2023-2024 Synchro News

[just tuned in]

I think a huge part of it is that the skaters on the Elite 12 teams are skaters that don’t make the regular Senior teams or are from clubs/countries not big enough to have a regular Senior team.

I am surprise about this, too. I thought that Elite 12 would be cross skaters from Senior.

 

[caseyedwards]

Whoa. Team Image's junior FS costumes have got to be some of the most garish I've seen outside of ice dance during a Latin RD season.

Rhythmic gymnastics costumes

 

[Willin]

Whoa. Team Image's junior FS costumes have got to be some of the most garish I've seen outside of ice dance during a Latin RD season.

I was telling my DH that some colors just don't look good on certain skin tones - especially with the ice as your background. Light/hot pink and orange looks bad on light colored skin - it washes you out on the ice. This is a great example. The motion of the dresses was great. The colors weren't.

I am surprise about this, too. I thought that Elite 12 would be cross skaters from Senior.

If they ever get it to the Olympics they'll need to - but I also think they won't get into the Olympics at all, especially with the demos they're putting out for the IOC with 12. The IOC's seen 16 and they'll know what 12 would miss out on. Then again, the best of the best would compete Elite 12 in an Olympic season for sure.

But I also think this is just the smarter option in general: it would be cool to see the 12 best skaters on every team go head to head for 1-2 extra programs.

 

[love skating]

I'm surprised to see the regular senior division has only four teams! There used to be a large number of senior teams - what happened?

 

[Simone411]

I'm surprised to see the regular senior division has only four teams! There used to be a large number of senior teams - what happened?

I don't know. I noticed that, too!

 

[Simone411]

Wow! I like Adrian College!

 

[Simone411]

I tuned in time to see them. They're in second right now.

 

[Simone411]

This team really rocked it! I love their Biellman Spirals and twizzles. Miami in 2nd now.

 

[Simone411]

Skyliners are in 2nd place now. Not bad. I'm amazed how well they stay in sync!

 

[Simone411]

Senior Elite Free Skate begins in 11 minutes, and I feel sort of alone posting here by myself. So, I'll just watch when it begins instead of making so many posts.

 

[Karen-W]

@Willin - please explain how Skyliners are 10 pts behind Haydenettes. I thought both were equally fantastic.

 

[Simone411]

@Willin - please explain how Skyliners are 10 pts behind Haydenettes. I thought both were equally fantastic.

I'd like to know, too, because didn't two of the team members have a splat on the ice while they trying to do ... something. I'm not sure what it was, but it looked like they maybe tripped? Still, I thought they were pretty spectacular.

Oh wait. I believe thinking about the Senior Elite Free Skate with the Hockettes and Haydens. But there was a splat, and the Haydens still placed 1st.

 

[Willin]

I'm surprised to see the regular senior division has only four teams! There used to be a large number of senior teams - what happened?

1. There were rule changes that shrank smaller teams (and west coast teams). This dried up the West Coast Junior/Senior scene, and dried up a lot of the pipeline for skaters from smaller market teams to go to Senior teams, meaning less auditioners and less teams.

2. Some large organizations were more hurt than others by the rule changes affecting their recruitment pipelines paired with coaches ready to retire or wind down from senior (which is a huge commitment). Some were also hurt by age limit changes to Senior. So a bunch of little things came together over the years to sink Senior teams like Team Excel, Team Del Sol, and Crystallettes.

3. With all the money and effort needed to have a senior team, it’s not worth it for many teams (like Teams Elite or Crystallettes) to have a senior if they know they have no real shot at a worlds berth. USFS has made it clear that there’s only Hayden + Miami/Skyliners in the running. So they aren’t bothering.

@Willin - please explain how Skyliners are 10 pts behind Haydenettes. I thought both were equally fantastic.

Hayden has better skating skills, choreography, and politicking. They’ve also been leading international scores this year by far - they have a real shot at a world title.

I didn’t watch the skates so I can’t say specifics.

 

[just tuned in]

@Willin Thank you for the explanation. I noticed that the number of Junior teams shrank as well. This year there were nine. Last year there were thirteen.

 

[Aussie Willy]

Interesting for the US that there are only 4 Senior teams. We have 3 Senior teams in Australia. But Willin's post above has explained it.

Although it is a shame that teams are not competing if they don't think they have a shot a Worlds. It kind of diminishes the development of the sport. For me it should be more about being part of the sport. But that is just my personal opinion.

 

[Willin]

@Aussie Willy A lot of it is less that they don't have a shot at worlds generally (eg. they don't have a chance this year, but they can work for it as a team in future seasons), and more that USFS doesn't give them a shot period. Teams Elite was a very strong Senior team - could've made the Worlds team based on how their international scores stacked up - but USFS made sure they knew they were low on the domestic judging pecking order. So they didn't go to worlds. Why spend the Senior time/money if you're treated unfairly? Skyliners stuck it out, but it took a several seasons for them to get the benefit of the doubt over Miami/Crystallettes - and even then, in seasons where they should've/were beating Hayden internationally, they were always clearly 2nd fiddle in the eyes of USFS.

Something I forgot to add is this: USFS is making Junior and Senior harder to participate in than ever.

It used to be you do your local comp(s), sectionals (if you didn't get an international), Junior World Qualifier (if you thought you had a shot at Junior Worlds), and Nationals. That's 3-5 competitions a season to pay to travel to - assuming $500-1k for out of town flight/hotel/bus, that's maybe $3-5k/season for travel. Now there's a series of specific monitoring competitions domestically - upping the amount of competitions teams need to attend to more like 5-10/season. That's easily closer to $5-10k in travel costs.

And these competitions are not cheap or easy to travel to - due to the rule changes there are 0 Senior/Junior teams on the West Coast (down from 1-3 of each). And yet, despite a midwest/east competition a similar weekend in fall, they expect all Junior and Senior teams to travel all the way to California for the first monitoring competition. On social media I noticed some Junior teams last season were competing just about every other week from November to March. They may have 2-3 weeks for international travel to assignments (sometimes in a 2 week block, sometimes separate). A lot of Junior/Senior skaters are high school and college students. That's a lot of school for them to miss.

 

[Aussie Willy]

@Aussie Willy A lot of it is less that they don't have a shot at worlds generally (eg. they don't have a chance this year, but they can work for it as a team in future seasons), and more that USFS doesn't give them a shot period. Teams Elite was a very strong Senior team - could've made the Worlds team based on how their international scores stacked up - but USFS made sure they knew they were low on the domestic judging pecking order. So they didn't go to worlds. Why spend the Senior time/money if you're treated unfairly? Skyliners stuck it out, but it took a several seasons for them to get the benefit of the doubt over Miami/Crystallettes - and even then, in seasons where they should've/were beating Hayden internationally, they were always clearly 2nd fiddle in the eyes of USFS.

Something I forgot to add is this: USFS is making Junior and Senior harder to participate in than ever.

It used to be you do your local comp(s), sectionals (if you didn't get an international), Junior World Qualifier (if you thought you had a shot at Junior Worlds), and Nationals. That's 3-5 competitions a season to pay to travel to - assuming $500-1k for out of town flight/hotel/bus, that's maybe $3-5k/season for travel. Now there's a series of specific monitoring competitions domestically - upping the amount of competitions teams need to attend to more like 5-10/season. That's easily closer to $5-10k in travel costs.

And these competitions are not cheap or easy to travel to - due to the rule changes there are 0 Senior/Junior teams on the West Coast (down from 1-3 of each). And yet, despite a midwest/east competition a similar weekend in fall, they expect all Junior and Senior teams to travel all the way to California for the first monitoring competition. On social media I noticed some Junior teams last season were competing just about every other week from November to March. They may have 2-3 weeks for international travel to assignments (sometimes in a 2 week block, sometimes separate). A lot of Junior/Senior skaters are high school and college students. That's a lot of school for them to miss.

Thank you very much for the detailed post. That explains it very well.

While our teams have qualification scores here in Australia, they don't have to jump through the same hoops to get to nationals.

 

[Karen-W]

Seems like Teams Elite intends on at least trying to field a Senior and/or Elite 12 team next season.

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[Willin]

Probably smelling the blood in the water with Miami looking very weak and Adrian on the downtrend. The whole field sans Hayden looks weak this year.

 

[Karen-W]

Probably smelling the blood in the water with Miami looking very weak and Adrian on the downtrend. The whole field sans Hayden looks weak this year.

Isn't Miami's coach retiring at the end of this season? I think I saw that mentioned on their IG but I can't recall for sure.

Adrian did not look like they belonged in the competition at all.

 

[Sylvia]

2024 ISU World Junior Synchronized Skating Championships, March 15-16, in Neuchâtel, Switzerland - ISU event info page: https://www.isu.org/synchronized-sk...onized-skating-championships?templateParam=11
Entries/schedule: https://results.isu.org/events/fsevent00117490.htm
ISU's press release: https://www.isu.org/synchronized-sk...onized-skating-championships?templateParam=15

ISU Youtube Channel's SP livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zs6o1WCrck
FS livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6X3QkTkfoE

Skate Canada's press release:

Junior Synchronized Skating Teams Look to Shine at World Junior Championships

Ottawa, ON (March 4, 2024) – Canada’s top two junior [...]

skatecanada.ca

USFS' press release:

Teams Elite and Skyliners Junior Set Sights on Gold at World Junior Championships - U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone

The last time Teams Elite and Skyliners junior both headed to the ISU World Junior Synchronized Skating Championships in 2022, they made history.

usfigureskatingfanzone.com

Local Chicago news story on Team Elite Junior in Northbrook, IL ("won the Hevelius Cup and Budapest Cup and has the highest seasons best with 205.54 points") according to the ISU's preview article:

Northbrook synchronized skating team prepares for World Junior Championships

After winning the nationals last month in Las Vegas, Teams Elite will soon head to the world junior synchronized skating championships in Switzerland.

abc7chicago.com

ETA to add on March 13:

Work Hard, No Regrets: Teams Elite Brings New Motto to World Juniors | U.S. Figure Skating

www.usfigureskating.org

 

[overedge]

@Willin ice time seems to be getting more expensive as well, not to mention the general cost of living going up in different areas. Do you think skaters are less able to afford the cost of participating in synchro? Even if they didn't have to pay $$$ to go to the extra monitoring sessions you mentioned?

 

[Willin]

I think less skaters are able to afford it, but synchro is also much more affordable in general than most skating. Before all these monitoring things (and 10-15 years ago), I had friends skate on international Novice/Junior teams for $5-10k/season. With all the monitoring, $20k would be the number I'd expect. Depending on the organization, area of the country, and level you can pay as little as $1000/season to compete. Most developmental (Prelim-Novice), rec (Open Juv, Beginner) and adult teams teams easily keep it under $5k/year - but usually closer to $2500 or under. One big org is advertising all USFS travel teams (including Junior) as $2800/year. Of course travel is separate from the rest.

Ways they keep it cheap include multiple large fundraisers, internal/team scholarship programs, club scholarships, alumni engagement/donations, partnering with rinks or park districts (eg making synchro a rink-sponsored group lesson), and doing group rates for all travel. I've also heard of parents shopping around teams for cost, especially in areas like Michigan and Chicagoland where you have multiple teams to try out for - which incentivizes lower costs.

So while costs as a whole are going up and it's certainly a factor, especially for the skating lessons outside of synchro, I think places are very much managing to make do at the lower levels - especially the recreational levels.

 

[Sylvia]

2024 ISU World Junior Synchronized Skating Championships, March 15-16, in Neuchâtel, Switzerland ...

ISU Youtube Channel's SP livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zs6o1WCrck

Junior SP is live now (after opening ceremony & ice resurfacing). Event is scheduled for 16:00-19:24 local / 11:00 am-2:24 pm Eastern time).

Results page: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season2324/wjsysc2024/

 

[Sylvia]

World Junior Synchro FS live scores: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season2324/wjsysc2024/SEG002.htm

Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6X3QkTkfoE

 

[victorskid]

World Junior Synchro FS live scores: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season2324/wjsysc2024/SEG002.htm

Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6X3QkTkfoE

The 2nd last warm-up group is just starting.

Current Overall Standing

​ ​ Pl. Name Nation Points SP FS 1 Team Ice Fire Junior POL 133.24 11 1 2 Team Harmonia Junior CZE 128.23 12 2 3 Team Berlin Junior GER 121.88 15 3 4 Team Ladybirds Junior ITA 119.85 16 5 5 Team Solway Stars Junior GBR 116.58 17 4 6 Team Colibris Vienna Junior AUT 115.81 13 7 7 Team Magic Junior HUN 114.11 14 8 8 Team Jeanne D'Arc Junior FRA 111.28 19 6 9 Team Majestic Ice Junior AUS 97.84 18 10 10 Team Mirum Junior ESP 97.05 20 9 11 Team Illuminettes Junior NED 87.16 22 11 12 Team Zagreb Snowflakes Junior CRO 82.68 21 13 13 Team Titanium Junior NZL 77.97 23 12 14 Team Bosphorus Junior TUR 66.98 24 14

The remaining two groups of 5 teams (with one more ice resurfacing):

​

15	Team Jingu Ice Messengers Junior	JPN	10	46.69
16	Team Starlight Junior	SUI	9	53.56
17	Team Hot Shivers Junior	ITA	8	57.04
18	Team Valley Bay Synchro Junior	FIN	6	64.58
19	Team Seaside Junior	SWE	7	60.28
20	Team Elite Junior	USA	4	68.66
21	Team Nexxice Junior	CAN	5	66.72
22	Team Les Supremes Junior	CAN	1	74.01
23	Team Fintastic Junior	FIN	2	71.89
24	Team Skyliners Junior	USA	3	70.93

 

[victorskid]

The final result:

​

1	Team Les Supremes Junior	CAN	205.14	1	1
2	Team Fintastic Junior	FIN	199.71	2	2
3	Team Skyliners Junior	USA	196.68	3	3
4	Team Elite Junior	USA	191.59	4	4
5	Team Valley Bay Synchro Junior	FIN	184.56	6	5
6	Team Nexxice Junior	CAN	183.26	5	6
7	Team Seaside Junior	SWE	163.06	7	7
8	Team Hot Shivers Junior	ITA	158.29	8	8
9	Team Starlight Junior	SUI	148.83	9	9
10	Team Jingu Ice Messengers Junior	JPN	136.51	10	10
11	Team Ice Fire Junior	POL	133.24	11	11
12	Team Harmonia Junior	CZE	128.23	12	12
13	Team Berlin Junior	GER	121.88	15	13
14	Team Ladybirds Junior	ITA	119.85	16	15
15	Team Solway Stars Junior	GBR	116.58	17	14
16	Team Colibris Vienna Junior	AUT	115.81	13	17
17	Team Magic Junior	HUN	114.11	14	18
18	Team Jeanne D'Arc Junior	FRA	111.28	19	16
19	Team Majestic Ice Junior	AUS	97.84	18	20
20	Team Mirum Junior	ESP	97.05	20	19
21	Team Illuminettes Junior	NED	87.16	22	21
22	Team Zagreb Snowflakes Junior	CRO	82.68	21	23
23	Team Titanium Junior	NZL	77.97	23	22
24	Team Bosphorus Junior	TUR	66.98	24	24

Congratulations to coaches Marilyn Langlois, Pascal Denis, Laurie Désilets and Team Les Supremes Junior!!

 

[skatingguy]

IAM continuing their plan to rule the world one skating sport at a time.

 

[Willin]

I haven't watched yet, but I'm shocked at the result given how dominant Teams Elite was the rest of the season and how Skyliners/Elite were consistently beating Fintastic's scores. IIRC at least one of the two also beat Les Supremes. For both US teams these scores are well below their SBs. Either the judges here hated them or they skated very poorly.

 

[Karen-W]

I haven't watched yet, but I'm shocked at the result given how dominant Teams Elite was the rest of the season and how Skyliners/Elite were consistently beating Fintastic's scores. IIRC at least one of the two also beat Les Supremes. For both US teams these scores are well below their SBs. Either the judges here hated them or they skated very poorly.

Elite had a fall in the SP and Skyliners had a lift go down early in their FS.