Synchronized Skating was born already in 1954 when the team "Hockettes" was formed to entertain the audience during hockey games. The first competitions was held in 1960 in USA and 1976 was the first international Synchronized Skating competition in Ann Arbor, Michigan. At that time US team competed against teams from Canada.

This year, 2005, the 6th official World Championship was arranged in Gothenburg, Sweden. Hopefully there will be Synchronized Skating on the Olympic program in the near future.

There are three different classes in Synchronized Skating: Novice, Junior and Senior. A team competes with up to 20 skaters. For Novice there is only one program, but Junior and Senior classes competes with a short program and a free program. On some competitions (outside official championships) there may be two additional classes: Beginners and Masters. These classes also competes with one program only.

The basics for Synchronized Skating is for the individual skaters to appear as a single unit. The programs must contain several basic elements*, that combined with single skating movements and steps are put together to programs with a certain degree of skill and speed. Different grips and variations in steps are also judged.

* Here you can find gif-animations of the basic elements. It may take some time to download if you are connected through an ordinary modem line.
circle, line, block, wheel and passage

Judges award two scores for each program. In the short program the first score is for the performance of the basic elements. The first score in the free program is awarded for technical skills, meaning a judgment of geometry, difficulty etc for the elements performed.

The second score in both programs is awarded for presentation, meaning composition, timing and overall style and impression.

In the season 2004-2005 a new system was introduced. In Synchronized Skating it was only used during the World Championship. During the season 2005-2006 more and more competitions has been held using the new system, where points are awarded for technical elements and program components separately. Each program is video taped and the judges are able to review separate moments before points are awarded. The points are fed directly into computers using touch screen technology. The system randomly takes away a number of judgements, and the highest and lowest score of those remaining. The remaining scores are summarized and presented. More information can be found on the ISU web page.