PAIGE FINDLOW
Queensland junior synchronised ice-skating team, Paradise, are gearing up for a tough couple of months as they attempt to qualify for World Championships in Croatia next year.
Head coach Hillary Marcoviche praised the team for their commitment to their development and expressed her excitement to showcase their programs at the upcoming competitions.
“The team have put in more hours this season than ever before and I think it’ll pay off at competition, we have new tricks that I’m excited for the judges to see,” Ms Marcoviche said.
Australia currently has 6 senior level teams all hoping to qualify for the world championships and with only being allowed to send one team there is a lot riding on the Nationals championships.
Queensland currently has two synchronised ice-skating clubs, Paradise and Boondall located club, Precision.
Synchronised Ice-Skating is a discipline of figure skating where 16 skaters, at junior level, skate together as one team executing a variety of challenging formations.
Head Coach of Precision, Louisa Smith, is confident that they will be able to win the national championships but believes it will be a close completion.
“I believe the training the girls have had this season will place them above the rest of the competition but you never know how the other teams have been training so I’m guessing the scores will be close,” Ms Smith said.
The 2018 World Championships will take place in Stockholm Sweden and will host up to 24 teams, with the top 5 countries (Finland, Russia, Canada, America and Sweden) being able to take two teams.
The sport is not yet apart of the Winter Olympic Games but with the sport gaining popularity there is a push to include it in the 2022 games.