News

Back to work for the 2016-2017 season


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The Well Balanced Program Content for Synchronized Skating for the 2016/17 season has been published by the International Skating Union. What are the biggest modifications? Where should we focus our attention ? Let's read our quick decoding for each category.

Some elements required changed, some other are no longer necessary, the point of intersection (pi) counted in the Adult, Basic Novice, and Advanced Novice categories, the number of elements changed for the Junior and Senior free programs. Discover the main modifications.

Basic Novice :

- Rotating element becomes again a circle (and not a wheel)
- Traveling element must be now a wheel (and not a circle)

Advanced Novice :

- Step sequence (ss) appears in the no hold element
- Traveling element must be now a wheel (and not a circle)
- In the group A, teams have to choose between the rotating element (for next season it will be the circle) or the line as a linear element


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Team Germany during the 2016 ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships. /Credits: Jura Synchro News

Adult :

- As in another category, the rotating element becomes the circle and the traveling element will be this year the wheel

Junior :

In the short program

- Teams have to do a whip intersection (and not a triangle intersection)
- No hold element is no more specified as a block
- Pivoting element (block) must be executed in 3 lines (and not 4 lines) and the change of pivot point will be this year optional
- The traveling element (wheel) is replaced by a rotating element that has to be a circle

In the free program

- 7 elements are now required (8 last year)
- 2 different intersections have to be done, for one of them, teams have to be creative
- The traveling element will be next season a wheel (not a circle)
- Teams must execute a pair element, in a pivot, a spin or a step sequence
- Move element is now optional


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Team Czech Republic during the 2016 ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships. /Credits: Jura Synchro News

Senior :

In the short program

- An angled intersection replaces the box intersection
- In the no hold element, the block configuration is no more specified
- The block pivoting must be executed in 4 lines (and not 3 lines), the change of configuration is no longer required and the change of pivot point is optional
- The wheel that traveled is replaced by a circle (rotating element) 

In the free program

- 9 elements have to be executed by the team (10 last year)
- Two different group lift elements have to be done
- Teams must execute a pair element, in a pivot, a spin or a step sequence
- The traveling element is here the wheel
- Move element is now optional
- The pivoting element (line) disappears in the free program

Please note that all modifications haven't been specified here, more details on the ISU communication !