The Olympic format
Synchro9,
Explained.
Synchronized skating now has two forms. The one you have watched for years puts twelve to sixteen skaters on the ice. The one going to the Olympic Winter Games puts nine. This is what changes, and what it means for a team like ours.
Two sub-disciplines
Nine Skaters,
Not Sixteen.
In the ISU rulebook, synchronized skating is now split in two. Synchro12-16 is the traditional form, with twelve to sixteen skaters and up to four alternates. Synchro9 is new: nine skaters, and up to one alternate. Both are skated at Junior and Senior level, and both have their own World Championships.
The rulebook is direct about why it matters. Pending agreement with the International Olympic Committee, Synchro9 is the sub-discipline for the Olympic Winter Games. Synchro12-16 is not going; Synchro9 is.
The traditional form
Synchro12-16
Up to four alternates. Short program and free skate, scored under the ISU Judging System.
The Olympic form
Synchro9
Up to one alternate. A knockout competition of themed rounds, scored under its own rules.
The competition
A Knockout,
Not a Running Order.
This is the biggest change, and it is not a small one. A traditional synchro competition is a running order: every team skates, every team is scored, and the scores are added up. Synchro9 is a bracket. Teams meet each other, and somebody goes through.
Stage one
Starting Rounds
The opening stage of the bracket, with teams drawn into starting order groups.
Stage two
Semi-Finals
The field narrows.
Stage three
Finals and Placement Battles
The medal is decided head to head, and the remaining placements are skated off rather than calculated.
Teams skate inside common themed rounds, so every team in a round is working to the same brief. The ISU’s stated aim is a format that builds suspense, reads clearly on camera, and lets a team tell a story under equal conditions.
The marks
Judged on Team Dynamics
and Creativity.
Synchro9 does not reuse the scoring most skating families know. The ISU describes it as a rebooted judging system, one it calls clear, intuitive, and anchored in team dynamics and creativity, with the explicit goal that an audience can follow why one team beat another.
The detail sits in the ISU Sports Rules for Synchronized Skating, which carries a separate regulation for Synchro9 alone. It sets out the scoring system and how a result is calculated, the criteria judges mark against, how a fall is treated, and how results are published. Synchro9 also has its own rule for the size of the judging panel, rather than following the one used for Synchro12-16.
Moving up
Where a Synchro9
Team Can Go.
Synchro9 is not a demonstration event. It has its own ISU Championships at both levels: a World Championships and a Junior World Championships, run as Synchro9 competitions in their own right. A team’s route is the ordinary one in this sport, which is to earn a place through its federation and then hold it against the world.
December 2025
Approved
The ISU Council approves Synchro9 as a competitive category, in ISU Communication 2759.
2026
Shown to the world
One team at the World Figure Skating Championships gala in Prague, then three demonstration teams at the World Synchronized Skating Championships in Salzburg.
2028
Winter Youth Olympic Games
Dolomiti Valtellina. The first time synchronized skating in any form has been on an Olympic programme.
2030
Olympic Winter Games
The French Alps. Synchro9’s Olympic debut.
What it means here
Why Our Teams Already
Have Two Numbers.
If you have wondered why our rosters read Lexettes9 and Lexettes16, Haydenettes9 and Haydenettes16, this is the answer. Each team now trains for both forms of the sport: the sixteen-skater program it has always skated, and the nine-skater one that leads to the Games. One team, two squads, training together.
It also explains why the next few seasons matter more than usual. A team does not become Olympic-standard in the year of the Games. The skaters who could be on that ice in 2030 are in our rink now.
Meet the teams.
Lexettes9 and Lexettes16, Haydenettes9 and Haydenettes16, and the eight other teams.
Learn the sport.
The formations to watch for, and how a Synchro12-16 program is scored.
Where this came from
Our Sources.
Everything on this page is drawn from the International Skating Union’s own publications. We have linked them so you can read them yourself.
- ISU, “Synchro9: A new era for Synchronized Skating begins”, 23 December 2025
- ISU, “What Is Synchro9? The New Era of Synchronized Skating Explained”, 8 April 2026
- ISU Sports Rules, Synchronized Skating, effective 12 June 2026, including the regulation for Synchro9
Checked against those sources on 24 October 2026.