Helsinki Rockettes are in the lead after the Short Program. (Credits: Ville Vairinen - 2024)

This weekend, the Finnish National Championships in synchronized skating is in progress in Turku. Once again, the final Senior competition in Finland is extremely exciting. The two Senior World Championship representatives will be chosen, and all the top three teams will be in a good position to gain the seat. After the short program competition, Helsinki Rockettes is leading with 77.27 points.

For the Senior teams, the Nationals winner will automatically claim a place in the World Championships as the (Team Finland 1). In selecting the second team (Team Finland 2), the average of the top three overall results is calculated, of which a maximum of one result can be an ISU Challenger Series competition. The team with the highest average will be selected (excluding the winner of the Finnish Senior Championship).

If the difference between the average of the three competitions between the two teams is less than five points, the winning statistics of the domestic competitions between the teams are checked.

In this situation, the team with more mutual wins is designated as the FIN 2 team. The statistics on the competition selections are led by Helsinki Rockettes (avg. 224.06), followed by Team Unique (avg. 221.95) and Marigold IceUnity (avg. 218.32).

Helsinki Rockettes took the lead, gathering 77.27 points.  The strong presentation of their “Liberation” theme gave them Technical Element score 39.96 and guaranteed their lead. The second is Team Unique. They also succeeded very well in their program “Let It Be” and got a total score of 74.55 points. In technical elements, their intersection was valued quite high: 10.01 points.

Marigold IceUnity did not make any technical mistakes in their feminine “Some Like It Hot” program, but due to their Component Scores, they finished in third place with a total amount of 71.86 points. One competition after another, Lumineers is reaching the top. On Saturday, they had a clean, calm and stylish performance of their “Invisible Child” program, and they received 70.18 points and fourth place.

Valley Bay Synchro and Team Fintastic have already qualified for the Junior World Championships, but the competition for the Finnish Championship is always very significant for all teams. In particular, Dream Edges Junior, who did not qualify for the Worlds this year, wanted to show off their skills and aims for victory in front of their enthusiastic home audience - and so they did.

Of course, they have to succeed on Sunday, too, but the leading position after a short program with 73.25 points gives good hope for that. Their “Daft Punk Medley” was performed confidently and quickly.

The second team, Valley Bay Synchro, also had a very energetic performance. Their program “The Another Dimension” earned 70.20 points. Team Fintastic fell six points short of the leading team even if there were no visible mistakes in their “The Call” program. They had to settle for the third position, earning 67.27 points.

The happiest team of the day was Valley Bay Syncronics. Their “Calling for Rain” free program was clean; they skated all the elements lightly and accurately, earning 89.49 points. This was the first Finnish Championship victory in history for the team and the club.

The silver medalists Starlights succeeded also very well in their program “Wish Upon a Shooting Star” and got a total score of 89.00 points. Finettes had to settle for the bronze medal, and they got 86.29 points for a beautiful performance of their “The Daughter of The Sea” theme.