Marigold IceUnity will be skating as Team Finland 2 this year. /Credits: Mihail Lefler

It remains less than two weeks before the Senior World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. The current World Champions, Marigold IceUnity, practices in this city. How are they preparing? We asked the team captain, Camilla Sundgren.

How is Marigold IceUnity doing?
Camilla Sundgren: We’re doing very well, thank you! We couldn’t be more excited to get to train towards Worlds in Helsinki. It’s a dream come true to us and I’m sure that it will be a weekend to remember for all of the teams, the atmosphere in the sold-out Helsinki Arena will be breathtaking!

A few days before the Worlds, what are you working on?
We’ve been working on getting our technical levels, so when we’ll be on the competition ice, we can rely on them and just focus on enjoying the performance in front of our home crowd. Towards the Worlds, we also have time to precisely go through both of our programs and work on them towards perfection.

After winning gold last year, how do you prepare this competition?
We don’t feel that we have any more pressure this year because of the gold medal last year. I would say that it only gives us more power and self-confidence. We’re so proud to be representing Finland here in Helsinki as reigning World Champions!

The qualification time in Finland was just so thrilling and stressful at the same time. How did you live this period?
To be honest, it hasn’t been easy for any of the Finnish teams this season. We knew when this season started that it will be extremely tough because every single team in Finland don’t want to miss the Worlds in Helsinki. I’m so proud of us and the fact that we’ve come this far always trusting and supporting each other. The Universiades in Krasnoyarsk was an amazing experience! The pressure there, because of this Worlds qualification, was hard. Despite the pressure, we still enjoyed everything we got to experience there, and that week really showed how strong we are as a team and that we can make it through anything.

The competition will be in your home town. How do you feel about that?
It’s a dream come true for all of us. We were all in the crowd 2011 when the Worlds was held in Helsinki last time. After that, we were all sure that that is something we want to accomplish during our careers, and now when it’s finally coming true we’re so thrilled to get to perform our programs in front of our home crowd!

Is that your own practice rink?
Yes, it is! We train in the Helsinki Arena every week, and now before Worlds, we train two or three times a week there to really prepare ourselves in the best possible way.

Will you be staying at a hotel or will the skaters go back home?
Yes, we’re staying at a hotel during the competitions. We feel that it’s a very important part of our focus that we get to spend the time together as we do in any Worlds!

What are your expectations in Helsinki?
The atmosphere in the whole arena will be something we’ve never experienced before. As a skater, you get so much energy from the crowd, and I think in Helsinki it will be on its own level. We’re so thankful to all of the fans that will be cheering on all of the teams, let’s make these Helsinki Worlds unforgettable together!

Do you know how many MIU fans will be in the arena?
When the tickets became available for the Worlds in Helsinki, they were sold out in almost an hour, which is incredible! Unfortunately, all of the synchro fans around the world who would’ve wanted to come to Helsinki and take part in this amazing experience didn’t get their tickets. There will be approximately 4000 Finnish fans and about 2000 fans from other countries. What I love about Worlds, is that the crowd cheers on every single team and there isn’t really “MIU fans” that would only cheer on us. In Helsinki, we’ll be a synchro family that’ll show how powerful and spectacular our sport is!

Do you have a goal for the 2019 World Championships?
Yes, of course. Our main goal is to win the World Championship title again with programs that we’re so proud of. We also want to give the audience the best Marigold they’ve ever seen and to enjoy every second of it.

More Marigold IceUnity in video!