Women's competitors at the 1934 European Championships in Prague. Photo courtesy National Archives of Poland.
Originally slated to be held in Innsbruck as part of the city's International Sports Week, the 1934 European Figure Skating Championships were relocated when an untimely thaw rendered the ice in the Austrian city completely unsuitable for competition. The women's and pairs events were hastily relocated to Prague and the men's event moved to the old Austrian farming village of Seefeld, high in the Tyrol Mountains.
Photo courtesy Národní muzeum
Now that the backdrop of the latter event in Seefeld has been painted, let's take a look back at the stories and scandals from these events... including perhaps one of the most dramatic school figure competitions of all time!
THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION
Having recently graduated from Radcliffe College, with the help of the USFSA Maribel Vinson spent a year training overseas in preparation for the 1934 European and World Championships. Realizing that she was at a disadvantage when entering overseas competitions due to the missed training time spent on long trans-Atlantic steamship voyages, she took full advantage of the indoor rinks in Bournemouth, London, Oxford and Edinburgh and time spent skating outdoors St. Moritz. She arrived in Prague ready to make her mark as the first skater from North America to compete in that particular event, which didn't specifically bar non-European skaters at that point in time from participating... provided they held membership with an ISU member nation in Europe. Handily, Vinson became a member of the National Skating Association. However, try as she might have, she found herself in the unenviable position of going up against reigning Olympic, World and European Sonja Henie.
The January 27, 1934 issue of the Austrian "Sport-Tagblatt" described Henie's victory as "a runaway" one, noting that her lead in the figures made it next to impossible for her chief rivals - Liselotte Landbeck, Maribel Vinson and Megan Taylor - to have challenged her for the title even if they gave the performances of their lives in the free skate. In a rather anti-climactic finish, that's exactly the order the four women finished.
Maribel Vinson's bronze proved to be the only medal ever won by an American woman at the European Championships and the crowd of four thousand who sat in a blinding snowstorm, applauding wildly while the women skated their school figures had to have been the best crowd ever! Vinson recalled the event thusly: "It was a strange competition held outdoors under very difficult circumstances (we skated the school figures in a blizzard) but Yvonne [de Ligne] and I managed to enjoy it thoroughly, and taking into account the far-from-ideal conditions, I at least skated the best I could, both school and free."
THE PAIRS COMPETITION
The pairs competition in Prague was considerably hyped as a battle royale between the defending European Champions Idi Papez and Karl Zwack of Austria and the reigning World Champions Emília Rotter and László Szollás of Hungary. Before the event even started, the smack talk had started. One journalist writing for the "Sport-Tagblatt" questioned whether the Hungarians would even appear in Prague to challenge the Austrians: "In the tactics which the Hungarians like to pursue, it is by no means certain whether they will actually appear at the start." In the end, both teams did arrive and in a close contest, the Hungarians defeated the Austrians.
In claiming the bronze, Zofia Bilorówna and Tadeusz Kowalski made history as the first Polish team to medal at the European Championships... a feat that wouldn't be duplicated until Dorota Zagórska and Mariusz Siudek earned the silver medal at the 1999 European Championships, also in Prague.
THE MEN'S COMPETITION
An unlucky thirteen men from six nations vied for the men's title in Seefeld in 1934: six from Austria, three from Hungary and one apiece from Great Britain, France and Switzerland so the deck was heavily stacked for the home team that year. Karl Schäfer, the reigning Olympic, World and European Champion, was of course the heavy favourite. Captain T.D. Richardson's account of Schäfer's actions in the school figures offered some insight into this great champion of yesteryear's character. Recalling the event in 1956, Richardson wrote: "Unfortunately, the ice there was very bumpy and for once - surely the only time in competition - Karli fell on a back-change-loop. Instead of meekly going on, he played merry hell with the referee, Ulrich Salchow (who was also the high panjandrum, i.e. President of the International Skating Union), and with the whole panel of judges, for asking him and his rivals to skate on such appalling ice! The referee thereupon allowed him a re-skate, influenced of course by the fact that Schäfer was reigning World, European and Olympic Champion. Shortly afterward, the late Jack Dunn had a similar mishap. He was ordered peremptorily to 'finish out the figure' which he did, and he received very, very low marks in consequence. Then I, who had taken Dunn to the championship, knowing Karli extremely well suggested to him that this was not quite fair. He agreed, went on the ice, holding up the whole competition, and demanded a re-skate for his British friend. He stayed on the ice until he got his way, and then, on to the ice went Dunn, completely out of turn, re-skated the figure and obtained quite good marks. So much for reputation, personality and superb audacity! I always had the feeling that both Grafström and Schäfer were judging the judges, instead of being judged!"
THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION
Sonja Henie. Photo courtesy National Archives of Poland.
Having recently graduated from Radcliffe College, with the help of the USFSA Maribel Vinson spent a year training overseas in preparation for the 1934 European and World Championships. Realizing that she was at a disadvantage when entering overseas competitions due to the missed training time spent on long trans-Atlantic steamship voyages, she took full advantage of the indoor rinks in Bournemouth, London, Oxford and Edinburgh and time spent skating outdoors St. Moritz. She arrived in Prague ready to make her mark as the first skater from North America to compete in that particular event, which didn't specifically bar non-European skaters at that point in time from participating... provided they held membership with an ISU member nation in Europe. Handily, Vinson became a member of the National Skating Association. However, try as she might have, she found herself in the unenviable position of going up against reigning Olympic, World and European Sonja Henie.
Megan Taylor and Mollie Phillips. Photo courtesy National Archives of Poland.
The January 27, 1934 issue of the Austrian "Sport-Tagblatt" described Henie's victory as "a runaway" one, noting that her lead in the figures made it next to impossible for her chief rivals - Liselotte Landbeck, Maribel Vinson and Megan Taylor - to have challenged her for the title even if they gave the performances of their lives in the free skate. In a rather anti-climactic finish, that's exactly the order the four women finished.
Maribel Vinson's bronze proved to be the only medal ever won by an American woman at the European Championships and the crowd of four thousand who sat in a blinding snowstorm, applauding wildly while the women skated their school figures had to have been the best crowd ever! Vinson recalled the event thusly: "It was a strange competition held outdoors under very difficult circumstances (we skated the school figures in a blizzard) but Yvonne [de Ligne] and I managed to enjoy it thoroughly, and taking into account the far-from-ideal conditions, I at least skated the best I could, both school and free."
THE PAIRS COMPETITION
Emília Rotter and László Szollás. Photo courtesy National Archives of Poland.
The pairs competition in Prague was considerably hyped as a battle royale between the defending European Champions Idi Papez and Karl Zwack of Austria and the reigning World Champions Emília Rotter and László Szollás of Hungary. Before the event even started, the smack talk had started. One journalist writing for the "Sport-Tagblatt" questioned whether the Hungarians would even appear in Prague to challenge the Austrians: "In the tactics which the Hungarians like to pursue, it is by no means certain whether they will actually appear at the start." In the end, both teams did arrive and in a close contest, the Hungarians defeated the Austrians.
Zofia Bilorówna and Tadeusz Kowalski. Photo courtesy National Archives of Poland.
In claiming the bronze, Zofia Bilorówna and Tadeusz Kowalski made history as the first Polish team to medal at the European Championships... a feat that wouldn't be duplicated until Dorota Zagórska and Mariusz Siudek earned the silver medal at the 1999 European Championships, also in Prague.
THE MEN'S COMPETITION
Karl Schäfer
An unlucky thirteen men from six nations vied for the men's title in Seefeld in 1934: six from Austria, three from Hungary and one apiece from Great Britain, France and Switzerland so the deck was heavily stacked for the home team that year. Karl Schäfer, the reigning Olympic, World and European Champion, was of course the heavy favourite. Captain T.D. Richardson's account of Schäfer's actions in the school figures offered some insight into this great champion of yesteryear's character. Recalling the event in 1956, Richardson wrote: "Unfortunately, the ice there was very bumpy and for once - surely the only time in competition - Karli fell on a back-change-loop. Instead of meekly going on, he played merry hell with the referee, Ulrich Salchow (who was also the high panjandrum, i.e. President of the International Skating Union), and with the whole panel of judges, for asking him and his rivals to skate on such appalling ice! The referee thereupon allowed him a re-skate, influenced of course by the fact that Schäfer was reigning World, European and Olympic Champion. Shortly afterward, the late Jack Dunn had a similar mishap. He was ordered peremptorily to 'finish out the figure' which he did, and he received very, very low marks in consequence. Then I, who had taken Dunn to the championship, knowing Karli extremely well suggested to him that this was not quite fair. He agreed, went on the ice, holding up the whole competition, and demanded a re-skate for his British friend. He stayed on the ice until he got his way, and then, on to the ice went Dunn, completely out of turn, re-skated the figure and obtained quite good marks. So much for reputation, personality and superb audacity! I always had the feeling that both Grafström and Schäfer were judging the judges, instead of being judged!"
In the end, Schäfer won the 1934 European Figure Skating Championships by a landslide with Dunn a distant sixth but the Briton did manage to defeat three of the Austrian's teammates, including a young upstart named Felix Kaspar who would go on to win two World titles and the bronze medal at the 1936 Winter Olympic Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. A pair of Hungarians, Dénes Pataky and Elemér Terták, claimed the silver and bronze. The fact that Schäfer went up to bat for his British competitor only goes to show you that even in the Tyrol Mountains, it never hurts to have friends in high places.
Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Bluesky, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering one of six fascinating books highlighting the history of figure skating: https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.
Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Bluesky, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering one of six fascinating books highlighting the history of figure skating: https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.