The ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships (WSSC) are the world championships for the sport of synchronized skating. Held since 2000, the World Synchronized Skating Championships is an annual event organized by the International Skating Union and attracts the most elite senior-level synchronized skating teams from around the world to compete for the World Championship.
Since the beginning, the top positions have been mainly dominated by Sweden and Finland: the Swedish Team Surprise have won six World titles, four silver medals and one bronze medal and the Finnish Marigold IceUnity are five-time World Champions with seven silver medals and two bronze medals. Rockettes from Finland have earned three World titles, four silver medals and six bronze medals. Other major teams include the Canadian Les Suprêmes (with three World titles and one bronze medal), NEXXICE (with two World titles, three silvers and two bronzes), the Russian Team Paradise (with three World titles and two bronze medals), the Finnish Team Unique (with one gold and one silver), as well as the American teams, Miami University (with one silver medal) and the Haydenettes (with four bronze medals.) Other medalists include the (now-discontinued) Canadian black ice with one silver medal and two bronze medals.
At the 2024 World Figure Skating Championships, Les Suprêmes made history by winning three consecutive World Championships. The previous consecutive world championships were achieved in 2000-2001 by Team Surprise, 2010-2011 by Rockettes and 2016-2017 by Team Paradise.
Although initially dominated by just a handful of teams and countries, the sport has arguably become more competitive over time, as supported by an analysis of the point 'gap' between the 1st and 10th placed teams. Starting from the 2005 WSSC (the first year the current ISU Judging System was introduced), the point 'gap' has tended to decrease over time:
WSSC (year) | 1st vs. 10th place (∆ points) |
---|---|
2005 | 85.27 [1] |
2006 | 77.56 [2] |
2007 | 77.03 [3] |
2008 | 63.06 [4] |
2009 | 48.02 [5] |
2010 | 56.42 [6] |
2011 | 52.69 [7] |
2012 | 38.32 [8] |
2013 | 55.12 [9] |
2014 | 56.32 [10] |
2015 | 50.39 [11] |
2016 | 53.32 [12] |
2017 | 53.41 [13] |
2018 | 40.03 [14] |
2019 | 63.20 [15] |
2020 | Event not held [1] |
2021 | Event not held |
2022 | 66.39 [16] |
2023 | 61.76 [17] |
2024 | 56.92 [18] |
0405 res
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).0506 res
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).0607 res
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).0708 res
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).0809 res
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).0910 res
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).1011 res
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).1112 res
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).1213 res
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).1314 res
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).1415 res
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).1516 res
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).1617 res
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).1718 res
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).1819 res
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).2122 res
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).2223 res
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).2324 res
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).