The Haydenettes won the silver medal in the Senior division. (Credits: Hayden Synchro - 2019)

Beaches, sun and summer temperature... The California Cup warmed synchro skaters last weekend, who were rather accustomed to the cold rinks. This first edition pleased many athletes who performed their programs and took advantage of the sun to recharge their batteries. Here are their reactions!

"We are super happy with a silver medal at the first Challenger Series event. We were able to put out two clean runthroughs in front of a U.S. audience. We really wanted to perform and portray the feeling of both of our programs and I definitely think we accomplished that," said Cameron Feeley, skater in the Haydenettes (USA) that won the silver medal at the first California Cup in Irvine, CA. The gold went to Helsinki Rockettes from Finland.

How did the public react to your performances?

"We think the public really enjoyed our programs. Our goal was to change the atmosphere in the arena and really get the crowd going. It seems like the public is excited to see where we go from here! After this first international, we think our strengths are speed and interpretation. There is still room to grow, but our short program especially has so much emotion that we love portraying to the audience," added Sarah Checkosky.

What will you work on in the next few weeks?

"In the next few weeks we will definitely be working on the technical elements in both the long and short program. We will also be focusing on the all the details and intricacies in the long program! Sadly we are now home in a cold weather, but we really enjoyed our time in California!", continued Cameron.

Bronze medalists, Les Suprêmes (CAN) also enjoyed their time in California! "It was a different experience that we got to compete in a place with lots of sunshine and nice weather. It was a big change from back home!" said Laurie Désilets, captain of the team from Montreal. "We are very proud of our two performances, they were not perfect, but we are still very proud of what we have presented and our third place," added the team.

The Nova Senior team, 4th in the California Cup, was also glad to compete in the California weather. "We really enjoyed the experience of the competition under the palm trees! We knew we were going there to check the content of our programs and measure our potential for improvement! We had good feedback and we are ready to go back to work," said Laurence Darveau for the Quebec team. The next stop for Nova will be the demonstration in their own club at the end of November and the Saint-Hubert competition in the beginning of December.

The Junior medallists seemed also to enjoy this first stage of the Challenger Series. "Our trip to California was like a dream come true. We especially enjoyed the ice hall and the crowd was amazing. Thank you everyone for cheering us! We created so many memories we surely will remember for the rest of our lives!" said the Junior winner Team Mystique to Jura Synchro.

"We had such a great time together as a team in California! Technically we missed calls in the short program, however, we were satisfied with our free program and ended up with a fantastic result, earning the bronze medal. We were very happy with our skate but it still left room for improvement. We will take that confidence and apply it to the hard work we still have ahead of us. We want to thank the organizing committee, volunteers and our competitors Team Mystique, Skyliners, Starlights, and Iceskateers for making this competition such a great experience," team Nexxice (CAN) said.

Do not miss to (re)discover the scores of the teams below and have a look at the reaction of the winners in the Senior category!

Another competition, the Synchronized Fall Classic, took place at the same time in California. Review the recap of this competition!