Year-end recap: Synchro
NEXXICE was on top of the world in 2015.
With the eyes of the synchro world on Hamilton, Ont., in April for the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships, the Burlington, Ont. based powerhouse, competing just a few kilometres from their home base, thrilled a raucous hometown crowd with a nail-biting win for their first world title in six years.
With an electric atmosphere inside the FirstOntario Centre, NEXXICE dethroned defending champion Marigold Ice Unity of Finland by a miniscule .67 of a point. Russia’s Team Paradise took bronze, that country’s first medal in the history of the world championships.
Quebec’s Les Suprêmes, Canadian silver medallists, finished sixth.
Earlier in the season, NEXXICE claimed the Trophy d’Ecosse in Scotland while Les Suprêmes won the Mozart Cup in Austria. Days later, NEXXICE Senior took gold at the Spring Cup in Italy, and the NEXXICE junior squad claimed silver at the same event.
Weeks before the World Championships, Canada’s best synchro teams met in Quebec City for the Skate Canada Synchronized Skating Championships. NEXXICE won their ninth consecutive senior crown and Les Suprêmes took the junior title before going on to win bronze at the ISU world junior championships.
Other teams to leave Quebec City with gold were NOVA (Open), Évolution (Intermediate) and Les Suprêmes (Novice).
Coming up tomorrow: Men’s, Women’s, Pair and Ice Dance (July to December)