The last Senior World Championships took place in 2019 in Helsinki, Finland, in a crowded arena. (Credits: Ice Galaxy)

The International Skating Union (ISU) cancels the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships 2021. Scheduled in Croatia from April 9 to 10, the long-awaited event will not take place due to the COVID crisis.

After the cancellation of the Junior World Championships 2021 in France, the ISU decided that there will be no Worlds for Seniors either. "Due to the ongoing pandemic and detrimental consequences for the organizing and participating ISU Members, including organizational issues, travel restrictions, lack of training and preparation time and finally the confirmation from many ISU Members that they would not be able to attend", the Council decided that the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships 2021 will not take place, explains the ISU wrote on Friday in a press release.

This is the second consecutive year that this competition has been cancelled. Indeed, if some junior teams had been able to compete in 2020, the seniors had already seen their Worlds be cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Once again this year, the coronavirus, which rages in many countries and prevents many teams from training, will not allow this important event to take place. 

Held since 2000, the World Synchronized Skating Championships is organized each Spring by the International Skating Union and attracts the best senior-level synchronized skating teams from around the world.

The competition should have been held in the city of Zagreb in Croatia for the third time in history (after 2004 and 2009) from April 9-10, 2021.

The next World Championships are scheduled from April 7 to 9, 2022 in Hamilton, Canada, before finally hoping to be organized in Lake Placid, USA, as should have been the case in 2020.

It is now up to the teams to remain motivated and strong to prepare very carefully 2022 for the return of this important event... which will undoubtedly be an extraordinary celebration!