The City of Gothenburg, Sweden, was proud to host the 13th ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships.

The competitions began with an amazing short program with a somewhat unexpected result. Paradise (Russia 1) skated an emotional program to the music "Hallelujah", and received high technical scores especially for their moves in the field element. They took the lead with 65,07 points. Close behind were Team Surprise (Sweden 1) who skated a fun and innovative program to the music "Super Mario", and received 64,63 points. Nexxice (Canada 1) followed close third with 63,76 points. The Haydenettes (USA 1) were fourth (62,14), and last years gold and silver medallists from Finland only managed to take fifth (Marigold IceUnity with 61,66) and sixth place (Rockettes with 61,02).

The free skate became one of the closest Championships ever, with only 2,62 points separating the top five teams in the final result.

The winners, in front of an enthusiastic home crowd, were Team Surprise (Sweden 1), after delivering a strong and energetic program to music from "Moulin Rouge". Their free skate (130,24 points) was also technically difficult, with moves in isolation lift that received top scores from the judges. The total score was 194,87 points, bringing Team Surprise their sixth World Championships victory after previous wins in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007. "This means everything to us. We have been aiming for this for so long", said Hanna Andersson, team captain of Team Sweden 1.

In second place overall came Nexxice (Canada 1). The Canadians delivered a solid, polished free skate with a nice flow over the ice to "MicMacs" by Mac Steiner, and collected 129,88 points in the free and totaling 193,64 points. The Haydenettes (USA 1) took the bronze after executing a perfect intersection to the beats from the music by Lady Gaga. Their energetic free skate was rewarded with 130,64 points, which accumulated to 192,78 points.

The winners of the free skate, the Rockettes (Finland 2) missed the podium in the overall result by a mere 0,03 points. The team skated a clean program with straight lines and a very tight pivoting block earning themselves 131,73 points for the free skate, and 192,75 overall. The leaders from the short program, Paradise (Russia 1), had a fall in the circle step sequence which put them in fifth place with 192,25 points.

Next year's ISU World Synchronized Championships will be held in Boston, USA. The Full results are available here