Skate Guard

Discover The History Of Figure Skating!

Learn all about the fascinating world of figure skating history with Skate Guard Blog. Explore a treasure trove of articles on the history of figure skating, highlighting Olympic Medallists, World and National Champions and dazzling competitions, shows and tours. Written by former skater and judge Ryan Stevens, Skate Guard Blog also offers intriguing insights into the evolution of the sport over the decades. Delve into Stevens' five books for even more riveting stories and information about the history of everyone's favourite winter Olympic sport.

Does Success As A Junior Translate To Success As A Senior?

Alexandr Fadeev won the World Junior title in France in 1980 and made history as the first man to translate a win at the World Junior Championships to a win at the World Championships five years later in Japan

Does success as a junior translate to success as a senior? There's absolutely no 'one size fits all' answer to this question but taking a look back through skating history reveals some interesting facts about how skaters who have won the World Junior Championships have fared later in their careers.

Today we'll take a look at how all of the past winners at the World Junior Championships have fared when they competed in the World Championships. While these results don't take into account 'surprise' Olympic medal wins by skaters who never placed in the top five at the Worlds like Adelina Sonitkova and Paul Wylie, they do reveal some interesting facts. In singles skating, for instance, fifteen women who won the World junior title never competed at the senior Worlds as compared to nine men. However, twenty-two World titles were won by women who also won the World Junior title, as compared to thirteen men.

Ilia Kulik's winning performance from the 1995 World Junior Championships

Rudy Galindo and Kristi Yamaguchi were the only pair that won the World junior title to both win medals at the World Championships as singles skaters. Only four pairs, Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini, Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov, Wenjing Sui and Cong Han and Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov, have won both junior and senior World titles together. However, five other skaters who won the World junior title in pairs, Maxim Trankov, Maria Petrova, Anton Sikharulidze, Ingo Steuer and Aliona Savchenko were World Champions as seniors with different partners.

Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov

Only two ice dance teams have won World junior and senior titles together - Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin. Marina Anissina and Ilya Averbukh won the World Junior Championships twice and were both World Champions with different partners. Madison Chock and Evan Bates both won World junior titles with different partners. Their best finishes as seniors at the World Championships with those partners was ninth in both cases, in successive years.

Dennis Coi

WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONS - MEN

Year	World Junior Champions	Best Result At World Championships
1976	Mark Cockerell	8^th in 1985
1977	Daniel Béland	Did not compete at World Championships
1978	Dennis Coi	Did not compete at World Championships
1979	Vitali Egorov	Did not compete at World Championships
1980	Alexandr Fadeev	1^st in 1985
1981	Paul Wylie	9^th in 1988
1982	Scott Williams	9^th in 1986
1983	Christopher Bowman	2^nd in 1989
1984	Viktor Petrenko	1^st in 1992
1985	Erik Larson	Did not compete at World Championships
1986	Vladimir Petrenko	10^th in 1988
1987	Rudy Galindo	3^rd in 1996
1988	Todd Eldredge	1^st in 1996
1989	Viacheslav Zagorodniuk	3^rd in 1994
1990	Igor Pashkevich	8^th in 1997
1991	Vasili Eremenko	13^th in 1995
1992	Dmitri Dmitrenko	11^th in 1999
1993	Evgeny Pliuta	9^th in 1998
1994	Michael Weiss	3^rd in 1999 and 2000
1995	Ilia Kulik	2^nd in 1996
1996	Alexei Yagudin	1^st in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002
1997	Evgeni Plushenko	1^st in 2001, 2003 and 2004
1998	Derrick Delmore	Did not compete at World Championships
1999	Ilia Klimkin	9^th in 2003
2000	Stefan Lindemann	3^rd in 2004
2001	Johnny Weir	3^rd in 2008
2002	Daisuke Takahashi	1^st in 2010
2003	Alexander Shubin	Did not compete at World Championships
2004	Andrei Griazev	11^th in 2005
2005	Nobunari Oda	4^th in 2006
2006	Takahiko Kozuka	2^nd in 2011
2007	Stephen Carriere	10^th in 2008
2008	Adam Rippon	6^th in 2010 and 2016
2009	Adam Rippon	6^th in 2010 and 2016
2010	Yuzuru Hanyu	1^st in 2014 and 2017
2011	Andrei Rogozine	13^th in 2013
2012	Han Yan	7^th in 2014
2013	Joshua Farris	11^th in 2015
2014	Nam Nguyen	5^th in 2015
2015	Shoma Uno	2^nd in 2017 and 2018
2016	Daniel Samohin	20^th in 2018
2017	Vincent Zhou	3^rd in 2019
2018	Alexey Erokhov	Did not compete at World Championships
2019	Tomoki Hiwatashi	Did not compete at World Championships
2020	Andrei Mozalev	Did not compete at World Championships

Laetitia Hubert

WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONS - WOMEN

Year	World Junior Champions	Best Result At World Championships
1976	Suzie Brasher	Did not compete at World Championships
1977	Carolyn Skoczen	Did not compete at World Championships
1978	Jill Sawyer	Did not compete at World Championships
1979	Elaine Zayak	1^st in 1982
1980	Rosalynn Sumners	1^st in 1983
1981	Tiffany Chin	3^rd in 1985 and 1986
1982	Janina Wirth	11^th in 1983
1983	Simone Koch	8^th in 1988
1984	Karin Hendschke	Did not compete at World Championships
1985	Tatiana Andreeva	Did not compete at World Championships
1986	Natalia Gorbenko	8^th in 1989
1987	Cindy Bortz	Did not compete at World Championships
1988	Kristi Yamaguchi	1^st in 1991 and 1992
1989	Jessica Mills	Did not compete at World Championships
1990	Yuka Sato	1^st in 1994
1991	Surya Bonaly	2^nd in 1993, 1994 and 1995
1992	Laetitia Hubert	4^th in 1992 and 1998
1993	Kumiko Koiwai	16^th in 1995
1994	Michelle Kwan	1^st in 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2003
1995	Irina Slutskaya	1^st in 2002 and 2005
1996	Elena Ivanova	Did not compete at World Championships
1997	Sydne Vogel	Did not compete at World Championships
1998	Julia Soldatova	3^rd in 1999
1999	Daria Timoshenko	29^th in 2004
2000	Jennifer Kirk	17^th in 2005
2001	Kristina Oblasova	Did not compete at World Championships
2002	Ann Patrice McDonough	Did not compete at World Championships
2003	Yukina Ota	Did not compete at World Championships
2004	Miki Ando	1^st in 2007 and 2011
2005	Mao Asada	1^st in 2008, 2010 and 2014
2006	Yuna Kim	1^st in 2009 and 2013
2007	Caroline Zhang	Did not compete at World Championships
2008	Rachael Flatt	5^th in 2009
2009	Alena Leonova	2^nd in 2012
2010	Kanako Murakami	4^th in 2013
2011	Adelina Sotnikova	9^th in 2013
2012	Julia Lipnitskaia	2^nd in 2014
2013	Elena Radionova	3^rd in 2015
2014	Elena Radionova	3^rd in 2015
2015	Evgenia Medvedeva	1^st in 2016 and 2017
2016	Marin Honda	Did not compete at World Championships
2017	Alina Zagitova	1^st in 2019
2018	Alexandra Trusova	3^rd in 2021
2019	Alexandra Trusova	3^rd in 2021
2020	Kamila Valieva	Did not compete at World Championships

Sherri Baier and Robin Cowan

WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONS - PAIRS

Year	World Junior Champions	Best Result At World Championships
1976	Sherri Baier and Robin Cowan	10^th in 1997
1977	Josée France and Paul Mills	Did not compete at World Championships
1978	Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini	1^st in 1984
1979	Veronika Pershina and Marat Akbarov	5^th in 1983
1980	Larisa Selezneva and Oleg Makarov	2^nd in 1985
1981	Larisa Selezneva and Oleg Makarov	2^nd in 1985
1982	Marina Avstriyskaya and Yuri Kvashnin	Did not compete at World Championships
1983	Marina Avstriyskaya and Yuri Kvashnin	Did not compete at World Championships
1984	Manuela Landgraf and Ingo Steuer	8^th in 1995 (Ingo - 1^st in 1997)
1985	Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov	1^st in 1986, 1987, 1989 and 1990
1986	Elena Leonova and Gennadi Krasnitski	Did not compete at World Championships
1987	Elena Leonova and Gennadi Krasnitski	Did not compete at World Championships
1988	Kristi Yamaguchi and Rudy Galindo	5^th in 1989 and 1990 (Kristi – 1^st in 1991 and 1992 women's, Rudy - 3^rd in 1996 men's)
1989	Ekaterina Chernyshova and Dmitri Sukhanov	Did not compete together at World Championships (Dmitri – 15th in 1993)
1990	Natalia Krestianinova and Alexei Torchinski	13^th in 1994
1991	Natalia Krestianinova and Alexei Torchinski	13^th in 1994
1992	Natalia Krestianinova and Alexei Torchinski	13^th in 1994
1993	Inga Korshunova and Dmitri Saveliev	Did not compete at World Championships
1994	Maria Petrova and Anton Sikharulidze	6^th in 1995 (Maria - 1^st in 2000, Anton - 1^st in 1998 and 1999)
1995	Maria Petrova and Anton Sikharulidze	6^th in 1995 (Maria - 1^st in 2000, Anton - 1^st in 1998 and 1999)
1996	Victoria Maxiuta and Vladislav Zhovnirski	Did not compete at World Championships
1997	Danielle and Steven Hartsell	10^th in 1999
1998	Yulia Obertas and Dmitri Palamarchuk	11^th in 1999 (Yulia – 5^th in 2005)
1999	Yulia Obertas and Dmitri Palamarchuk	11^th in 1999 (Yulia – 5^th in 2005)
2000	Aliona Savchenko and Stanislav Morozov	9^th in 2001 (Aliona - 1^st in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2018, Stanislav - 4^th in 2007)
2001	Dan and Hao Zhang	2^nd in 2006, 2008 and 2009
2002	Elena Riabchuk and Stanislav Zakharov	Did not compete at World Championships
2003	Dan and Hao Zhang	2^nd in 2006, 2008 and 2009
2004	Natalia Shestakova and Pavel Lebedev	Did not compete at World Championships
2005	Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov	4^th in 2010 (Maxim - 1^st in 2013)
2006	Julia Vlassov and Drew Meekins	Did not compete at World Championships
2007	Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker	11^th in 2009 (Rockne - 10^th in 2010)
2008	Ksenia Krasilnikova and Konstantin Bezmaternikh	Did not compete at World Championships
2009	Lubov Ilyushechkina and Nodari Maisuradze	Did not compete together at World Championships (Lubov - 6^th in 2017, Nodari - 8^th in 2014)
2010	Wenjing Sui and Cong Han	1^st in 2017 and 2019
2011	Wenjing Sui and Cong Han	1^st in 2017 and 2019
2012	Wenjing Sui and Cong Han	1^st in 2017 and 2019
2013	Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier	12^th in 2015 (Brandon - 7^th in 2021)
2014	Xiaoyu Yu and Yang Jin	Did not compete together at World Championships (Xiaoyu - 4^th in 2017, Yang - 4^th in 2019)
2015	Xiaoyu Yu and Yang Jin	Did not compete together at World Championships (Xiaoyu - 4^th in 2017, Yang - 4^th in 2019)
2016	Anna Dušková and Martin Bidař	11^th in 2018
2017	Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya and Harley Windsor	16^th in 2017 and 2018
2018	Daria Pavliuchenko and Denis Khodykin	Did not compete at World Championships
2019	Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov	1^st in 2021
2020	Apollinariia Panfilova and Dmitry Rylov	Did not compete at World Championships

Tatiana Durasova and Sergei Ponomarenko

WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONS - ICE DANCE

Year	World Junior Champions	Best Result At World Championships
1976	Kathryn Winter and Nicky Slater	Did not compete together at World Championships (Nicky - 5^th in 1983 and 1984)
1977	Wendy Sessions and Mark Reed	Did not compete together at World Championships (Wendy - 11^th in 1981)
1978	Tatiana Durasova and Sergei Ponomarenko	Did not compete together at World Championships (Sergei - 1^st in 1989, 1990 and 1992)
1979	Tatiana Durasova and Sergei Ponomarenko	Did not compete together at World Championships (Sergei - 1^st in 1989, 1990 and 1992)
1980	Elena Batanova and Alexei Soloviev	7^th in 1984
1981	Elena Batanova and Alexei Soloviev	7^th in 1984
1982	Natalia Annenko and Vadim Karkachev	Did not compete together at World Championships (Natalia - 4^th in 1986, 1987 and 1988)
1983	Tatiana Gladkova and Igor Shpilband	Did not compete at World Championships
1984	Elena Krykanova and Evgeni Platov	Did not compete together at World Championships (Evgeni - 1^st in 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997)
1985	Elena Krykanova and Evgeni Platov	Did not compete together at World Championships (Evgeni - 1^st in 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997)
1986	Elena Krykanova and Evgeni Platov	Did not compete together at World Championships (Evgeni - 1^st in 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997)
1987	Ilona Melnichenko and Gennadi Kaskov	Did not compete at World Championships
1988	Oksana Grishuk and Alexandr Chichkov	Did not compete together at World Championships (Oksana - 1^st in 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997)
1989	Angelika Kirkhmaier and Dmitri Lagutin	Did not compete at World Championships
1990	Marina Anissina and Ilya Averbukh	Did not compete together at World Championships (Marina - 1^st in 2000, Ilya - 1^st in 2002)
1991	Aliki Stergadiu and Juris Razgulajevs	13^th in 1994
1992	Marina Anissina and Ilya Averbukh	Did not compete together at World Championships (Marina - 1^st in 2000, Ilya - 1^st in 2002)
1993	Ekaterina Svirina and Sergei Sakhnovski	Did not compete together at World Championships (Sergei - 3^rd in 2002)
1994	Silwia Nowak and Sebastian Kolasiński	9^th in 1999 and 2000
1995	Olga Sharutenko and Dmitri Naumkin	Did not compete at World Championships
1996	Ekaterina Davydova and Roman Kostomarov	Did not compete together at World Championship (Roman - 1^st in 2004 and 2005)
1997	Nina Ulanova and Mikhail Stifounin	Did not compete together at World Championship (Mikhail- 18^th in 2001)
1998	Jessica Joseph and Charles Butler	25^th in 1998
1999	Jamie Silverstein and Justin Pekarek	12^th in 2000
2000	Natalia Romaniuta and Daniil Barantsev	16^th in 2000
2001	Natalia Romaniuta and Daniil Barantsev	16^th in 2000
2002	Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto	2^nd in 2005 and 2009
2003	Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin	1^st in 2009
2004	Elena Romanovskaya and Alexander Grachev	23^rd in 2006
2005	Morgan Matthews and Maxim Zavozin	16^th in 2006
2006	Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir	1^st in 2010, 2012 and 2017
2007	Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev	3^rd in 2013
2008	Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates	9^th in 2010 (Evan - 2^nd in 2015)
2009	Madison Chock and Greg Zuerlein	9^th in 2011 (Madison - 2^nd in 2015)
2010	Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov	4^th in 2014 (Nikita - 1^st in 2021)
2011	Ksenia Monko and Kirill Khaliavin	8^th in 2015
2012	Victoria Sinitsina and Ruslan Zhiganshin	7^th in 2014 (Victoria - 1^st in 2021, Ruslan - 7^th in 2015)
2013	Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin	4^th in 2019
2014	Kaitlyn Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker	9^th in 2019 and 2021
2015	Anna Yanovskaya and Sergey Mozgov	Did not compete together at World Championships (Anna - 19^th in 2019)
2016	Lorraine McNamara and Quinn Carpenter	Did not compete at World Championships
2017	Rachel and Michael Parsons	Did not compete at World Championships
2018	Anastasia Skoptsova and Kirill Aleshin	Did not compete at World Championships
2019	Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha	14^th in 2021
2020	Avonley Nguyen and Vadym Kolesnik	Did not compete at World Championships

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, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

A Mélange Of Reader Mail

It's once again time to unpack the mail bag, answer some of your questions and share some of the interesting e-mails and social media messages that have come my way over the last few months. As always, if you have a question you'd like me to tackle or feedback on a blog please reach out via e-mail.

READER QUESTIONS

Sonja Henie. Photo courtesy National Archives of Poland.

From Marisa (via e-mail): "Do you happen to know where I can find books about Sonja Henie?"

A: A great place to start would be at your local library. If they don't have any in their own collections, they may be able to obtain a copy through inter-library loan for low or no cost. Another option would be buying books on EBay, Biblio.com, AbeBooks.com or Thriftbooks. EBay, Biblio and AbeBooks have booksellers around the world. Thriftbooks is U.S. based, but their shipping costs are often times more reasonable than the others. "Wings On My Feet" and "Queen Of Ice, Queen Of Shadows" would be two books to look out for, but there are also some great write-up's on her in several other books.

From John (via e-mail): "Hope you don't mind after reading your interesting site I thought you would be the ideal person for me as I'm seeking advice on these Edwardian? skates I picked up. I have attached a few picks for you too as may be of interest to you. I'm looking for knowledge and also to sell. I know they are plenty of skates around but these have some makers mark on the blades and also probably not relevant but a name in each on the inside, I would say around size nine."

A: I'm not sure if I'm the best person to help. I do write about figure skating history but skate design isn't something that I really look at very much. I do know T.H. Deane & Co. skates would have been popular during the Edwardian era. They were manufactured in Knightsbridge during the heyday of Prince's Skating Club and used by many skaters during that period. I can't quite make out what the name written on the inside says?

From @hughster3 (via Twitter): "I read your blog on Norton Skate, thanks for that, and wondered if you had any more info about skaters and placements. I recall Johnny Esaw saying that Gary Beacom blew them away. Would love to see a full list of results if available."

A: The full results for Norton Skate (a.k.a. Flaming Leaves) were published in the October 1979 issue of "Skating" magazine. Lots of big names!

Photos courtesy "Skating" magazine

From Andrea (via e-mail): Do you happen to have anything on Granville Mayall from Vancouver?

A: I don't have a ton of material on Mr. Mayall unfortunately, aside from his obituary from the "Vancouver Sun". I do know he grew up South Vancouver in a working-class Methodist family. He was an important figure in the development of skating in British Columbia in the 1920's and 30's, a judge at the Canadian and North American Championships and the CFSA's President from 1959 to 1961. He was the team leader for figure skating at the 1960 Olympics in Squaw Valley and played an important role in the organization of the 1960 Worlds in Vancouver. He was a senior partner in the law firm Mayall and Dallas and a freemason. He passed away on February 2, 1963 at the age of fifty-seven and was posthumously inducted into the CFSA (Skate Canada) Hall Of Fame in 1992. Hope this helps a little!

Canadian figure skating contingent at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley. Left to right: Sheldon Galbraith, Barbara Wagner, Bob Paul, Wendy Griner, Granville Mayall, Maria and Otto Jelinek, Sandra Tewkesbury, Donald Jackson and Donald McPherson

SKATING STEREOVIEWS

From Andy (via e-mail): "Thanks to your great site I was able to identify one of the stereoviews attached as being taken at Prince's, London, I estimate 1910 or so. The other, the outdoor skaters, I haven't yet ID'd.... does that building in the background look familiar to you at all? All of the stereoviews I've identified in the lot where these were found are London, but the hill or mountain in the outdoor scene makes that location unlikely. I'd appreciate any thoughts you have on the stereoviews."

The first stereoview is definitely Prince's Skating Club at Knightsbridge during the Edwardian era. The latter looks like it may (?) be Elsa Rendschmidt but I'm terrible at identifying locations in photos - perhaps a skating resort in Switzerland? If anyone has a keen eye and has any suggestions or information about the second stereoview, let me know and I will pass on the message to Andy.

FIGURE SKATING BOOKS IN THE WORKS

Over the past year, I've learned of several very interesting books that are in the works. One is a historical fiction novel based on the story of Alois Lutz - inventor of the Lutz jump. The other an autobiography of World Champion Courtney Jones. I recently did an interview with Helen Cox about the latter book. Stay tuned for more information about these projects!

#Unearthed: Ye Olden Skating

When you dig through skating history, you never know what you will unearth. In the spirit of cataloguing fascinating tales from skating history, #Unearthed is a once a month 'special occasion' on Skate Guard where fascinating writings by others that are of interest to skating history buffs are excavated, dusted off and shared for your reading pleasure. From forgotten fiction to long lost interviews to tales that have never been shared publicly, each #Unearthed is a fascinating journey through time.

This month's edition comes to you from the January 1904 issue of the "New York Athletic Club Journal". It is an article called "Ye Olden Skating" originally written by Marvin R. Clark, the noted skating critic who penned "The Skater's Textbook" with William H. Bishop (a.k.a. Frank Swift) in 1868. This piece offers a wonderful glimpse into skating in New York City during Clark's era and before.

"YE OLDEN SKATING" (MARVIN R. CLARK)

Not the skating of the Dutch frauleins, who, with baskets of eggs upon their heads and long, thin bones tied to their feet, in the olden time combined pleasure with business by skating down the frozen streams to the market-town, leaving behind them in the memory of the beholder, visions of round, rosy faces, blonde, frowsy hair, feet made for anything but show, ankles never suggesting frailty, and sinewy legs clothed in gray wool fit to sour the sweet disposition of a poet or snap the strings of Orpheus' lyre.

Then was the clumsy age of primitive, business skating, and it is ordained from the beginning, that when we adulterate pleasure with business, one or the other will get the whip-hand and that one is not pleasure. Sub rosa, some of this lack of both grace and art may even now be observed in the exceptional modern belle who thinks her skating of the spread-eagle both artistic and graceful.

The members of the N.Y.A.C. will be surprised to learn that not fifty years ago, many of our old - and not so very old - inhabitants were accustomed to skate in winter upon the very ground upon which their club house stands. In fact, we need not go back as far as a half century for I indulged in the art on that very spot in "the seventies." When a foundation as solid as a rock was sought by the builders of the beautiful structure now occupied by the Club, weeks were consumed in driving great piles into the ground and pumping out what seemed to be an inexhaustible flood. After months of perseverance, the foundation was laid and people ceased wondering and guessing. When the projectors of a home for lovers of sport and the higher art of developing the human body located their edifice on Sixth Avenue and Fifty-ninth Street, they did well, for their ancestors had sanctified that very ground. Up to fifty years ago a stream of water, originating east of Third Avenue, at or near Fifty-ninth Street, and fed by several springs, made its course close by where that street was filled in afterwards, and emptied into the lower ground, forming a lake of cold, spring water reaching from Lexington Avenue to Sixth Avenue, with the breadth of more than a block. This being upon Herr Beekman's land, was called "the Beekman Pond," and for many years proved the delight of skaters. There was not a skating pond like it within a hundred miles of the city. The first, the best and the last skating of the season was there, and on that pond the very best skaters in the world were developed. Upon sections of the Beekman pond were worked out the intricate but beautiful movements and figures of the science of skating with a perfection of art never before dreamt of.

Photo courtesy New York Public Library

It was, indeed, upon sections of the historical ground where the school of the art of skating found its home, for the so-called "march of progress" tended upwards in the city, and the symmetry of the pond as well as much of its usefulness, had to be sacrificed in time. Fifth Avenue was filled in across it, followed by Madison and Lexington. The disgusted stream, robbed of its birthright, plowed its way and hid its head under ground and rose to sparkle in the rays of the sun west of Fourth Avenue, forming a small pond there and again making its way underground beneath Fifth Avenue, running down to Sixth Avenue, and then building its roof under that avenue. The better part of that section extended from Fifth Avenue more than half way down and alongside Fifty-ninth Street, and was called Mitchell's Pond. The water was deep and very cold, and although surrounded by the embankments of the streets save on the westerly side, the longest skating season was always there, and there the New York Skating Club house was erected, a one-story frame building, but fully adequate for the purposes of the developers and illustrators of the beautiful art.

It has been said truthfully that "the skate made the skater," and that skate which fitted completely the requirements of the skater was invented by Oliver Brady, a clerk in the New York Post Office, but a lover of the art and a member of the N.Y.S.C. After that skates with clamps and heel-button, to be placed upon a laced shoe, were made. Blood circulating preventives such as strings and straps with kindling wood beneath to tighten still more the vise on the foot, were abandoned then, and the Dutch skate, with its turnover toe and the finer English apple-top, low runner skate were put with the back numbers. Although the New York Club skate made by Barney & Berry, then as now, and the far more expensive skate, made to order by Ward in Eighth Avenue, always preferred by artistic and professional skaters for keen temper and sharp edges, to say nothing of scientific curve, higher and touching the ice never more than a half inch, were looked upon with rapture by the skater, there was something more needed for the development of the art.

Eugene B. Cook, a civil engineer living in Hoboken, N. J., saving during the skating season, when he lives where the best skating is to be found, and, for forty years past, the best skater in the world, a member of the N.Y.S.C. in the height of its glory, in the seventies, gathered together from all sources, all fundamental movements and their developments and combinations, placing them in proper order according to difficulty of execution and proper order of progress for the learner. Mr. Cook gave
his system, the result of many years of study and hard work to the world, and it still remains the programme of all skating contests and congresses, as well as the most valuable library of instruction to learner and professional alike, although condensed into one page, letter size.

There were carnivals and balls and ball-playing in those days upon the ice of the N.Y.S.C. with illuminations and all the dances, with grotesque figuring and all in the height of enjoyment in the life-giving, frosty air of winter, while King Frost waved his scepter and laughed at the sport and hundreds of human beings, forgetting the breath of winter and risking frozen toes, gazed in wonder at the grace of the skaters, who wandered through the mazes of the dance like fairies in a beautiful dream. The great Skating Rink was built later, but won little patronage from the best skaters, who keenly loved their birthright and even the Central Park pond across the street and the great lake a mile away seldom attracted them to more democratic quarters where the season was always limited.

Upon the preemption of the Beekman Pond, obliterating the waters and blotting them forever out of sight, now stand great hotels and other buildings, and the old home of the skater, like many a landmark in our wonderful city, is now a memory of the past. Yet the memory remains, and what can never be taken from us is the enjoyment we have had there, although it be only such as "happifies"
us, the remembrance of "ye olden skating."

Q&A: Talking Courtney Jones With Helen Cox

Left: Helen Cox. Right: Courtney Jones.

Five-time European Champion and four-time World Champion Courtney Jones was the king of ice dancing in the late fifties and early sixties. He went on to serve as an ISU Official, President of the National Skating Association and National Ice Skating Association and international judge and referee. His contributions to figure skating and ice dancing are immeasurable, and soon his story will be coming to light in a new memoir being edited by Helen Cox. I recently had the chance to connect with Helen for a brief interview which you might find quite interesting!

Q: You've written about the War of the Roses and fifteenth century British history and given talks on the Magna Carta, Marie Antoinette and The Black Death. Can you tell me a little bit about your background and how you ended up editing the autobiography of a World Champion ice dancer?

A: By pure fluke! At eighteen, I set out to be an archaeologist but discovered I didn't like digging, so I trained as an antiquities conservator instead and spent twenty-some years working in the museum sector. Then I met my husband-to-be, retired in 2005 to move in with him in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, and became a 'writing housewife.' I'd always enjoyed the writing and lecturing side of my heritage career, so I set up a new vehicle, Herstory Writing & Interpretation, to carry those threads on, while indulging our mutual passion for medieval history and re-enactment, and also helping out in my husband's garden maintenance business - and that's how I came to meet Ron, a long-standing customer and friend who had a holiday home in Spain, where he'd got to know Courtney, who happened to mention that he'd written a memoir but didn't know how to get it published.

Having read my Battle of Wakefield Revisited, Ron thought I might be able to help and duly put us in touch. When Courtney sent me some extracts, including 'John Curry' and 'Lunch with the Queen,' I realized its potential straight away – also, to put our subsequent lengthy discussions in a nutshell, that it would be much quicker and simpler for me to prepare it for publication than for Courtney, who'd never done anything like it before and even had to teach himself computer skills from scratch before he started writing!

The change of genre was very refreshing, and I learned a huge amount about the history of a sport I'd always loved as an armchair spectator, (my sole teenage attempt at ice skating ended in miserable soaking failure!). It was also a rare treat to work as part of a team, and I must stress that I'm not the only editor. Elaine Hooper, Peter Morrissey, Bobby Thompson, and Courtney's friend Heather Jones all proof-read, fact-checked, corrected, and made valuable contributions to the text, and we reached collective decisions with Courtney on things like the title and cover design. I was amused to discover that this was exactly the process Courtney had always used in his NSA and ISU committee days, and it proved just as effective in this instance.

Doreen Denny and Courtney Jones. Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine.

Q: What have been the biggest challenges of working on this project during a global pandemic?

A: There was only one - getting into print. I'd envisaged a hardback launch initially, with all the bells and whistles a mainstream publisher can supply; and given the importance of the author, the quality of his story, and its potential to sell in large numbers to an international readership, I expected someone to snap my hand off. Certainly, pre-pandemic, I never experienced difficulties in contacting an appropriate person to whom I could pitch ideas or make submissions - whereas nowadays it's hard enough to get a 'read receipt' for an email, let alone a live human to answer the phone. Plus, due to lockdowns and furloughs, Brexit delays on imports and exports, worldwide shortages of materials and so on, many publishers seem to be contending with massive backlogs – and since time was of the essence, it rapidly became clear that our most realistic option for early release was publication through Herstory.

I felt disappointed on Courtney's behalf until Elaine told us that many recent skating books have been privately published, including a very successful work by Dick Button. That got me thinking, which got me excited; and now we're in control of the process and having fun adding the final touches, I'm glad it's worked out this way. I only hope it'll be the success Courtney deserves.

Q: Courtney Jones, to this day, is the only ice dancer to have won the World Championships with two different partners. What do you think made him so dominant in the international ice dancing scene in the late fifties?

A: Everything! Nature and nurture combined to give Courtney a unique blend of talents – musician, artist, skater, dancer, fashionista and designer – and it's hard to imagine a better skill set for an ice dance champion. He was also backed to the hilt by his parents, trained by the best both in the ballroom and on ice, and had the unusual good fortune to skate with two phenomenal partners whose talents and looks complemented his own perfectly. And, of course, he had the tremendous self-discipline, dedication and capacity for hard work it takes to reach and stay at the top – just reading about his 18-hour daily schedule during his competitive career made me feel quite exhausted.

Courtney Jones and June Markham. Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine.

Q: Many people know Courtney not only as a World Champion ice dancer, but also as an NSA and ISU Official and international judge and referee. Do you think his biggest contributions to ice dancing were on or off the ice?

A: That's a tough question for a non-skater to answer. Courtney's on-ice career was very short compared to his decades of involvement thereafter, so in terms of his lifelong advocacy, the vast sums he raised to benefit the sport, the number of skaters he helped, and the gigantic audiences who enjoyed the results either on TV or live at the many major events he helped organize, I lean towards 'off the ice.' On the other hand, as a skater, his innovations in music, routines, costume, cosmetics and general presentation transformed the look of ice dancing, broke ground for his contemporaries, and laid the foundations of so much that came later – not to mention the enduring inspiration of his awesome medal record. I think I'll sit on the fence and say they're about equal, if different in nature.

Q: Courtney and Bobby Thompson helped conceive the costumes for Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean's iconic "Bolero" program and Courtney was actually one of the judges who gave them a perfect 6.0 at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. Jayne and Christopher's coach Betty Callaway was taught by Courtney's coach, that grande dame of skating Miss Gladys Hogg... so it was almost like a passing of a torch. Would you agree?

A: Yes – I suppose such situations are inevitable given the small number of top-level coaches, and the relatively large number of students they train. it's rather nice to think of the learning and influence being passed on to future generations of skaters and coaches as they were during Britain's post-War ascendancy in the sport, and in Courtney's competitive heyday. Incidentally, in his shoes I'd have given Jayne and Chris 6.0 too – I still find 'Bolero' so perfect I cry when I watch it.

Q: What will surprise people the most about Courtney's story?

A: Hard to say, it's so full of surprises! I was particularly struck by the number of lucky flukes which brought him to exactly the right people, at the right time, in the right place, and by the extent of his impact on the wider world. For instance, I'd had no idea that Courtney was so instrumental in creating outsize fashion and bringing clothes for larger women out from the back of the store and onto the High Street - although it's something I remember distinctly from the seventies, when Evans opened the first dedicated size 14+ shop in my hometown. His medal tally is also amazing, especially considering it was achieved with two partners he'd only known for a few months, one of whom had never previously competed in the discipline and didn't even know the compulsory dances - an almost superhuman feat by Doreen Denny.

This all came as a long, slow reveal while I was working minutely on the text, pulling the narrative together from the various drafts, notes and anecdotes Courtney had amassed over two years of writing, plus contributions from Robin Cousins, Christopher Dean and Jayne Torvill – and like an Impressionist painting, the full incredible picture didn't reveal itself until I sat back and proof-read the whole thing. Then I thought, 'Wow! Truth really is stranger than fiction.'

When will the book be coming out and how can people get a copy?

A: We hope that "Around the Ice in Eighty Years: An Irreverent Memoir by an Accidental Champion" will be ready by Christmas, or February 2022 at the latest. You can order it directly from YPS, via your local bookshop or Amazon; meanwhile I'll gladly receive expressions of interest or advance orders on her.story@hotmail.co.uk. And as soon as I've knocked together the full blurb with bibliographic and ordering details, I'll send it on – watch this space!

Axels In The Argentine: The Lucian Büeler Story

The son of Hermann and Eleonora (Florin) Büeler, Lucian Büeler was born March 28, 1910 in
Zürich, Switzerland. He grew up during The Great War, attending schools in Aussig (Ústí nad Labem) and Graubünden, the canton in eastern Switzerland where his mother's family hailed from. It was likely in Graubünden - the popular winter sports destination that played host to the famous skating resorts in Davos and St. Moritz - that Lucian was first exposed to the art of figure skating.

Lucian first started seriously pursuing skating while attending the ETH Zürich university as a civil engineering student. He graduated from the university in 1934 and began working as an assistant in hydraulic engineering and an engineer for the road construction firm Gebr. Kräme. During the winters, he devoted what free time he had to practicing change-double threes and circular step sequences on the outdoor rinks of Graubünden. In Basel in 1935, he won his first of three consecutive Swiss men's titles. That same year, he placed tenth at the European Championships. In 1936, he represented Switzerland at the Winter Olympic Games and World Championships, finishing seventeenth and fourteenth. In his final appearance in an ISU Championship, the 1937 World Championships, he placed tenth. Following his short competitive career, Lucian headed the Zentralkurs für Eiskunstlauf, a central training program for Swiss skaters in Klosters. In 1939, he passed all of his skiing tests. Skiing wasn't Lucian's only talent aside from skating. He was a gifted violinist, spoke five languages and had an impressive collection of antique musical instruments.

In 1939, Lucian emigrated to South America to work for a Frankfurt-based construction company and help design a hydroelectric power station on the Rio Negro in Uruguay. It was in South America that he made his most important contribution to the figure skating world. Putting his engineering skills to the test, he directed construction of an artificial ice rink at the Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The unusual project was funded by unclaimed lottery prizes and drew in patrons numbering in the thousands during World War II. The rink was so popular that by 1943, Lucian engineered a second rink in the Club's Mar del Plata clubhouse to deal with the overflow. He acted as the head professional at both rinks. One of two instructors he employed, a Swiss skater with Argentine ties named Renate Bikart, suffered the loss of many of her family members in Auschwitz.

While in South America, Lucian met his Austrian born wife Franziska Siegert. The couple returned to Switzerland after the War, settling in Lausanne and raising twin boys. Lucian got a job working for L'Energie de l'Ouest-Suisse in Lausanne, which was involved in the construction of power plants and bridges. In February of 1950, he was elected as the engineer of the Solothurn local council. In this role, he hoped to establish more artificial ice rinks in the area. Sadly, that's not how things went. Lucian passed away after a brief illness on February 6, 1952 at the age of forty-one. After his death, his wife and sons moved to Germany.

Though Lucian's name is all but forgotten today, his unique contribution to South American figure skating history is one for the history books.

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, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.