The Haydenettes, the most decorated U.S. synchronized skating team with four Boston University students and one alum on its roster, won silver at the 2026 ISU Synchronized Skating World Championship in Salzburg, Austria on April 10-11. 

The 2025-2026 roster includes 21 athletes from across the country, aged 17 to 24.

For Caitríona Curry, a senior at BU’s Questrom School of Business from Westchester, N.Y., her fourth season was one to remember. 

“This year’s team has dealt with an array of serious injuries and illnesses, so we’ve really had to lean on each other, stick to the plan and not give up,” Curry said. “We just go out on the ice with a love and passion for skating and each other, and that’s our main focus.” 

Curry has skated since she was 13 months old, and plans to return to the Haydenettes for a fifth season.

Being on the team is a serious commitment, Curry said. 

“We train usually four to five days a week, predominantly in the morning, with three hours on the ice,” she said. “That rotates between cardio and weightlifting or strength training, pilates, ballet or off-ice choreography with our coach.” 

Spring training occurs from May to June, with July serving as a break for athletes to spend time with family and relax. The season takes place August through April. 

For Clara Neal, a junior from Bethesda, Md. studying international relations and Spanish, this season was one of resilience, she said. 

“This past season, I struggled with a sprained ankle and then a sprained ACL, so I was off the ice for around seven months, and this season was me coming back to the ice after that injury,” she said. 

Neal said her time off the ice taught her how to support her teammates.

“I think the bond of our team was really strengthened, and the friendships became deeper,” she said.

The week of the championship included four days of practice from Monday to Thursday, a short program competition on Friday and a long program on Saturday. For the short program, the team skated to a rendition of “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne, and the music for the long program was the Sons of Serendip cover of “Somewhere Only We Know” by Keane. 

Kiana Eickbush, a BU junior from the Chicago suburbs studying biology and architectural studies, spoke fondly of her first season with the Haydenettes, though she’s been a part of the Hayden organization for two years prior, competing with Hayden Select. 

“It’s a very special microcosmic bubble that we get to exist in,” Eickbush said. “Being able to work with [head coach Saga Krantz] is always such an honor.”

Sophomore Alicia Wang, a human physiology major, started the sport as a seven-year-old in Chapel Hill, N.C. She watched the Haydenettes perform live in Boston, and she knew she needed to skate for the team one day, she said.

“If I were to describe the whole competition … I would just say it was a ton of fun,” said Wang, who has spent two seasons with the team. 

The Hayden Synchronized Skating Teams were established in 1979 in Lexington, Mass., by Lynn Benson, an Ice Capades performer and former national singles figure skater. 

Today, the program is led by acclaimed coach and choreographer Saga Krantz, a World Championship silver medalist from Finland. Krantz has expanded the program to eight teams and 169 skaters. 

“She’s honestly the best. I think, in my entirely biased opinion, she’s the best coach in the world,” Wang said. “A big reason why I wanted to come to this team was because of her.”

The Haydenettes have captured 32 U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships and have competed for the U.S. in every ISU World Synchronized Skating Championship since the first competition in 2000.

The team has earned the ISU World Championship silver medal in 2024 and 2026, as well as six bronze medals since 2010.

The team will start spring training in May, then have a short break before the new season. 

“We’ve got our new team together. We’re learning new things together. We’re getting used to skating with each other,” Wang said. “We’re doing lots of drills to solidify our basic foundations and skating skills, getting to know each other, trying new elements.” 

Her advice to those who want to get involved in the sport was simple: “Just have fun.”