Media Contact Haydenettes: Jim
Flanagan
Press Release
HAYDENETTES WIN FIRST ISU WORLD FIGURE SKATING MEDAL
Lexington, MA based U.S. Champions Complete Historic Journey to the
World Podium
Colorado Springs and Lexington, MA, April 10, 2010 – The Haydenettes made history this past weekend by winning the Bronze Medal in the 2010 ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships, the final event of the ISU figure skating World Championships. The Haydenettes Bronze is only the second medal by a U.S. team in the eleven year history of these World Championships and the first for the Haydenettes. The Haydenettes are the reigning U.S. Gold medalists and 18-time U.S. National Champions. The team has competed in every ISU World Championship. The event was held in Colorado Springs, only the second time this Championship has been held in the U.S. Twenty-three teams representing eighteen countries were vying for the World medals.
With the benefit of a supportive and vocal audience, the Haydenettes balanced their own excitement with the adrenaline boost from the fans. The team put together two excellent programs over the weekend, starting with a solid and technically challenging short program Friday night that landed the team in second place behind the Rockettes from Finland. Teams were closely bunched with only six points separating first and fifth place going into the free skate competition on Saturday evening. Through a random draw among the top five teams, the Haydenettes would skate second to last, bracketed between the two Finnish teams. In addition to the two teams from Finland, the final group included teams from Sweden and Canada, and among these teams only the Haydenettes had never stepped on the World podium.
The team grabbed the moment, skating a demanding program with energy and exceptional interpretation of their program music from the musical West Side Story. As the program unfolded the crowd cheered each block, formation, lift and footwork sequence. As time wound down the crowd became louder, many standing before the four and a half minute exhausting program was brought to its successful conclusion by the team. With their scores in hand, the team was still in second place with one team left to skate. At this point, the Haydenettes had earned their long sought after World medal the only question was which color, Silver or Bronze. And it would be Bronze, as the second Finnish team skated a solid program earning marks that placed them just a half a point above the Haydenettes.
“I am so proud of these skaters and happy for them,” said head coach Saga Krantz. “We set a goal together to do what it takes this year to win a medal in our home country. We tracked the demanding run-throughs all season and then after they won at the U.S. Nationals we began altitude training to adjust to the thin air of Colorado. I pushed and they responded because they wanted it. They knew the top teams from Europe were planning on arriving a week early to practice in the thin air. In the end they succeeded because they made the commitment to each other. They trained, practiced, improved and then improved again and they clearly earned and deserved these medals,” concluded Krantz.