Russia's team Paradise wins World Synchronized Skating Championship

Russia's team 1 (Paradise) skated to the gold medal at the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championship 2016 on Saturday in Budapest, Hungary.

This is the first world title team Paradise won for Russia. Russia had won their first medal, a bronze, in 2015.

Team Finland 2 (The Rockettes) took the silver medal and Team USA 1 (The Haydenettes) earned the bronze medal.

Team Paradise from St. Petersburg skated to the lead with 73.86 points in the short program on Friday. The team was ranked second in free skating with 138.83 points, but remained in first place overall with 212.69 points.

The Rockettes placed third both in the short program and in free skating, but won second place with a total of 207.84 points.

The Haydenettes placed fourth place in the short program, but won free skating with 138.86 points and reached the podium with 206.95 points.

A total of 26 teams from 21 ISU members competed at the ISU World Synchronized Championship which kicked off on Friday.

Finland, Sweden, Canada and the USA are the leading ISU members in synchronized skating. Finland has claimed a total of 21 medals in the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championship so far, including eight gold medals. Sweden ranks second with 11 medals (six gold), while Canada has eleven medals (two gold).