Synchronized skating highlight of Winter Universiade

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(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-02-20 17:28

HARBIN - Synchronized skating has for the first time been listed as a competition event at the Winter Universiade, set to be a brand-new extravaganza at the ongoing biennial games in the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin.

Five teams of Sweden, Finland, Russia, the United States and Switzerland are to compete for the historic gold in two different routines on February 23-24, namely, short program and free skating.

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"It is really exciting to appreciate the team sport for the first at the Universiade," said Marie Lundmark, figure skating chair of the International Technical Commission of the International University Sports Federation (FISU).

Synchronized skating, a large and fast-growing discipline, was a demonstration event in the previous Universiade. The FISU made the decision to set it as a competition event at a executive conference in 2007.

The event consists of 8-20 athletes skating on ice at one time moving as one flowing unit at high speeds. It was originally called precision skating in North America because of the emphasis on maintaining precise formations and timing of the group.

Due to the enormous interest in the sport in North America, the first official international competition was held between Canadian and American teams in Michigan in March 1976. With the internationalization of the sport, it has evolved rapidly, with increasing emphasis on speed and skating skills, and "highlight" elements such as jumps, spins, and lifts that originally were not permitted in competition.

Analyzing the two routines of synchronized skating, Lundmark said the short program is generally more technical in nature, where the free skating has a longer time limit giving more opportunity to showcase expression, emotion and interpretation.

For a synchronized team to flow in unison, individual skaters must be competent at a variety of skating skills, including speed, footwork and ice presence.

Each team performs a program set to music, with required formations including circles, lines, blocks, wheels, and intersections. Skaters are required to perform difficult step sequences involving a number of complicated turns such as twizzles, counters and rockers and simpler turns like choctaws.

Team skaters are also permitted to perform lifts in the free skating including pair lifts of two skaters, as well as group lifts consisting of three or more skaters which can be extended overhead to full arm height in a variety of positions.

The International Skating Union held the first official World Synchronized Skating Championships in 2000 in Minneapolis of the United States, where the strongest teams from across the globe gather to determine which is the world's best.

According to Lundmark, there are international synchronized skating competitions at the novice, junior, and senior levels.

Although not currently an Olympic sport, fans and participants of synchronized skating have begun to strive for recognition by the rest of the skating and athletic world.

In 2007, synchronized skating took one step closer to Olympic contention when it was selected to be part of the Universiade as a demonstration sport. Countries from around the world competed in Turin of Italy, with Sweden, Finland, and Russia coming out on top.

So far China has not taken up the sport. Head Coach Yao Bing of the Chinese figure skating team said the country is considering introducing the sport to universities. "It is not much difficult in skills compared with pairs and single skating, but it requires coordination of team skaters with similar sizes and levels," he added.

Lundmark said European countries and the United States are strong competitors in this event. She hopes China would carry out education and seminars on the event in the near future. "I hope to see China participate in the synchronized skating in the next Universiade."