overview

From the wonderful OneTeamMVMT:

Synchronized skating is a team discipline of figure skating, where 8-20 skaters train and compete together, performing intricate steps and elements together, in perfect sync or syncopation, as part of a routine set to music. It is a unique blend of artistry and athleticism, combining speed, strength, and agility with grace, flexibility, and theatrical performance. The main elements include: blocks, lines, intersections, circles, wheels, move elements, lifts, spins, and pair elements.

my experience

I started synchronized skating back in 2017 with Starlight Synchro, and continued every year until the 2024-2025 season! Going from the Pre-Juvenile category all the way to Intermediate (which got renamed to Gold) has taught me so much about skating better, navigating team dynamics, and being a leader.

We worked really hard and (somehow) medalled three times at Nationals! Silver in 2023 (Calgary), Gold in 2024 (Waterloo), and Bronze in 2025 (also in Waterloo) + I was one of the Co-Captains! Throughout these years, I’ve always loved getting to watch the Senior and Junior teams at competitions and spending hours in front of the TV during Worlds. Synchro is such a competitive, beautiful sport that continues to evolve faster and faster, leaving any audience member in awe of the skaters.

time for the rankings!

Disclaimer: These are just my personal favourite programs! There are so many awesome synchro teams out there—it’s very difficult to pick the best ones. This is basically just me fangirling over these insane teams.

1. ”Breathe” | Helsinki Rockettes Senior (FIN) 2022-2023 Short Program

From their theme reveal on Instagram:

Inhale, Exhale… Take a deep breath. Breath in, breath out. As heart beat accelerates, breathing gets heavy and loud. 🫀 Panic, stress, shortness of breath feels like pain in your body. Breath in, breath out, everything will be allright! The breath was not the last one. ⛅️ Just keep breathing… 🌬

Their intricately designed dresses perfectly complement the “Breathe” theme. They actually did a team breathing session and added recordings of their own breathing to their music!

They start with such a cool opening that reminds me of a snowflake coming to life, with flowing and symmetrical choreography throughout.

Their no hold element has a spot switch (officially “Change of Place”) that I’ve never seen before, where the four lines pivot and slightly intersect with one another as the skaters glide into their new spots.

The music perfectly builds up throughout the program, climaxing with heavy breathing during the twizzle element and whip intersection, before all the tension is finally released in the artistic wheel.

I am SUCH A HUGE FAN of that artistic wheel—it perfectly concludes the program with so many tiny details that you continue to pick up on. To this day, I still don’t understand how they had a collapsing square / rotating intersection in the middle of the still-rotating artistic wheel, even though I’ve watched it in slow motion 3141592654 times.

I love this program so much—it’ll truly take a lot to top it in my rankings.

2. ”The Revenge of Madame Butterfly” | Les Suprêmes Senior (CAN) 2022-2023 Free Program

From their theme reveal on Instagram:

Our free program this season is « The Revenge of Madame Butterfly » 🦋 Rather than losing ourself in a one-sided relationship, we changed the ending of the classical story to fight for ourself and our happiness.

This was such an iconic program—I’m jealous of my friends who went to Lake Placid to watch this in-person. The dresses with the dark green and white sleeves are beautiful as well.

Fun fact: this program is one of the main reasons why we decided to make our synchro music playlist! It’s truly one of the YouTube videos I’ve watched the most and synchro music that I’ve listened to the most (other than my own synchro programs’ music, of course). Big shoutout to “Good News” by Apashe—I can now recognize that drum beat anywhere, and it’s the perfect foundation for a world-class program.

I’m fairly certain this is the first time we ever saw half-forward and half-backward pivot blocks, as Les Suprêmes continued with their technical innovation that was successful after they won Worlds in the previous season.

The big switch into pure classical music in the middle provides contrast, but you can tell that something is still building up with the opera singing.

And just some crazy tricks that they casually did: three shoot-the-ducks in a row in the no hold element, front assisted somersaults in the artistic wheel, and insane stuff all around in the creative element all the way to their ending.

This is one masterpiece of a program that I will be continuing to watch for a long, long time.

3. ”Mount Everest” | Les Suprêmes Senior (CAN) 2023-2024 Free Program

From their theme reveal on Instagram:

Do you have what it takes? Join us on our treacherous journey as we ascend to the summit of Mount Everest 🏔️❄️

Again with the technical innovation of skirting around the rules and doing something super cool that no one else has thought of: the most iconic opening position with a huge trust fall, straight into the creative element. I remember at the first few competitions, they didn’t even get their creative element called because the lifts were stationary and not rotating, until they changed the choreography to have them all rotate.

This program had so many insane tricks as well: intersecting shoot-the-ducks to y-scales with Biellemanns to spiral duck-unders, last-minute change of people in the pivot block lines plus their signature half-forward and half-backward directions, shoot-the-ducks and falling leafs going through a whip intersection, the wind gusts in the music blowing the skaters into gradually turning in their lines, switching spots during clusteres, and the crazy turning lunges in the no hold element. They really put in difficult tricks just for funsies, which I feel like is now part of the signature Suprêmes style.

Their music choices show the buildup of climbing up a seemingly endless incline, switching seamlessly to energetic rap and finishing off an unbeatable program. Ending with the final lyric of “I’m on top of the world”, AS THEY THREE-PEATED WORLD CHAMPIONS is just so iconic and I admire them so much for it.

4. ”He Had It Coming” | Team Unique Senior (FIN) 2024-2025 Free Program

From their theme reveal on Instagram:

TU free program 24/25: “He Had It Coming” ❤️‍🔥

This program is inspired by the musical Chicago, and it is SO SHARP. Their facial expressions, just standing in their beginning poses, and their first few micromovements have unmatched precision. The sass really cuts through like the blade of a newly-sharpened knife. Their dresses are genuinely fire too—that lace detailing is so beautiful.

They open with perfect twizzles in a circle, complete their super unique group lifts (they have so many different positions in one group lift—I’ve never seen anything like it before), execute a perfect triangle-shaped pivot block, and finish a textbook whip (on one foot too).

I also need an entire paragraph to gush about their death spirals. Back cartwheel, one-foot counter, straight into a cross-grab split death spiral (okay I am not good enough of a skater to know the real names of these pair elements) into like a flying rotational split exit. And they all do it perfectly in sync… how are they this flexible???!

Then they have a super upbeat no hold that is a perfect homage to Chicago (don’t kill me please I’ve never actually watched Chicago so I could be completely wrong), with a final iconic creative element with the four split carry lifts that really remind me of a musical theatre performance.

My only personal pet peeve that is completely unrelated to this program: can the crowd please learn how to clap on time?

Anyway, they so so so deserved the win in the free program this year. I know I’ve been saying it about every program, but this is truly the most iconic one of them all, like it really embodies the very definition of iconic.

5. ”Toivon, että ihmiset sun ympärillä kohtaa sut niin ku sä oot.” | Helsinki Fintastic Junior (FIN) 2024-2025 Short Program

From their theme reveal on Instagram:

Team Fintastic Short program 24-25 🩵☁️

Their theme is one of the lyrics from the Finnish song “maasta taivaaseen” by pehmaino, and it translates roughly to “I hope that the people around you see you for who you are”. This song is such a calming and wonderful listen.

It is a beautiful program all around, especially one skated by a Junior team. There’s just such beautiful flow, symmetry, and choreography all throughout the program.

I especially love their transition which is kind of a moving diamond/wheel changing formation as the lines pivot—you don’t even notice it, but suddenly they’re all the way across the ice with all these beautiful connecting steps.

Yes, I have used the adjective “beautiful” far too many times in this review, but I think this program deserves it. Every element flows into another seamlessly, with the most wonderful transitions and connecting steps, forming a beautiful, cohesive program.

synchro music

My friend and I made a giant playlist (currently over 9 hours long), curating music from lots of synchro programs, both ones we’ve watched, ones we’ve skated, and ones we’ve competed against. Feel free to check it out!