The International Skating Union (ISU) World Synchronized Skating Championships is due to begin at FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton, Ontario tomorrow, following a break of two years because of COVID-19 concerns.

The Championships have been held since 2000 and Hamilton has previously staged the event in 2015 edition.

The coronavirus pandemic led to the 2020 and 2021 editions of the event being cancelled. 

A total of 23 teams representing 19 ISU members have been entered for this year's Championships. 

Finland lead the medal table with 25 medals, nine of them gold, followed by Sweden with 13 and Canada 12. 

Five-time world champions Marigold Ice Unity of Finland earned silver in 2019, when the competition took place in Helsinki, Finland. 

They will face tough competition from compatriots Helsinki Rockettes, the reigning world bronze medallists, although 2019 gold medallists Team Paradise, from Russia are absent this time around. 

Other competitors include Canada’s multiple world medallists Nexxice and Les Supremes as well as 2016 world bronze medallists The Haydenettes of the United States. 

The 2019 edition saw Nexxice narrowly miss the podium finishing in fourth place, with The Haydenettes ending in sixth. 

Canada will have two entries at the competition with Les Suprêmes of CPA Saint-Léonard and Nexxice of Burlington Skating Centre representing the nation.

Sweden will be back with their new Team Inspire, after multiple world champions Team Surprise ended their 35-year history of synchronized skating in 2018.

Teams from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Britain, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey will be competing as well.

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Leticia Bila is an editorial intern at insidethegames.biz, having joined the team in February 2022. She is originally from Brazil but is currently studying at Northwestern University in Qatar, majoring in journalism and strategic communication. While in Qatar, Bila was a sports broadcast intern at Alkass Sports Channels, where she worked as a TV producer and had the opportunity to cover huge sports events such as the Emir Cup finals and the FIFA Arab Cup, both in 2021. Bila also joined the Equestrian Federation of Rio de Janeiro in early 2015 and managed to travel across the country to compete in show jumping. 

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For nearly 15 years now, insidethegames.biz has been at the forefront of reporting fearlessly on what happens in the Olympic Movement. As the first website not to be placed behind a paywall, we have made news about the International Olympic Committee, the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Commonwealth Games and other major events more accessible than ever to everybody. 

insidethegames.biz has established a global reputation for the excellence of its reporting and breadth of its coverage. For many of our readers from more than 200 countries and territories around the world the website is a vital part of their daily lives. The ping of our free daily email alert, sent every morning at 6.30am UK time 365 days a year, landing in their inbox, is as a familiar part of their day as their first cup of coffee.

Even during the worst times of the COVID-19 pandemic, insidethegames.biz maintained its high standard of reporting on all the news from around the globe on a daily basis. We were the first publication in the world to signal the threat that the Olympic Movement faced from the coronavirus and have provided unparalleled coverage of the pandemic since. 

As the world begins to emerge from the COVID crisis, insidethegames.biz would like to invite you to help us on our journey by funding our independent journalism. Your vital support would mean we can continue to report so comprehensively on the Olympic Movement and the events that shape it. It would mean we can keep our website open for everyone. Last year, nearly 25 million people read insidethegames.biz, making us by far the biggest source of independent news on what is happening in world sport. 

Every contribution, however big or small, will help maintain and improve our worldwide coverage in the year ahead. Our small and dedicated team were extremely busy last year covering the re-arranged Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, an unprecedented logistical challenge that stretched our tight resources to the limit. 

The remainder of 2022 is not going to be any less busy, or less challenging. We had the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing, where we sent a team of four reporters, and coming up are the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the Summer World University and Asian Games in China, the World Games in Alabama and multiple World Championships. Plus, of course, there is the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Unlike many others, insidethegames.biz is available for everyone to read, regardless of what they can afford to pay. We do this because we believe that sport belongs to everybody, and everybody should be able to read information regardless of their financial situation. While others try to benefit financially from information, we are committed to sharing it with as many people as possible. The greater the number of people that can keep up to date with global events, and understand their impact, the more sport will be forced to be transparent.

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