia 1 was
in 2nd place.
Team Sweden 1, one of the big favourites as World Champions
in 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005, put in a strong and crowd-winning
performance to the packed arena. Sweden 1 received a high
element score of 44.17 and a total segment score of 77.54
points and moved into 1st place after the Short Program. Between
second and seventh place after the short program the scores
only differed a small four points making the completion wide
open. Team USA 2 did a passionate skating to the “El
Tango de Roxanne” composed by Jose Feliciano got 69.75
points and were in 3d place after the short program. 2006
World Champions team Finland 1, also gold medallists in 2002
and 2004, had a bad fall as a result of a collision in the
4-line intersection forcing the team to finish the program
with a substitute skater, after the short program they found
themselves in 8th place with 60.75 points.
Saturday the teams were focused for the free skating. The
speaker warmed up the home crowd and the arena was shaking
when Canada 2 entered the ice. They skated their best to rock
´n roll music, cheered on by the audience, their skating
was sharp and gave them 123.30 points for the free skating,
thus a total score of 189.68 points and 6th place. Team Finland
1, looking to redeem themselves from the previous day’s
events skated to “The Grand Canyon”. They skated
a difficult program with noteworthy transitions and strong
skating skills. They received a total segment score of 126.67
points and a 3d place in the free program. Finland 1 got a
total of 187.42 points this year and had to settle for 8th
place overall. After Finland 1 it was USA 1 on the ice. Their
performance gave them 125.65 points in the free program and
a total of 193.36 advancing from 6th to 4th place. Team Canada
1 was the first team to enter the ice in the last group. Canada
1 struggled in the beginning with the intersection but grew
during their performance making 125.54 points and a 5th place
in the free program which gave them a total of 194.08 points
and the bronze medal, the first Canadian medal since Ottawa
in 2003. USA 2 took to the ice with energy, supporting each
other and managed to move ahead taking silver overall with
128.96 in the free program and a total of 198.71 points. Finland
2 finished 5th and Russia 1 was in 7th place. Sweden 1 (Team
Surprise) had a convincing lead after the short program but
still needed to skate well to secure the gold. They gave a
winning free performance gaining a total segment score of
144.70 in the free program. This took their total score to
222.24 and secured them gold medal. USA 2 took silver and
Canada 1 got the bronze.
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