Recap

Nationals in Italy: A surprise after more than 20 years


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Team Ice on Fire Senior won the gold. (Credits: Team Ice on Fire Senior - 2021)

The Synchronized Skating National Championships for Junior and Senior teams took place in Trento, Italy. And for the first time in more than twenty years, another club took home the gold in the Senior category!

The National Synchronized Skating Championships for Junior and Senior categories took place in the city of Trento, in northern Italy. 

This event, which followed strict guidelines to comply with the government’s Covid restrictions, was postponed more than once due to the outbreaks Italy suffered this year.


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Team Hot Shivers Junior (Credits: Elisa Parini - 2021)

No public was allowed in the ice rink. All participants had to wear a mask all the time, go through a temperature check, and fill out a health screening form. Also, Covid negative tests were mandatory to be able to attend this competition. The skaters were given a choice to compete with their masks or leave them in dedicated spots near the barrier.

To ensure there were no crowded spots, the organizers gave a few minutes more between the teams to avoid contact between athletes and staff. During the medal ceremony, only two athletes per team were allowed on the podium. 

70 points lead for Hot Shivers Junior
Three junior teams were supposed to compete for the title, but in the end, only two of them made it to the competition: Team Hot Shivers from Sesto San Giovanni (Mi) and Team Shining Blades from Milan, while Team Crazy Splinters from Rome withdrew from the event.

In the Short program segment, Team Hot Shivers took the lead from the start, skating an intense program to the song "Never Enough" by Loren Allred from "The Greatest Showman" soundtrack. Winning the segment with 52.57 points.

Team Shining Blades presented an epic-themed short program to the song "Dance for me Wallis" by Abel Korzeniowski and earned 29.20 points. 

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In the free program, Team Hot Shivers "roared" again like true lionesses, winning the event with a total score of 146.06 points, earning 93.49 in the free program. They maintained the lead from the Short Program segment by skating a powerful program on the "Lion King" soundtrack. The effort of these athletes was rewarded as they gained a new season-best (13 points more than the previous competition) and 70 points lead from the second classified team.

Team Shining Blades completed the segment with the silver medal. They presented a Free Program on the song "Adagio" by Tommaso Albinoni. They got 47.78 points and earned a total score of 76.98 points.

Senior division - A surprise after more than 20 years!
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Team Ice on Fire Senior (Credits: Team Ice on Fire - 2021)

Two teams competed for the Senior title: Team Ice on Fire from Trento and Team Hot Shivers from Sesto San Giovanni (Mi).

At first, the Team Hot Shivers took the lead scoring 62.10 points with their short program to the song "Nelle tue mani" by Andrea Bocelli, part of "The Gladiator" soundtrack. 

Team Ice on Fire skated a fierce program on a medley of two songs: "Elizabeth" by Ashram and "Strength of thousand men" from "Two Steps from Hell" soundtrack. The title of this performance was "A woman can do everything" and told the story of a group of Russian female aviators. They ranked second with 60.64 points.

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In the Free Program competition, Team Ice on Fire skated a very emotional program, "The tale of the red tread" and won the gold with a score of 108.88 points and a total of 169.52 points. Also, getting a new season-best.

The Team Hot Shivers presented their light program to the movie "Up" soundtrack. With two in-element falls and a notable impact on the scores, the performance was not the best, and thus, they ended up in second place with a score of 105.38 points and a total of 167.48 points. 

Team Ice on Fire succeeded in winning the National Championships after more than twenty years that Team Hot Shivers kept the lead. This shows how the athletes worked hard and focused on their objectives, even though these past two seasons were the most difficult due to the Covid pandemic.


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Team Ice on Fire Senior (Credits: Team Ice on Fire - 2021)

A few words from the Senior champions
How do you feel about winning the Senior National Championships?

Team Ice On Fire: Winning the Italian Championships was a dream. We felt indescribable emotions! A week from this great achievement, and we still can’t believe it! We are proud to have achieved a goal that all Ice On Fire athletes were set on and to have written a new page in the Italian Synchronized Skating history!

Considering also the pandemic, how did you manage to train and to keep the necessary focus?

This season was not easy for us as we imagine for many other teams around the world. We are grateful to the Italian Federation for allowing us to train and compete in these difficult times. It’s been hard to overcome all the obstacles that have come in every week.

Some of us had to overcome serious injuries during the season, while others were positive to COVID. For this reason, the preparation for competitions and the training planning has often been changed. Nevertheless, we feel we have grown a lot, especially in our attitude and as a team, by overcoming these difficult challenges.

What or who inspired your programs?

Our programs have been chosen together with our coaches Roberta Giuliani and Gabriele Minchio. Every year we propose some music and themes and then all together decide which ones fit us better. Russian female aviators inspire our short program tried to bring on the ice their strength and determination. Instead, the free program tells the legend of the red thread of destiny, a Japanese tale that claims that each of us is connected through a red invisible thread to our soul mate. We chose this theme because it led us to unite and show our strength!

What are your objectives for the new season?

Our biggest goal for next season will be to participate in the World Championships in Canada. Surely there will be a lot to work on and other little goals to achieve, including improving our Best Score and get the chance to affirm ourselves again both nationally and internationally.

Would you like to give some tips to skaters who may be thinking of joining a Synchronized Skating Team?

We recommend to all athletes who have the opportunity to embark on this journey into the world of synchronized skating. The strength that so many people around you, who share your goals and passion, can give you is unparalleled!

We are happy to be part of this awesome family. We hope that this great sport will grow more and more nationally and internationally and become at least as popular as the other disciplines of Figure Skating in the whole world!

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Results - TOP 3

Italian National Championships (Junior & Senior) 2021
Trento (ITA)
APR 17, 2021 - APR 18, 2021

Senior
TEAM Score
1Ice on Fire (ITA)169.52
2Hot Shivers Senior (ITA)167.48

Junior
TEAM Score
1Hot Shivers Junior (ITA)146.06
2Shining Blades (ITA)76.98