A Touch Of Triskaidekaphobia

Triskaidekaphobia, a word you'd never want to wind up with in a spelling bee, is defined as a fear of the number 13. For centuries, people around the world have considered the number unlucky. There have been suggestions that the ancient Babylonians and Mayans were wary of the number. In a 2015 article in "National Geographic" magazine, a scientist from Newark named Thomas Fernsler attributed fears of the number 13 to the fact that numerologists considered 12 a whole number. "There are 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, and 12 apostles of Jesus," he noted. To this day, there are many hotels without a thirteenth floor or room and scores of people who avoid travelling or doing business on the thirteenth day of the month, particularly if its a Friday.

Over the years, figure skating has its own fair share of superstition surrounding the number 13... some of it good, some bad. Barbara Ann Scott considered the number 13 lucky because her armband at the 1948 Winter Olympics was the number 13 and she skated on Friday the 13th at that year's World Championships in Davos. Dorothy Hamill won her Olympic gold medal in Innsbruck on 1976 on Friday the 13th. Karen Magnussen was 13th in the starting order in the free skate at the 1972 World Championships and won a medal in her home country. A handful of skaters have placed 13th at the World Championships and then gone on to win World titles in the years that followed. 

Ludmila and Oleg Protopopov. Photo courtesy Chicago Public Library.

The first were Ludmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov in 1958. They were followed by Diane Towler and Bernard Ford, Tim Wood, Lyudmila Pakhomova and Aleksandr Gorshkov, Krisztina Regőczy and András Sallay, Irina Lobacheva and Ilya Averbukh, Roman Kostomarov, Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder, Brian Joubert and Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte. The most recent skaters to translate a 13th place at the World Championships to gold were Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron. The only skater in history to translate a 13th place finish at the Olympics to a gold medal at a future Games was Shizuka Arakawa.

Anuschka Gläser, Stefan Pfrengle and Claudia Leistner

For many skaters, placing 13th at the World Championships appeared to be something of a curse. German pairs skater Stefan Pfrengle placed 13th at the World Championships three times with two different partners. Skaters who very well could have been World Champions like Toller Cranston, Elizabeth Manley, Sergei Chetverukhin, Petr Barna, Susanna Rahkamo and Petri Kokko and Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto may have had a 13th place finish at the World Championships to blame for their bad luck.

Anna Galmarini

Several skaters who have placed 13th at the World Championships have sadly died under tragic circumstances. Hana Mašková and Anna Galmarini both perished in automobile accidents. Rob McCall placed 13th at two consecutive World Championships with his first partner and died as a result of HIV/AIDS complications. Chris Reed, who placed 13th at the 2011 World Championships and 13th at the 2018 Olympics, died of cardiac arrest in 2020 at the age of thirty. Denis Ten, who was 13th at the 2010 World Championships, was murdered at the age of twenty-five in 2018. His birthday was on June 13th.

THIRTEENTH PLACE FINISHERS AT THE WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES

Prior to 1928, there were always fewer than thirteen entries in every discipline at the Winter Olympic Games. The skater marked in bold went on to win an Olympic gold medal.

Year	Men	Women	Pairs	Ice Dance
1928	Montgomery Wilson	Edel Randem	Kathleen Lovett and A. Proctor Burman	N/A
1932	(none)	Elizabeth Fisher	(none)	N/A
1936	Erle Reiter	Angela Anderes	Irina Timcic and Alfred Eisenbeisser-Ferraru	N/A
1948	Zdeněk Fikar	Dagmar Lerchová	Grazia Barcellona and Carlo Fassi	N/A
1952	Kalle Tuulos	Vevi Smith	Bjørg Skjælaaen and Reidar Børjeson	N/A
1956	Allan Ganter	Joan Haanappel	(none)	N/A
1960	Peter Jonas	Dany Rigoulot	Marcelle Matthews and Gwyn Jones	N/A
1964	Charles Snelling	Kumiko Okawa	Margit Senf and Peter Göbel	N/A
1968	Philippe Pélissier	Linda Carbonetto	JoJo Starbuck and Ken Shelley	N/A
1972	Didier Gailhaguet	Cathy Lee Irwin	Florence Cahn and Jean-Roland Racle	N/A
1976	Pekka Leskinen	Emi Watanabe	Ingrid Spieglová and Alan Spiegl	Susan Carscallen and Eric Gillies
1980	Rudi Cerne	Karin Riediger	(none)	(none)
1984	Mark Cockerell	Elizabeth Manley	Claudia Massari and Leonardo Azzola	Jindra Holá andd Karol Foltán
1988	Petr Barna	Charlene Wong	Lisa and Neil Cushley	Sharon Jones and Paul Askham
1992	Masakazu Kagiyama	Patricia Neske	Danielle and Stephen Carr	Anna Croci and Luca Mantovani
1994	Michael Tyllesen	Lenka Kulovaná	Anuschka Gläser and Axel Rauschenbach	Aliki Stergiadu and Juris Razgulajevs
1998	Szabolcs Vidrai	Shizuka Arakawa	Danielle McGrath and Stephen Carr	Kateřina Mrázová and Martin Šimeček
2002	Ivan Dinev	Sarah Meier	Tiffany Scott and Philip Dulebohn	Sylwia Nowak and Sebastian Kolasiński
2006	Emanuel Sandhu	Susanna Pöykiö	Marcy Hinzmann and Aaron Parchem	Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali
2010	Artem Borodulin	Min-jeong Kwak	Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett	Nóra Hoffmann and Maxim Zavozin
2014	Brian Joubert	Kaetlyn Osmond	Maylin and Daniel Wende	Sara Hurtado and Adrià Díaz
2018	Daniel Samohin	Ha-nul Kim	Tae-ok Ryum and Ju-sik Kim	Kana Muramoto and Chris Reed
2022	Deniss Vasiljevs	Viktoriia Safonova	Nicole Della Monica and Matteo Guarise	Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha

THIRTEENTH PLACE FINISHERS AT THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Prior to 1914, there were always fewer than thirteen entries in every discipline at the World Championships. Skaters marked in bold went on to win World titles.

Year	Men	Women	Pairs	Ice Dance
1914	Sergei Wanderfliet	(none)	(none)	N/A
1922	(none)	(none)	(none)	N/A
1923	(none)	(none)	(none)	N/A
1924	(none)	(none)	(none)	N/A
1925	(none)	(none)	(none)	N/A
1926	(none)	(none)	(none)	N/A
1927	(none)	(none)	(none)	N/A
1928	(none)	(none)	(none)	N/A
1929	(none)	(none)	(none)	N/A
1930	(none)	(none)	(none)	N/A
1931	Theo Lass	(none)	(none)	N/A
1932	(none)	Elizabeth Fisher	(none)	N/A
1933	(none)	(none)	(none)	N/A
1934	(none)	Ester Bornstein	(none)	N/A
1935	(none)	(none)	(none)	N/A
1936	Toshikazu Kagiyama	Audrey Peppe	(none)	N/A
1937	(none)	(none)	(none)	N/A
1938	(none)	(none)	A. Wächter and Fritz Lesk	N/A
1939	(none)	Britta Rahlen	(none)	N/A
1947	(none)	Gun Ericson	(none)	N/A
1948	Per Cock-Clausen	Suzanne Morrow	Joan Ogilvie and Bobby Thompson	N/A
1949	(none)	Beryl Bailey	(none)	N/A
1950	(none)	Valda Osborn	(none)	(none)
1951	(none)	Betty Hiscock	(none)	(none)
1952	(none)	Eva Weidler	(none)	(none)
1953	György Czakó	Elaine Skevington	(none)	(none)
1954	(none)	Rosi Pettinger	(none)	(none)
1955	Tilo Gutzeit	Ilse Musyl	(none)	Claude Weinstein and Claude Lambert
1956	Hans Müller	Fiorella Negro	(none)	Lucia Fischer and Rudolf Zorn
1957	Yukio Nishikura	Joan Haanappel	(none)	(none)
1958	Norbert Felsinger	Margaret Crosland	Ludmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov	Adriana Giuggiolini and Germano Ceccattini
1959	Hubert Köpfler	Carla Tichatschek	(none)	(none)
1960	Hubert Köpfler	Sonia Snelling	(none)	(none)
1962	Sepp Schönmetzler	Eva Grožajová	Mieko Otwa and Yutaka Doke	Marlise Fornachon and Charly Pichard
1963	Hugo Dümler	Karen Howland	(none)	Helga and Hannes Burkhardt
1964	Robert Dureville	Kumiko Okawa	(none)	Diane Towler and Bernard Ford
1965	Tim Wood	Hana Mašková	Ingrid Bodendorff and Volker Waldeck	Gabriele Rauch and Rudi Matysik
1966	Robert Dureville	Sally-Anne Stapleford	Susan and Paul Huehnergard	Annerose Baier and Eberhard Rüger
1967	Sergei Chetverukhin	Rita Trapanese	Betty Lewis and Richard Gilbert	Lyudmila Pakhomova and Aleksandr Gorshkov
1968	Michael Williams	Linda Carbonetto	Betty and John McKilligan	Donna Taylor and Bruce Lennie
1969	Tsuguhiko Kozuka	Rita Trapanese	Evelyne Schneider and Willy Bietak	Ilona Berecz and István Sugár
1970	Toller Cranston	Charlotte Walter	Evelyne Scharf and Willy Bietak	Teresa Weyna and Piotr Bojańczyk
1971	Jacques Mrozek	Kazumi Yamashita	Linda Connolly and Colin Taylforth	Anne-Claude Wolfers and Roland Mars
1972	Didier Gailhaguet	Gerti Schanderl	Gabriele Cieplik and Reinhard Ketterer	Teresa Weyna and Piotr Bojańczyk
1973	László Vajda	Gerti Schanderl	Gale and Joel Fuhrman	Krisztina Regőczy and András Sallay
1974	Bernd Wunderlich	Barbara Terpenning	Florence Cahn and Jean-Roland Racle	Anne and Harvey Millier
1975	Didier Gailhaguet	Emi Watanabe	Grażyna Kostrzewińska and Adam Brodecki	Susan Carscallen and Eric Gillies
1976	Christophe Boyadjian	Karena Richardson	Gabrielle Beck and Jochen Stahl	Judi Genovesi and Kent Weigle
1977	Kurt Kurzinger	Heather Kemkaran	Kyoko Hagiwara and Sumio Murata	Susi and Peter Handschmann
1978	Konstantin Kokora	Claudia Kristofics-Binder	Gabrielle Beck and Jochen Stahl	Stefania Bertele and Walter Cecconi
1979	Brian Pockar	Natalia Strelkova	Elizabeth and Peter Cain	Karen Barber and Nicky Slater
1980	Jean-Christophe Simond	Carola Weißenberg	Susan Garland and Robert Daw	Marie McNeil and Rob McCall
1981	Falko Kirsten	Manuela Ruben	(none)	Marie McNeil and Rob McCall
1982	Grzegorz Filipowski	Elizabeth Manley	Luan Bo and Yao Bin	Wendy Sessions and Stephen Williams
1983	Gary Beacom	Sanda Dubravčić	Susan Garland and Ian Jenkins	Judit Péterfy and Csaba Bálint
1984	Mark Cockerell	Karin Telser	(none)	Isabella Micheli and Roberto Pelizzola
1985	Petr Barna	Susan Jackson	Shuk-Ling Ngai and Kwok-Yung Mak	Noriko Sato and Tadayuki Takahashi
1986	Grzegorz Filipowski	Agnès Gosselin	Kerstin Kimminus and Stefan Pfrengle	Sharon Jones and Paul Askham
1987	Falko Kirsten	Claudia Villiger	Shuk-Ling Ngai and Cheuk-Fai Lai	Sharon Jones and Paul Askham
1988	Neil Paterson	Yvonne Gómez	Anuschka Gläser and Stefan Pfrengle	April Sargent and Russ Witherby
1989	Axel Médéric	Yvonne Pokorny	(none)	Susanna Rahkamo and Petri Kokko
1990	Oliver Höner	Beatrice Gelmini	Sharon Carz and Doug Williams	Małgorzata Grajcar and Andrzej Dostatni
1991	Oliver Höner	Simone Lang	Cheryl Peake and Andrew Naylor	Małgorzata Grajcar and Andrzej Dostatni
1992	Michael Slipchuk	Tatiana Rachkova	Anuschka Gläser and Stefan Pfrengle	Anna Croci and Luca Mantovani
1993	Konstantin Kostin	Lisa Ervin	Svetlana Pristav and Viacheslav Tkachenko	Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas
1994	Aren Nielsen	Rena Inoue	Natalia Krestianinova and Alexei Torchinski	Irina Lobacheva and Ilya Averbukh
1995	Vasili Eremenko	Marina Kielmann	Marina Khalturina and Andrei Krukov	Elizaveta Stekolnikova and Dmitri Kazarlyga
1996	Takeshi Honda	Tatiana Malinina	Dorota Zagórska and Mariusz Siudek	Kati Winkler and René Lohse
1997	Laurent Tobel	Nicole Bobek	Silvia Dimitrov and Rico Rex	Kateřina Mrázová and Martin Šimeček
1998	Michael Tyllesen	Joanne Carter	Marsha Poluliaschenko and Andrew Seabrook	Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov
1999	Stefan Lindemann	Lucinda Ruh	Valerie Saurette and Jean-Sébastien Fecteau	Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovski
2000	Vitali Danilchenko	Sabina Wojtala	Kateřina Beránková and Otto Dlabola	Anna Semenovich and Roman Kostomarov
2001	Sergei Rylov	Tatiana Malinina	Inga Rodionova and Andrei Krukov	Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder
2002	Brian Joubert	Zuzana Babiaková	Yuko Kawaguchi and Aleksandr Markuntsov	Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto
2003	Ryan Jahnke	Ludmila Nelidina	Jacinthe Larivière and Lenny Faustino	Kristin Fraser and Igor Lukanin
2004	Ben Ferreira	Sarah Meier	Kathryn Orscher and Garrett Lucash	Svetlana Kulikova and Vitali Novikov
2005	Ivan Dinev	Idora Hegel	Marilyn Pla and Yannick Bonheur	Kristin Fraser and Igor Lukanin
2006	Tomáš Verner	Mira Leung	Marilyn Pla and Yannick Bonheur	Christina and William Beier
2007	Christopher Mabee	Elena Sokolova	Dominika Piątkowska and Dmitri Khromin	Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte
2008	Adrian Schultheiss	Valentina Marchei	Laura Magitteri and Ondřej Hotárek	Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev
2009	Sergei Voronov	Susanna Pöykiö	Stacey Kemp and David King	Alexandra and Roman Zaretski
2010	Denis Ten	Alena Leonova	Anaïs Morand and Antoine Dorsaz	Ekaterina Rubleva and Ivan Shefer
2011	Ryan Bradley	Cynthia Phaneuf	Zhang Yue and Wang Lei	Cathy and Chris Reed
2012	Adam Rippon	Elena Glebova	Maylin Hausch and Daniel Wende	Kharis Ralph and Asher Hill
2013	Andrei Rogozine	Alena Leonova	Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir	Penny Coomes and Nicholas Buckland
2014	Ivan Righini	Gabby Daleman	Maylin and Daniel Wende	Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron
2015	Sergei Voronov	Anna Pogorilaya	Lubov Iliushechkina and Dylan Moscovitch	Alexandra Paul and Mitch Islam
2016	Alexei Bychenko	Nicole Rajičová	Tarah Kayne and Danny O'Shea	Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sørensen
2017	Moris Kvitelashvili	Anna Pogorilaya	Nicole Della Monica and Matteo Guarise	Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sørensen
2018	Keiji Tanaka	Nicole Schott	Annika Hocke and Ruben Blommaert	Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac
2019	Moris Kvitelashvili	Ekaterina Ryabova	Minerva Hase and Nolan Seegert	Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson
2021	Han Yan	Madeline Schizas	Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel	Shiyue Wang and Xinyu Liu
2022	Deniss Vasiljevs	Ekaterina Kurakova	(none)	Natálie Taschlerová and Filip Taschler
2023	Deniss Vasiljevs	Madeline Schizas	Daria Danilova and Michel Tsiba	Maria Kazakova and Georgy Reviya

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