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Team Ice on Fire (ITA): "China will be a great experience"


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Team Ice on Fire had been crowned vice-champion of Italy last year, just behind Hot Shivers. (Credits: Team Ice On Fire - 2019)

The final countdown to the Shanghai Trophy has started. The competition will take place on October 3-5 in China. This will be the first synchronized skating international competition for the season 2019-2020. Representing Italy, Team Ice on Fire is ready to give the best.

Thanks to Italy's entry into the World top 10 at the last Senior World Championships, Team Ice On Fire will start their season in China. Shanghai Trophy is indeed a competition open to the top five countries of the world ranking as well as one team of the hosting ISU member.

Who is Team Ice on Fire Senior? A Senior team made up with 23 skaters this season. "20 skaters are coming from our own club, while one skater is coming from another synchro team and two skaters are coming from the figure skating branch of our club. We are a very young team and the range of age is between 15 and 22 years old", starts Nicole from Team Ice on Fire. The team belongs to CPAT, Circolo Pattinatori Artistici Trento.

"A few years ago, we already had a Senior team and our biggest wish was to be present in this category again. Three years ago we started working hard to achieve this goal and the last season we finally made it", continues the team.


You were crowned Italian Senior vice-champions last season. What are your goals this season? 
Team Ice on Fire: Last season was our first Senior season. Our main goal was to build up a strong team and a good group of skaters to work with, and we achieved it. After the good results we reached in the first part of the season, we decided to go even further and present the team at some international competitions (Spring Cup, Steel City Trophy, etc.).

For the first time this season, Italy will be able to send two teams at the World Championships. Is it a goal for you to go to Lake Placid?
This season our goals are to improve the performance level compared to last year and to be competitive at both national and international competitions. Our biggest dream is to take part in the World Championships in Lake Placid. We would really love to achieve this goal!

What do you have to do to qualify for the Worlds?
To qualify for Lake Placid, we have to be the 1st or 2nd team in the national rankings, and also meet other requirements settled by the Italian technical committee. We planned our season to meet all the requirements as soon as possible and so now we only have to be prepared on the ice and do our best.

With this new situation in Italy, is there more Senior teams today than before?
This chance gave great new energy to our discipline in Italy. In fact, this season there will be three Senior teams competing in Italy, and this is the result of the time and the hard work spent by the Italian technical committee together with the synchro coaches in the past years.
What are the strengths of your team this season?
Our strengths are speed and the relationship between all the skaters. We have been skating as a team for some years now and we mainly come from the same club. We know each other very well and we can’t wait to gain new experiences from this season. 

And what should you still improve?
We still need to work on interpretation and for sure on many technical aspects, the Senior category is always a challenge.

Can you present your programs for next season?

We are now working hard on our new free program on the music “Rain in your black eyes” by Ezio Bosso. The main idea is the growth of each person and the changes from childhood to adult life. The short program is actually on stand by because we want to focus on the free program, which we will be skating in Shanghai.

One of the first competitions will be the Shanghai Trophy. How do you feel about this trip to China?
We are very honored to compete at the next Shanghai Trophy. We are thankful to the Italian Federation, which believed in us and wanted us there to represent our nation. China will be a great experience to live all together, an enormous stage to skate in, a big chance to improve and also a difficult challenge! 


Synchro teams around the world are awaited to participate in Shanghai Trophy. Helsinki Rockettes (FIN), Team Unity (AUS), Ice Pearls (CHN) and Tartastan (RUS) are among the provisional teams announced. 

Results - TOP 3

Shanghai Trophy 2019
Shanghai (CHN)
OCT 03, 2019 - OCT 05, 2019

Senior
TEAM Score
1Helsinki Rockettes (FIN)143.61
2Ice on Fire (ITA)69.30
3Team Unity (AUS)60.80