Is One The Loneliest Number? Ice Cold Facts About Skating First

"Skating No. 1 is disasterville. The judges tend to be conservative because there might be 20 skaters to go." - Olympic and World judge Dorothy Leamen, "The Ottawa Citizen", February 15, 1980

On a chilly February day in 1968 in Grenoble, France, a huddled mass of skaters and officials gathered in a room and by country, alphabetically drew numbers to determine their starting order for the women's school figures at the Winter Olympic Games. Thirty-one skaters drew their positions and only one number remained in the hat. By a process of elimination, the last skater to draw a slip, Galina Grzhibovskaya of the Soviet Union, was left with the dreaded starting position. Galina placed a dismal twenty-fifth out thirty-two women in the figures in those Games.

For many decades, there has been a negative perception surrounding being the first to skate in a competition, but this wasn't always in the case. In figure skating's early days, when competitions were held outdoors, many skaters were overjoyed when drawing lots resulted an earlier position in the starting order if Mother Nature wasn't being particularly benevolent. No one wanted to stand around for an hour waiting for their turn to perform in minus thirty degree weather, nor did they particularly relish the thought of risking a change in the weather. Many competitions that began with a light snowfall ended in a blizzard, and as weather conditions deteriorated, so too did the ice in the days before Zamboni's. The time of day even played a factor. Some competitions began at dusk and didn't conclude until the wee hours of the morning. If you skated last, chances are the exhausted judges would have a pretty hard time seeing the spectacular double Salchow you landed in the pitch dark.

ISU regulations pertaining to starting order, 1933

Though there were some skaters who drew the starting position in international competitions prior to 1935 who were far from pleased with it - Sonja Henie among them - it really wasn't until just before World War II broke out, three years after the Open Marking System was introduced, that skaters really began grumbling about drawing the number one. Though judges had already been forbidden from changing their marks after they'd recorded them, there was no real way of policing this until judges were required to display their marks on placards immediately following each performance. If a judge really wanted to go back and give higher marks to the first skater under the Closed Marking System, all they had to do was sneak a eraser from their jacket pocket when the referee wasn't looking.

Under the 6.0 system, the first skater to perform was highly unlikely to be given perfect marks by any judge worth their salt, no matter who they were, because of base marking and the desire to leave room for the skaters that followed. Though the marks themselves didn't really matter as much as the ordinals, skaters shuddered at drawing the starting position because they believed (often correctly) that twenty skaters later, their efforts would be overshadowed by someone else in the judge's eyes. 

The ISU's rules surrounding starting orders in 1948, reproduced in T.D. Richardson's book "The Complete Figure Skater"

The ISU tinkered with its rules surrounding starting orders in the forties and fifties numerous times in an effort to address the inherent problems, first implementing a system whereby skaters were placed in groups based on results in school figures and compulsory dances, then reverting to a random draw, reinstituting modified seeded draws, then scrapping them again. At the 1972 World Championships in Calgary, a rotating start order was tried for the first time in the ice dance event.  Another interesting first took place at a Canadian-hosted Worlds in 1984, when the organizers in Ottawa used colour computer graphics to illustrate the starting orders for the first time at an ISU Championship.

An explanation of how starting orders worked from the program of the 1978 World Championships

The belief that skating first is a death sentence has been disproven a handful of times over the years. The very first time figure skating was included in the Olympic Games in 1908, Ulrich Salchow was the first skater and the eventual winner of the men's event. Tenley Albright and Katarina Witt drew the starting positions in the figures when they won Olympic gold medals in 1956 and 1988. Two-time Olympic Gold Medallists Ludmila and Oleg Protopopov were the first to skate the compulsory connected (short) program at the 1968 Games.

Tenley Albright. Photo courtesy Boston Public Library.r

However, chalking the negative connotation of skating first down to superstition is equally misguided. Earlier skaters have not only been at a psychological disadvantage, but often performed in half-empty arenas. Anyone who has ever skated competitively (or appeared in front of an audience in any capacity, for that matter) can attest to the differences between performing in front of a small, indifferent crowd as opposed to a large, supportive one.

When the IJS system was first being rolled out in 2003, an article in "The Province" claimed:

"OLD: Starting order may have had negative consequences.

NEW: Starting order has no negative consequence.

OLD: Skaters could not win from a lower position without help from another.

NEW: Skaters can win from a lower position after the short program by their own ability."

If this was a goal of the IJS system, it certainly rarely delivered. Under the 6.0 system, there were at least a dozen examples of skaters drawing the starting position and winning gold medals at the World Championships. Since the IJS system was first used at the World Championships in 2005, a grand total of - wait for it! - zero skaters have drawn the starting position in any phase of any competition at the Worlds and won a gold medal. 

Various changes and tweaks have been made to the ISU's rules with regard to starting orders during the last two decades. The current rules, which take into account ISU World Standings, make it impossible for skaters with past success to draw early starting orders. They also make it impossible for up-and-coming skaters from developing skating nations to benefit from a later starting position.

In order to gain a better sense of just how much an impact drawing the starting position has had on skaters historically, I started compiling historical data from past Winter Olympics and World Championships from old newspaper clippings, magazine articles and materials housed in libraries and archives. A very special thanks to Karen Cover, the archivist at the World Figure Skating Museum and Hall Of Fame, Frazer Ormondroyd, Dr. Jaochim Bürgschwentner of the Stadtarchiv in Innsbruck, Dr. Matthias Hampe, Sasha Cantet at The Olympic Studies Centre and Carol Stokes, the City Of Calgary's archivist, for their great assistance with this. 

This data, though far from complete, shows in black and white how the luck of the draw went from being often inconsequential during the days of closed marking to the hindrance it arguably is today despite a judging system not based on the principle of directly comparing skaters with one another.

OLYMPICS - MEN

Year	First To Skate (FS)	Placement (FS)	First To Skate (SP)	Placement (SP)
1908	Ulrich Salchow	1/7	N/A	N/A
1920	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1924	Melville Rogers	8/11	N/A	N/A
1928	Montgomery Wilson	16/16 (Last Place)	N/A	N/A
1932	Gail Borden II	9/12	N/A	N/A
1936	Kazuyoshi Oimatsu	19/25	N/A	N/A
1948	Hellmut May	7/16	N/A	N/A
1952	Kalle Tuulos	13/14	N/A	N/A
1956	Tilo Gutzeit	11/16	N/A	N/A
1960	Robin Jones	11/18	N/A	N/A
1964	Markus Germann	23/24	N/A	N/A
1968	Lee Kwang-yeong	28/28 (Last Place)	N/A	N/A
1972	Gheorghe Fazekas	17/17 (Last Place)	N/A	N/A
1976	Glyn Jones	16/16 (Last Place)	Stan Bohonek	15/17
1980	Brian Pockar	12/16	(no data)	(no data)
1984	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1988	Michael Huth	23/24	Kang Ho	28/28 (Last Place)
1992	Ralph Burghart	18/23	Henrik Walentin	24/30
1994	Fumihiro Oikawa	22/24	Brian Boitano	8/25
1998	Gilberto Viadana	23/24	Zhengxin Guo	10/29
2002	Sergei Rylov	22/24	Michael Weiss	8/28
2006	Tomáš Verner	15/24	Daisuke Takahashi	5/30
2010	Tomáš Verner	17/24	Ri Song-chol	25/30 (DNQ for FS)
2014	Alexei Bychenko	21/24	Liam Firus	28/29 (DNQ for FS)
2018	Deniss Vasiļjevs	20/24	Felipe Montoya	29/30 (DNQ for FS)

OLYMPICS - WOMEN

Year	First To Skate (FS)	Placement (FS)	First To Skate (SP)	Placement (SP)
1908	Elna Montgomery	5/5 (Last Place)	N/A	N/A
1920	Svea Norén	3/6	N/A	N/A
1924	Sonja Henie	6/8	N/A	N/A
1928	Theresa Weld Blanchard	13/20	N/A	N/A
1932	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1936	Hertha Frey-Dexler	19/33	N/A	N/A
1948	Maja Hug	19/25	N/A	N/A
1952	Lidy Stoppelman	23/24	N/A	N/A
1956	Jindra Kramperová	17/21	N/A	N/A
1960	Nicole Hassler	11/26	N/A	N/A
1964	Sally-Anne Stapleford	19/30	N/A	N/A
1968	Haruko Ishida	25/31	N/A	N/A
1972	Marina Sanaya	18/19	N/A	N/A
1976	Sharon Burley	20/20 (Last Place)	Grażyna Dudek	20/20 (Last Place)
1980	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1984	Bao Zhenghua	22/23	Bao Zhenghua	21/23
1988	Gina Fulton	23/23 (Last Place)	Petya Gavazova	26/31 (DNQ for FS)
1992	Suzanne Otterson	22/23	(no data)	(no data)
1994	Lily Lee	20/24	Susan Humphreys	26/27 (DNQ for FS)
1998	Alisa Drei	19/24	Maria Butyrskaya	3/28
2002	Vanessa Giunchi	20/23	Stephanie Zhang	25/27 (DNQ for FS)
2006	Silvia Fontana	22/24	Tuğba Karademir	22/29
2010	Tuğba Karademir	24/24 (Last Place)	Sonia Lafuente	22/30
2014	Park So-youn	19/24	Elena Glebova	29/30 (DNQ for FS)
2018	Alexia Paganini	22/24	Bradie Tennell	11/30

OLYMPICS - PAIRS

Year	First To Skate (FS)	Placement (FS)	First To Skate (SP)	Placement (SP)
1908	Madge and Edgar Syers	3/3	N/A	N/A
1920	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1924	Ludovika and Walter Jakobsson	2/9	N/A	N/A
1928	Ilse Kishauer and Ernst Gaste	8/13	N/A	N/A
1932	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1936	Audrey Garland and Fraser Sweatman	12/18	N/A	N/A
1948	Herta and Emil Ratzenhofer	9/14	N/A	N/A
1952	Peri Horne and Raymond Lockwood	11/13	N/A	N/A
1956	Joyce Coates and Anthony Holles	10/11	N/A	N/A
1960	Margret Göbl and Franz Ningel	5/13	N/A	N/A
1964	Tatiana Zhuk and Alexander Gavrilov	5/17	N/A	N/A
1968	Betty and John McKilligan	17/18	Ludmila and Oleg Protopopov	1/18
1972	Kotoe Nagasawa and Hiroshi Nagakubo	16/16 (Last Place)	Corinna Halke and Eberhard Rausch	10/16
1976	Candy Jones and Don Fraser	14/14 (Last Place)	Kerstin Stolfig and Veit Kempe	7/14
1980	Elizabeth and Peter Cain	11/11 (Last Place)	Elizabeth and Peter Cain	10/11
1984	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1988	Mei Zhibin and Li Wei	14/14 (Last Place)	Mei Zhibin and Li Wei	15/15 (Last Place)
1992	Kathryn Pritchard and Jason Briggs	17/18	Jenni Meno and Scott Wendland	12/18
1994	Yelena Grigoryeva and Sergey Sheyko	17/17 (Last Place)	Kyoko Ina and Jason Dungjen	15/18
1998	Inga Rodionova and Aleksandr Anichenko	18/20	Kristy Sargeant and Kris Wirtz	11/20
2002	Maria Krasiltseva and Artem Znachkov	20/20 (Last Place)	Michela Cobisi and Ruben de Pra	19/20
2006	Rumyana Spasova and Stanimir Todorov	18/19	Marina Aganina and Artem Knyazev	15/20
2010	Maylin Hausch and Daniel Wende	15/20	Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao	1/20
2014	Felicia Zhang and Nate Bartholomay	12/16	Narumi Takahashi and Ryuichi Kihara	18/20 (DNQ for FS)
2018	Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro	9/16	Kim Kyu-eun and Alex Kang-chan Kam	22/22 (Last Place, DNQ for FS)

OLYMPICS - ICE DANCE

Year	First To Skate (FD)	Placement (FD)	First To Skate (OSP/OD/SD, etc.)	Placement (SP)	First To Skate (CD)	Placement (CD)
1976	Stefania Bertelè and Walter Cecconi	17/17 (Last Place)	Barbara Berezowski and David Porter	10/18	Susan Carscallen and Eric Gillies,	14/18
1980	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1984	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1988	Honorata Górna and Andrzej Dostatni	17/20	Honorata Górna and Andrzej Dostatni	17/20	Monica MacDonald and Rodney Clarke	20/20 (Last Place)
1992	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1994	Svitlana Chernikova and Oleksandr Sosnenko	19/21	Bérangère Nau and Luc Monéger	15/21	Tatiana Navka and Samuel Gezalian	11/21
1998	Aya Kawai and Hiroshi Tanaka	23/24	Dominique Deniaud and Martial Jaffredo	21/24	Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow, Diane Gerenser and Pasquale Camerlengo	7/24, 17/24
2002	Beata Handra and Charles Sinek	23/24	Beata Handra and Charles Sinek	22/24	Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat, Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder	1/24, 14/24
2006	Alexandra Kauc and Michał Zych	22/23	Megan Wing and Aaron Lowe	12/24	Anastasia Grebenkina and Vazgen Azrojan	22/24
2010	Kamila Hájková and David Vincour	21/23	Allison Reed and Otar Japaridze	21/23	Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte	12/23
2014	Tanja Kolbe and Stefano Caruso	19/20	Cathy and Chris Reed	21/24 (DNQ for FD)	N/A	N/A
2018	Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac	17/20	Cortney Mansour and Michal Češka	23/24 (DNQ for FD)	N/A	N/A

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS - MEN

Year	First To Skate (FS)	Placement (FS or Overall)	First To Skate (SP)	Placement (SP)
1896	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1897	Thidolf Borgh	4/6	N/A	N/A
1898	Gilbert Fuchs	3/4	N/A	N/A
1899	Ulrich Salchow	2/3	N/A	N/A
1900	Gustav Hügel	1/2	N/A	N/A
1901	Ulrich Salchow	1/2	N/A	N/A
1902	Horatio Tertuliano Torromé	4/4 (Last Place)	N/A	N/A
1903	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1904	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1905	Richard Johansson	4/5	N/A	N/A
1906	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1907	Martinus Löhrdahl	7/7 (Last Place)	N/A	N/A
1908	Heinrich Burger	3/3	N/A	N/A
1909	Ernst Herz	3/5	N/A	N/A
1910	Ulrich Salchow	1/4	N/A	N/A
1911	Dunbar Poole	7/7 (Last Place)	N/A	N/A
1912	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1913	Paul Metzner	8/8 (Last Place)	N/A	N/A
1914	Ivan Malinin	6/14	N/A	N/A
1922	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1923	Willy Böckl	2/6	N/A	N/A
1924	Willy Böckl	2/7	N/A	N/A
1925	Ludwig Wrede	7/7 (Last Place)	N/A	N/A
1926	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1927	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1928	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1929	Ian Home Bowhill	7/7 (Last Place)	N/A	N/A
1930	William Nagle	8/8 (Last Place)	N/A	N/A
1931	Marcus Nikkanen	7/13	N/A	N/A
1932	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1933	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1934	Gail Borden II	8/8 (Last Place)	N/A	N/A
1935	Elemér Terták	6/8	N/A	N/A
1936	Lucian Büeler	17/17 (Last Place)	N/A	N/A
1937	Felix Kaspar	1/11	N/A	N/A
1938	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1939	Elemér Terták	6/11	N/A	N/A
1947	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1948	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1949	Austin Holt	7/10	N/A	N/A
1950	Per Cock-Clausen	9/9 (Last Place)	N/A	N/A
1951	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1952	Peter Firstbrook	7/11	N/A	N/A
1953	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1954	David Jenkins	4/11	N/A	N/A
1955	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1956	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1957	Hubert Köpfler	12/17	N/A	N/A
1958	Tim Brown	2/23	N/A	N/A
1959	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1960	Robin Jones	14/17	N/A	N/A
1962	Per Kjølberg	15/18	N/A	N/A
1963	William Neale	15/19	N/A	N/A
1964	Sepp Schönmetzler	10/19	N/A	N/A
1965	Hywel Evans	20/20 (Last Place)	N/A	N/A
1966	Tsuguhiko Kozuka	19/21	N/A	N/A
1967	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1968	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1969	Jay Humphry	3/17	N/A	N/A
1970	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1971	Klaus Grimmelt	19/21	N/A	N/A
1972	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1973	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1974	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1975	Flemming Söderquist	22/22 (Last Place)	Billy Schober	20/22
1976	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1977	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1978	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1979	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1980	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1981	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1982	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1983	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1984	Mark Cockerell	13/15	Cho Jae-hyung	25/25 (Last Place, DNQ for FS)
1985	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1986	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1987	(no data)	(no data)	Tomislav Cizmesija	26/27 (DNQ for FS)
1988	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1989	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1990	Oula Jääskeläinen	20/20 (Last Place)	(no data)	(no data)
1991	Cameron Medhurst	18/20	Paul Wylie	20/33
1992	Zhongyi Jiao	20/24	Oula Jääskeläinen	30/35 (DNQ for FS)
1993	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1994	Markus Leminen	24/24 (Last Place)	(no data)	(no data)
1995	Naoki Shigematsu	23/24	Ronny Winkler	19/30
1996	Neil Wilson	20/24	Patrick Meier	25/29 (DNQ for FS)
1997	Patrick Meier	23/24	Patrick Meier	26/31
1998	Sven Meyer	22/24	Steven Cousins	7/30
1999	Markus Leminen	23/24	Cornel Gheorghe	28/30 (DNQ for FS)
2000	Konstantin Kostin	23/24	Vakhtang Murvanidze	25/30 (DNQ for FS)
2001	Dmitri Dmitrenko	24/24 (Last Place)	Robert Kazimir	27/30 (DNQ for FS)
2002	Sergei Davydov	24/24 (Last Place)	Tomáš Verner	26/30 (DNQ for FS)
2003	Tomáš Verner	21/24	Sergei Kotov	27/30 (DNQ for FS)
2004	Neil Wilson	22/23	Neil Wilson	23/30
2005	Min Zhang	12/23	Zoltan Toth	25/30 (DNQ for FS)
2006	Andrei Griazev	16/24	Karel Zelenka	24/30 (DNQ for FS)
2007	Ryan Bradley	13/24	Dong-Whun Lee	34/42 (DNQ for FS)
2008	Azbal Rakimgaliev	24/24 (Last Place)	Tigran Vardanjan	44/45 (DNQ for FS)
2009	Javier Fernández	19/24	Mikael Redin	42/50 (DNQ for FS)
2010	Jinlin Guan	16/24	Maxim Shipov	43/46 (DNQ for FS)
2011	Paolo Bacchini	20/24	Viktor Pfeifer	26/30 (DNQ for FS)
2012	Misha Ge	23/24	Sergei Voronov	17/30
2013	Justus Strid	24/24 (Last Place)	Azbal Rakimgaliev	28/34 (DNQ for FS)
2014	Elladj Baldé	17/23	Maciej Cieplucha	21/32
2015	Takahiko Kozuka	9/24	Ivan Righini	25/30 (DNQ for FS)
2016	Michael Christian Martinez	18/24	Ivan Pavlov	24/30
2017	Michael Christian Martinez	24/24 (Last Place)	Larry Loupolover	36/36 (Last Place, DNQ for FS)
2018	Julian Zhi Jie Yee	20/24	Slavik Hayrapetyan	23/37
2019	Alexei Bychenko	22/24	Paul Fentz	28/35 (DNQ for FS)
2021	Aleksandr Selevko	15/24	Valtter Virtanen	31/33 (DNQ for FS)

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS - WOMEN

Year	First To Skate (FS)	Placement (FS or Overall)	First To Skate (SP)	Placement (SP)
1906	Madge Syers	1/5	N/A	N/A
1907	Elsa Rendschmidt	4/5	N/A	N/A
1908	Lili Kronberger	1/2	N/A	N/A
1909	Lili Kronberger	1/1	N/A	N/A
1910	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1911	Lili Kronberger	1/3	N/A	N/A
1912	Ludovika Jakobsson	7/7 (Last Place)	N/A	N/A
1913	Magda Mauroy	6/8	N/A	N/A
1914	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1922	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1923	Ethel Muckelt	4/4 (Last Place)	N/A	N/A
1924	Sonja Henie	5/7	N/A	N/A
1925	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1926	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1927	Herma Szabo	2/4	N/A	N/A
1928	Kathleen Shaw	6/6 (Last Place)	N/A	N/A
1929	Melitta Brunner	3/6	N/A	N/A
1930	Constance Wilson Samuel	4/6	N/A	N/A
1931	Yvonne de Ligne	8/9	N/A	N/A
1932	Fritzi Burger	2/14	N/A	N/A
1933	Sonja Henie	1/9	N/A	N/A
1934	Erna Andersen	10/13	N/A	N/A
1935	Gweneth Butler	5/8	N/A	N/A
1936	Sonja Henie	1/17	N/A	N/A
1937	Megan Taylor	2/12	N/A	N/A
1938	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1939	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1947	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1948	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1949	Jiřína Nekolová	4/10	N/A	N/A
1950	Dagmar Lerchová	12/14	N/A	N/A
1951	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1952	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1953	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1954	Miggs Dean	15/20	N/A	N/A
1955	Miggs Dean	16/19	N/A	N/A
1956	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1957	Alice Fischer	20/20 (Last Place)	N/A	N/A
1958	Nicole Hassler	23/29	N/A	N/A
1959	Ina Bauer	4/14	N/A	N/A
1960	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1962	Victoria Fisher	16/21	N/A	N/A
1963	Shirra Kenworthy	20/24	N/A	N/A
1964	Hana Mašková	16/21	N/A	N/A
1965	Kumiko Okawa	12/18	N/A	N/A
1966	Beate Richter	19/20	N/A	N/A
1967	Zsuzsa Szentmiklóssy	21/22	N/A	N/A
1968	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1969	Kazumi Yamashita	10/17	N/A	N/A
1970	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1971	Sonja Balun	20/22	N/A	N/A
1972	Marina Sanaya	17/21	N/A	N/A
1973	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1974	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1975	Karin Iten	27/27 (Last Place)	Sophie Verlaan	26/27
1976	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1977	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1978	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1979	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1980	Liu Zhiying	28/29	(no data)	(no data)
1981	Denyse Adam	30/31	(no data)	(no data)
1982	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1983	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1984	Hyi-Sung Kim	23/23 (Last Place)	(no data)	(no data)
1985	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1986	(no data)	(no data)	Constanze Gensel	19/27
1987	Helene Persson	19/23	Petya Gavazova	25/27 (DNQ for FS)
1988	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1989	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1990	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1991	Lisa Sargeant	18/20	Milena Marinovich	32/37 (DNQ for FS)
1992	Irena Zemanová	21/24	Juanita-Anne Yorke	39/30 (DNQ for FS)
1993	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1994	Ying Liu	23/23 (Last Place)	Susan Humphreys	10/23
1995	Jenna Arrowsmith	24/24 (Last Place)	Jenna Arrowsmith	29/31
1996	Jennifer Robinson	20/24	Vanessa Gusmeroli	18/30
1997	Yulia Vorobieva	20/23	Marta Andrade	28/30 (DNQ for FS)
1998	Mojca Kopač	24/24 (Last Place)	Alisa Drei	25/30 (DNQ for FS)
1999	Fumie Suguri	21/24	Olga Vassiljeva	30/30 (Last Place, DNQ for FS)
2000	Zoya Douchine	18/24	Marion Krijgsman	30/30 (Last Place, DNQ for FS)
2001	Zuzana Babiaková	24/24 (Last Place)	Roxana Luca	26/30 (DNQ for FS)
2002	Julia Soldatova	17/23	Miriam Manzano	18/29
2003	Anne-Sophie Calvez	21/24	Miriam Manzano	25/30 (DNQ for FS)
2004	Jenna McCorkell	24/24 (Last Place)	Ji-Eun Choi	30/30 (Last Place, DNQ for FS)
2005	Candice Didier	23/24	Tuğba Karademir	26/30 (DNQ for FS)
2006	Valentina Marchei	23/24	Tuğba Karademir	22/30
2007	Tamar Katz	22/24	Ami Parekh	44/45 (DNQ for FS)
2008	Elene Gedevanishvili	18/23	Morgan Figgins	52/53 (DNQ for FS)
2009	Ana Cecelia Cantu	24/24 (Last Place)	Clara Peters	52/53 (DNQ for FS)
2010	Anastasia Gimazetdinova	23/24	Clara Peters	47/53 (DNQ for FS)
2011	Irina Movchan	23/24	Karina Johnson	26/30 (DNQ for FS)
2012	Alisa Mikonsaari	24/24 (Last Place)	Clara Peters	29/30 (DNQ for FS)
2013	Sonia Lafuente	23/24	Patricia Gleščič	34/35 (DNQ for FS)
2014	Valentina Marchei	14/23	Netta Schreiber	33/33 (Last Place, DNQ for FS)
2015	Nicole Schott	23/24	Netta Schreiber	30/35 (DNQ for FS)
2016	Viveca Lindfors	16/24	Kristen Spours	36/38 (DNQ for FS)
2017	Zijun Li	20/24	Anne Line Gjersem	34/37 (DNQ for FS)
2018	Alexia Paganini	22/23	Dasa Grm	22/37
2019	Natasha McKay	21/24	Hongyi Chen	15/40
2021	Lindsay van Zundert	15/24	Lindsay van Zundert	24/37

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS - PAIRS

Year	First To Skate (FS)	Placement (FS or Overall)	First To Skate (SP)	Placement (SP)
1908	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1909	Alexia Schøien and Yngvar Bryn	5/5 (Last Place)	N/A	N/A
1910	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1911	Ludovika Eilers and Walter Jakobsson	1/1	N/A	N/A
1912	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1913	Elly Svensson and Per Thorén	5/7	N/A	N/A
1914	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1922	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1923	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1924	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1925	Herma Szabo and Ludwig Wrede	1/5	N/A	N/A
1926	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1927	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1928	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1929	Melitta Brunner and Ludwig Wrede	2/7	N/A	N/A
1930	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1931	Elisabeth Böckel and Otto Hayek	9/9 (Last Place)	N/A	N/A
1932	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1933	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1934	Randi Bakke and Christen Christensen	5/6	N/A	N/A
1935	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1936	Louise Bertram and Stewart Reburn	4/6	N/A	N/A
1937	Ilse and Erik Pausin	2/8	N/A	N/A
1938	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1939	Erika Bass and Béla Barcza	8/10	N/A	N/A
1947	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1948	Suzanne Morrow and Wallace Distelmeyer	3/14	N/A	N/A
1949	Andrea Kékesy and Ede Király	1/12	N/A	N/A
1950	Denise and Jacques Favart	12/12 (Last Place)	N/A	N/A
1951	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1952	Karol and Peter Kennedy	2/10	N/A	N/A
1953	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1954	Britta Lindmark and Ulf Berendt	9/10	N/A	N/A
1955	Marianna and László Nagy	3/12	N/A	N/A
1956	Marika Kilius and Franz Ningel	3/11	N/A	N/A
1957	Barbara Wagner and Bob Paul	1/5	N/A	N/A
1958	Maria and Otto Jelinek	3/15	N/A	N/A
1959	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1960	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A
1962	Judianne and Jerry Fotheringill	10/13	N/A	N/A
1963	Linda Ann Ward and Neil Carpenter	11/12	N/A	N/A
1964	Mária Csordás and László Kondi	12/13	Gerlinde Schönbauer and Willy Bietak	13/13 (Last Place)
1965	Susan and Paul Huehnergard	14/14 (Last Place)	Irene Müller and Hans-Georg Dallmer	8/14
1966	Gerlinde Schönbauer and Willy Bietak	14/15	Gerlinde Schönbauer and Willy Bietak	13/15
1967	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1968	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1969	Melissa and Mark Militano	8/13	Liana Drahová and Peter Bartosiewicz	12/14
1970	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1971	Karin and Christian Künzle	16/17	Irina Rodnina and Alexei Ulanov	1/18
1972	Heidemarie Steiner and Heinz-Ulrich Walther	3/17	Almut Lehmann and Herbert Wiesinger	4/15
1973	(no data)	(no data)	Gale and Joel Fuhrman	15f16
1974	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1975	Kathy Hutchinson and Jamie McGrigor	14/14 (Last Place)	Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner	10/14
1976	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1977	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1978	(no data)	(no data)	Irina Rodnina and Aleksandr Zaitsev	1/16
1979	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1980	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1981	(no data)	(no data)	Susan Garland and Robert Daw	8/11
1982	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1983	(no data)	(no data)	Sabine Baeß and Tassilo Thierbach	1/17
1984	Babette Preußler and Tobias Schröter	9/10	Lea Ann Miller and Bill Fauver	9/12
1985	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1986	Cheryl Peake and Andrew Naylor	12/15	(no data)	(no data)
1987	Danielle and Stephen Carr	12/13	Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev	2/13
1988	(no data)	(no data)	Denise Benning and Lyndon Johnston	6/16
1989	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1990	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1991	Saskia and Guy Bourgeois	18/19	Rena Inoue and Tomoaki Koyama	16/19
1992	Katarzyna Głowacka and Krzysztof Korcarz	16/20	Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler	2/20
1993	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1994	(no data)	(no data)	Kyoko Ina and Jason Dungjen	14/28
1995	Ulrike Gerstl and Bjorn Lobenwein	20/21	Marina Khalturina and Andrei Krukov	15/21
1996	Olga Boguslavska and Juri Salmonov	23/23 (Last Place)	Mandy Wötzel and Ingo Steuer	1/23
1997	Inga Rodionova and Aleksandr Anichenko	21/23	Maria Krasiltseva and Alexander Chestnikh	23/25
1998	Jelena Sirokhvatova and Juri Salmanov	19/20	Inga Rodionova and Aleksandr Anichenko	18/20
1999	Ekaterina Danko and Gennadi Emeljenenko	18/19	Peggy Schwarz and Mirko Müller	9/21
2000	Oľga Beständigová and Josef Beständig	18/19	Catherine Huc and Vivien Rolland	21/22 (DNQ for FS)
2001	Maria Krasiltseva and Artem Znachkov	19/19 (Last Place)	Ivana Durin and Andrei Maximov	24/24 (Last Place, DNQ for FS)
2002	Viktoria Shklover and Valdis Mintals	17/20	Valérie Marcoux and Bruno Marcotte	12/20
2003	Diana Rennik and Aleksei Saks	19/20	Olga Boguslavska and Andrei Brovenko	21/21 (Last Place, DNQ for FS)
2004	Marina Aganina and Artem Knyazev	19/19 (Last Place)	Marina Aganina and Artem Knyazev	19/19 (Last Place)
2005	Julia Shapiro and Vadim Akolzin	18/19	Julia Shapiro and Vadim Akolzin	17/20
2006	Emma Brien and Stuart Beckingham	20/20 (Last Place)	Mari Vartmann and Florian Just	19/20
2007	Angelina Pylkina and Niklas Hogner	15/18	Brooke Castile and Benjamin Okolski	14/22
2008	Ariel Fay Gagnon and Chad Tsagris	18/20	Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy	2/20
2009	Nicole Della Monica and Yannick Kocon	18/20	Nina Ivanova and Filip Zalevski	23/25 (DNQ for FS)
2010	Anaïs Morand and Antoine Dorsaz	14/16	Jennifer Crenshaw and Chad Tsagris	21/25 (DNQ for FS)
2011	Natalia Zabiiako and Sergei Kulbach	16/16 (Last Place)	Danielle Montalbano and Evgeni Krasnopolski	20/22 (DNQ for FS)
2012	Mari Vartmann and Aaron Van Cleave	14/16	Mari Vartmann and Aaron Van Cleave	16/20
2013	Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir	12/16	Magdalena Klatka and Radoslaw Chruscinski1	18/18 (Last Place, DNQ for FS)
2014	Maylin and Daniel Wende	13/16	Miriam Ziegler and Severin Kiefer	22/23 (DNQ for FS)
2015	Amani Fancy and Christopher Boyadji	16/16 (Last Place)	Lubov Ilyushechkina and Dylan Moscovitch	11/19
2016	Lola Esbrat and Andrei Novoselov	16/16 (Last Place)	Xuehan Wang and Lei Wang	15/22
2017	Tae Ok Ryom and Ju Sik Kim	15/16	Ioulia Chtchetinina and Noah Scherer	28/28 (Last Place, DNQ for FS)
2018	Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya and Harley Windsor	16/16 (Last Place)	Elizaveta Kashitsyna and Mark Magyar	28/28 (Last Place, DNQ for FS)
2019	Hanna Abrazhevich and Martin Bidar	18/19	Tae Ok Ryom and Ju Sik Kim	13/19
2021	Bogdana Lukashevich and Alexander Stepanov	17/20	Elizaveta Zhuk and Martin Bidar	16/24

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS - ICE DANCE

Year	First To Skate (FD)	Placement (FD or Overall)	First To Skate (OSP/OD/SD, etc.)	Placement (SP)	First To Skate (CD)	Placement (CD)
1950	Sybil Cooke and Robert S. Hudson	2/6	N/A	N/A	(no data)	(no data)
1951	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A	(no data)	(no data)
1952	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A	(no data)	(no data)
1953	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A	(no data)	(no data)
1954	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A	(no data)	(no data)
1955	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A	(no data)	(no data)
1956	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A	(no data)	(no data)
1957	Kay Morris and Michael Robinson	6/11	N/A	N/A	Carmel and Ed Bodel	7/11
1958	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A	Annick de Tretinian and Jacques Mer	11/16
1959	Svata and Mirek Staroba	8/9	N/A	N/A	(no data)	(no data)
1960	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A	(no data)	(no data)
1962	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A	(no data)	(no data)
1963	Jitka Babická and Jaromír Holan	14/18	N/A	N/A	(no data)	(no data)
1964	Diane Towler and Bernard Ford	13/16	N/A	N/A	Yvonne Suddick and Roger Kennerson	4/16
1965	Lynn Matthews and Byron Topping	11/14	N/A	N/A	Györgyi Korda and Pál Vásárhelyi	11/14
1966	Susan and Stanley Urban	14/16	N/A	N/A	Kristin Fortune and Dennis Sveum	2/16
1967	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A	(no data)	(no data)
1968	(no data)	(no data)	N/A	N/A	(no data)	(no data)
1969	Ilona Berecz and István Sugár	14/15	Ilona Berecz and István Sugár	12/15	Ilona Berecz and István Sugár	12/15
1970	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1971	Brigitte Scheijbal and Walter Leschetizky	20/20 (Last Place)	(no data)	(no data)	Judy Schwomeyer and Jim Sladky	2/20
1972	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	Keiko Achiwa and Yasuhiro Noto	16/16 (Last Place)
1973	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1974	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1975	Halina Gordon and Wojciech Bańkowski	14/14 (Last Place)	Irina Moiseeva and Andrei Minenkov	2/14	(no data)	(no data)
1976	Susan Kelley and Andrew Stroukoff	17/19	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1977	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1978	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1979	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1980	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1981	Karen and Douglas Mankovich	21/21 (Last Place)	(no data)	(no data)	Karen and Douglas Mankovich	18/21
1982	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1983	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1984	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1985	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1986	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1987	Hristina Boyanova and Yavor Ivanov	21/22	Susanna Rahkamo and Petri Kokko	21/22	Suzanne Semanick and Scott Gregory, Kyung Sook Park and Seung Jon Han, Kathrin and Christoff Beck	5/22, 22/22 (Last Place), 6/22
1988	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1989	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1990	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1991	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1992	Kaoru and Kenji Takino	22/24	Penny Mann and Juan Carlos Noria	16/26	(no data)	(no data)
1993	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1994	Nakako Tsuzuki and Kazu Nakamura	24/24 (Last Place)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)	(no data)
1995	Kaho Koinuma and Tigran Arakelyan	24/24 (Last Place)	Irina Lobacheva and Ilya Averbukh	15/24	(no data)	(no data)
1996	(no data)	(no data)	Allison MacLean and Konrad Schaub	18/30	Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas, Chantal Loyer and Justin Bell	9/33, 28/33
1997	Aya Kawai and Hiroshi Tanaka	23/24	Aya Kawai and Hiroshi Tanaka	21/24	Irina Romanova and Igor Yaroshenko, Kati Winkler and René Lohse	8/30, 14/30
1998	Dominique Deniaud and Martial Jaffredo	23/24	Jessica Joseph and Charles Butler	29/30 (DNQ for FD)	Jessica Joseph and Charles Butler, Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovski	26/30 (DNQ for FD), 15/30
1999	Pia-Maria Gustafsson and Antti Grönlund	25/25 (Last Place)	Pia-Maria Gustafsson and Antti Grönlund	31/31 (Last Place)	Danielle Rigg-Smith and Trent Nelson-Bond, Eliane and Daniel Hugentobler	32/32 (Last Place, DNQ for FD), 17/32
2000	Julie Keeble and Lukasz Zalewski	21/22	Zuzana Durkovska and Marian Mesaros	28/30 (DNQ for FD)	Tiffany Hyden and Vazgen Azrojan, Julie Keeble and Lukasz Zalewski	29/32 (DNQ for FD), 23/32
2001	Nakako Tsuzuki and Rinat Farkhoutdinov	24/24 (Last Place)	Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov	12/30	Valentina Anselmi and Fabrizio Pedrazzini, Weina Zhang and Xianming Cao, Zita Gebora and Andras Visontai, Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder	14/18 (DNQ for FD), 15/18 (DNQ for FD), 13/17, 8/17
2002	Rie Arikawa and Kenji Miyamoto	24/24 (Last Place)	Valentina Anselmi and Fabrizio Pedrazzini	22/28	Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali, Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski	14/28, 5/28
2003	Anastasia Grebenkina and Vazgen Azrojan	24/24 (Last Place)	Agnieszka Dulej and Slawonir Janicki	27/29 (DNQ for FS)	Anastasia Grebenkina and Vazgen Azrojan, Roxane Petetin and Mathieu Jost	13/14, 12/15
2004	Fang Yang and Chongbo Gao	23/24	Josée Piché and Pascal Denis	24/29	Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov, Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto	7/15, 4/14
2005	Julia Golovina and Oleg Voiko	21/24	Christina and William Beier	20/30	Daniela and Fabian Keller	29/30 (DNQ for FD)
2006	Alexandra and Roman Zaretski	20/24	Laura and Luke Munana	27/29 (DNQ for FD)	Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovski	6/30
2007	Katherine Copely and Deividas Stagniunas	22/24	Katherine Copely and Deividas Stagniunas	20/29	Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir	9/29
2008	Leonie Krail and Oscar Peter	24/24 (Last Place)	Kamila Hajkova and David Vincour	25/30 (DNQ for FD)	Xiayang Yu and Chen Wang	23/31
2009	Xintong Huang and Xun Zheng	22/24	Leonie Krail and Oscar Peter	27/30 (DNQ for FD)	Ksenia Shmirina and Yahor Maistrov	30/30 (Last Place, DNQ for FD)
2010	Cathy and Chris Reed	13/19	Caitlin Mallory and Kristjan Rand	21/26 (DNQ for FD)	Jenette Maitz and Alper Ucar	27/27 (DNQ for FD)
2011	Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri	19/20	Brooke Elizabeth Frieling and Lionel Rumi	24/25 (DNQ for FD)	N/A	N/A
2012	Sara Hurtado Martin and Adrià Díaz	18/20	Siobhan Heekin-Canedy and Dmitri Dun	17/25	N/A	N/A
2013	Cathy and Chris Reed	20/20 (Last Place)	Allison Reed and Vasili Rogov	23/29 (DNQ for FD)	N/A	N/A
2014	Sara Hurtado Martin and Adrià Díaz	17/20	Tanja Kolbe and Stefano Caruso	21/32 (DNQ for FD)	N/A	N/A
2015	Carolina Moscheni and Adam Lukacs	18/20	Cecilia Törn and Jussiville Partanen	25/29 (DNQ for FD)	N/A	N/A
2016	Alexandra Nazarova and Maxim Nakitin	18/20	Elisabeth Paradis and Francois-Xavier Ouellette	23/30 (DNQ for FD)	N/A	N/A
2017	Kavita Lorenz and Joti Polizoakis	18/20	Anastasia Galyeta and Avidan Brown	31/32 (DNQ for FD)	N/A	N/A
2018	Shiyue Wang and Xinyu Liu	17/20	Teodora Markova and Simon Daze	29/31 (DNQ for FD)	N/A	N/A
2019	Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius	17/20	Victoria Manni and Carlo Roethlisberger	23/27 (DNQ for FD)	N/A	N/A
2021	Alexandra Nazarova and Maxim Nikitin	18/20	Ekaterina Kuznetsova and Oleksandr Kolosovskyi	30/31 (DNQ for FD)	N/A	N/A

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.

#Unearthed: Skatana

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 #Unearthed is an article called "Skatana", which appeared in "The National Ice Skating Guide" in 1948. Its author, Roland C. Geist, was a major collector of skating memorabilia. He also served as the Secretary of the College Skating Club Of New York and the Faculty Advisor of the Newtown High School Skating Club.

SKATANA (ROLAND C. GEIST)

Broadsheet of skaters on the 'ladies end' of the skating pond in Central Park, New York City, 1862

Skatana is the collecting of skates and all items pertaining to skating. This fascinating collecting hobby is second only to enjoying skating itself. There are hundreds of skaters who get a pleasure from picking up an old pair of skates, a book on skating or an old print. These collectors are bankers, professional people, secretaries and folks from all walks of life who have become intensely interested in these antiques.

"A New Invention Of A Boat That Sails Over Frozen Ice and Flat Land", broadsheet by Christoffel van Sichem, circa 1600. This piece is said to depict the first Dutch iceboat, which would carry people in skating parties like a sledge. 

Looking up the origin of an old pair of blades is a study in itself. Judging of old skating prints requires a good knowledge of art. The writer has spent hours in the New York Public Library looking up old skating songs dating back a hundred years or more. Correspondence with other collectors and authors is most interesting. At auction sales these items may bring the collector a good return for his work. Exhibiting the collection at hobby shows is also fun. Skatana items are found in antique shops, old farms, rummage sales, old book stores and print shops.

A display of skates from the around the world from Carl Dietz' collection, exhibited at the Wisconsin Hobby Exposition in the late forties. Photo courtesy Minnesota Historical Society.

Probably the largest collection of ice skates was shown at the opening of the Center Theatre in New York several years ago. About a thousand pair of ice skates were exhibited, ranging in size from a half inch to several feet. The late Irving Brokaw had an unusual collection of antique blades which were on show at a New York ice rink. Eddie Shipstad of the Ice Follies also has a grand collection to which he is constantly adding. The writers best exhibits are a figure skate made by C. Stenton, a New York skate make, and a pair of old wood top racing blades such as used at Newburgh nearly a hundred years ago. Historical museums in most cities have the old Dutch type skate blades on display. Some New York antique shops offer these blades from $5.00 to $25 a pair.

The cover of a copy Dr. Fritz Reuel's 1928 book "Das Eissport-Buch" 

Next to skates themselves books are probably the most important collectors item. According to Van Stockum (Sport Bibliography published in 1914) between 1800 and 1912, 23 skating books were published in English; 24 in German, 9 in Dutch and 4 in French. Within the last ten years 15 books have been published in the United States on ice skating and ice dancing. The writer considers the three classic books of modern times to be: "The Art Of Skating" by Irving Brokaw; "The Beauty Of Skating" by Manfred Curry and "Skating With Bror Meyer". The last mentioned volume was limited to 300 copies and recently a copy was sold for $75.00. Autographed copies of Sonja Henie's "Wings On My Feet" is a nice collectors item. Back in 1916, Charlotte, the predecessor of Sonja, wrote the popular "Hippodrome Skating Book". One of the first books on skating, entitled "Frostiana" published in London on the ice in 1814 is a very rare volume but it may fall into the hands of a Skatana enthusiast.

"Ball Play On The Ice", colourized version of a giclee print by Captain Seth Eastman, 1853

Old skating print collecting requires much artistic research. A wonderful special exhibition of old skating prints dating from 1550 to 1900 was displayed in the Free Library of Philadelphia some years ago by William Arthur Esq. This is probably the finest collection in the United States and worth thousands of dollars. The popular and famous Currier and Ives, "Skating - Central Park" recently brought $500 at an auction sale. Many of the skating scenes in Holland and England are the works of the old masters and are extremely rare and valuable. The writers oldest print is by Gilray about 1790 entitled "Elements Of Skating" showing a gentleman of the period executing a spread eagle with badly bent knees. Many fine skating engravings may be found in copies of "Harper's Weekly" dated about 1859. In 1896 George Blair made some fine prints of skating entitled "Winter Enjoyment In Central Park".

"Matilda Toots", anonymous. Published by Frederick Baume, circa 1865-1867. Photo courtesy American Song Sheets exhibit, Library of Congress, Rare Books and Special Collections.

Music sheets about skating forms another item for the collector. They may be picked up at old book stores, music shops, antique stores, etc. "The Skater's Waltz" is the popular favourite of skaters as "Daisy Bell" is the bicyclists standard tune. The writers oldest sheet is dated 1837 and the song is entitled "Merrily Now The Skaters Go" written by Thomas Powers and Charles E. Horn. The classic piece is "Le Prophète Waltz Brilliante" from Meyerbeer's opera featuring our own Jackson Haines. In 1915 Raymond Hubbell composed the "Charlotte Waltz" for the big ice show at the [new] New York Hippodrome. 

Diane Taraz's rendition of "Matilda Toots"

The best ice comedy music is no doubt "Matilda Toots" who fell into the ice with her new skating boots and is about to be hauled out by a gentleman skater. Sonja Henie's "One In A Million" and her complete set of songs from her shows will some day form the basis of a Heniana Collection. Skating song sheets cost from $1.00 to $25 depending upon their age, rarity, coloured illustration, popularity, etc.

Ice show program collectors will enjoy living over the past glorious skating events with programs from the New York Hippodrome from 1914 to 1922 especially the 1915 colored program from "Flirting In St. Moritz" featuring Charlotte. Amateur ice shows held at Madison Square Garden started printing elaborate programs that sold at 25 and 50 cents. Silver Skate and figure skating championship programs round out a good program collection.

Mid-Century brooch with skates and hat

Old and new skate jewelry and novelties do not require much space and are always worth their weight in silver or gold. The Saint Liedwi medallion (the patron saint of all skaters) recently produced for skaters, is a good luck piece to start a skate jewelry collection. Recently the writer picked up a "Palace Championship" skating belt which was won in 1885 by Howard Starrett. It is believed that the old Brooklyn Ice Palace was the place where this was won. A New York skater had a pair of gold skate earrings made up to order. Buttons, brooches, pins, watches, bracelets, etc. are worn to indicate that the wearer is a skater. Those who have been fortunate enough (and worked hard too) to win skating championships and made tests have the nucleus of a personal collection.

Autographed photo of Evelyn Chandler, 1934

The bobby sox crowd pursue the ice stars of stage and screen for autographs and signed photographs and often do get them. An album of such signatures and pictures is always of interest to everyone. Many of the stars will send you their photographs for the asking. They may be bought at the shops that make a specialty of selling 'movie stills'. A scrapbook of newspaper and magazine clippings on skating will keep one busy without end. With so many skating shows, movies and events on all the time there is plenty of news. A New York newspaper features a "SKATING" column twice a week. Magazines like "Skating", "American Roller Skater" and "National Ice Skating Guide" provide many pictures and articles that are very worthwhile. Posters from ice shows and skate manufacturers are often most artistic and even expensive but round out a complete collection. Films, skating costumes, menus... there seems to be no end to things one may collect. Try collecting - it is fascinating.

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.

The 1955 Canadian Figure Skating Championships

Louis St. Laurent was Canada's Prime Minister, Joan Weber's "Let Me Go, Lover" topped the music charts and the USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear-powered submarine, went to sea for the first time.

The year was 1955 and from January 20 to 22, Canada's best figure skaters gathered at Varsity Arena in Toronto to make history of their own at the Canadian Figure Skating Championships. It was the first time in nearly a decade that the Toronto Skating Club had played host to Canadians and sixty-six entrants from all over the country were eager to show off their best change loops and camel spins to a packed house.

After some erratic judging at the Canadians the year prior in Calgary, Dr. Sidney Soanes and his two assistants were charged with the computation of the marks in Toronto. Soanes was also tasked by the CFSA with a special project - examining the judge's marks in Toronto and determining whether or not there would have been a change in the results if the high and low marks were dropped as in gymnastics. Soanes concluded that in 1954, every judge would have been 'knocked out' for being too high or low at some point. In 1955, the judging problems were different. The only Western judge, Vancouver's Bill Lewis, would have been knocked out nearly every time because he was a high marker. Sandy McKechnie of Toronto, a low marker, would have similarly been booted consistently. Neither judge showed signs of favouring skaters from their own sections and Soanes determined as a result of his analysis in Toronto that by dropping the high and low marks "we would have lost the benefits of two good judges." Speaking of judging, let's take a look at how things played out!

THE JUNIOR EVENTS

Three couples vied for the McLaughlin-Stephens Cup in the Junior Dance event. Fittingly, Nigel Stephens and Dick McLaughlin sat on the judging panel. Twenty-one year old Torontonians Barbara Jean Jacques and Gordon Manzie were the unanimous winners. Jacques was a student at Toronto Teacher's College. Manzie worked in the accounting department at the City Service Oil Company. Dr. Dwight Parkinson, who earned two bronze stars for his work as a Battalion Surgeon with the 104th Division in France during World War II, finished third with his wife Elizabeth.

Donald Jackson

Competing at the national level for the first time, Donald Jackson wore a pair of boots that cost twelve dollars and fifty cents. He almost missed the event entirely after suffering a nasty fall in a comedy number in a carnival that left him with a concussion and bad gash on his forehead. He won the junior men's figures, defeating Bob Paul - who everyone thought would be a shoe-in. Less than an hour before he was due to go on for the free skate, Jackson discovered his pants were missing from the dressing room. His father raced to the hotel, found the pants hanging on the a hook on the door of their room and made it back less than five minutes before he was due to go on! Jackson skated phenomenally to earn the Howard Trophy and junior men's title, earning a standing ovation in the process. Bob Paul moved up from third after figures to take the silver ahead of Oshawa's Hugh Smith. A young Kerry Leitch finished dead last. Referring to Jackson, judge Ralph McCreath remarked, "That little boy is doing things that they didn't do in the North Americans and Worlds ten years ago!"

Minto skaters at the Canadian Championships. Standing: Donald Jackson and Frances Gold. Seated: Nancy Davidson, Heather West, Claire Nettleton and Carole Jane Pachl.

The Jelinek's, who had escaped from behind the Iron Curtain less than a decade prior, were also competing their first Nationals. Maria was twelve; Otto fourteen. Their coaches Marg and Bruce Hyland had casually suggested they enter at the last minute. They put together a three and a half minute program and were slated to compete against a team much older than them. After the warm-up, a lanky brother/sister pair from Hamilton withdrew after the young man suffered a leg injury. Bruce Hyland was worried the event wouldn't be counted as a competition, but as both pairs had warmed up, the Jelinek's became Canadian junior pair champions by skating to a standard. An Oakville newspaper raved, "Not only is the Jelineks' skating of high technical exactitude and brilliance, but on the ice they make a fascinating picture with their unaffected youthfulness... [Their] triumph has been achieved by natural aptitude fortified by the most grueling kind of world."

Wanda Beasley and Donald Jackson

There were a whopping eighteen entries in the junior women's competition. Nineteen year old, five foot two Wanda June Beasley, who had been skating since the age of two, took an early lead in the figures and managed to sustain it through the entire competition. She was coached by Sheldon Galbraith and Wally Distelmeyer, as well as Otto Gold in the summers. Dianne Williams and Margaret Crosland, both of the Glencoe Club, took the silver and bronze. Barbara Wagner finished fifth and Elaine Richards, only seventeenth in figures, managed to move all the way up to eighth with a sensational free skating performance.

THE PAIRS AND FOURS COMPETITIONS

Barbara Wagner and Bob Paul. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

For the first time since 1951, the fours competition was contested at Canadians. Both fours that participated were from Toronto. Peggy Lount, Jackie Oldham, Ian Campbell and Clifford Spearing were the unanimous winners. Lount and Oldham were eighteen year old students. Campbell was a twenty year old pre-med student at the University Of Toronto and Spearing was a twenty-four year old licensed commercial pilot who worked with Trans-Canada Air Lines.

Frances Dafoe and Norris Bowden

Frances Dafoe and Norris Bowden had won last three consecutive Canadian pairs titles and as expected, had absolutely no trouble winning the title for a fourth time. Although Dafoe took a tumble during an overhead Axel lift, their program was athletic, inventive and full of highlights. Barbara Wagner and Bob Paul took the silver in a four-one decision over British Columbia's Audrey Downie and Brian Power.

THE MEN'S COMPETITION

Carole Jane Pachl, Donald Jackson, Charles Snelling and Wanda Beasley. Photos courtesy "Skating" magazine. 

Charles Snelling of the Granite Club had an easy go of defending his national title, with Toronto's Douglas Court being the only other competitor in the senior men's class. Court skated quite well, but Snelling unanimously won both the figures and free skate by some margin. Though Snelling trained primarily with Marcus Nikkanen, he'd spent two months in Denver the summer prior working with Gene Turner on improving the artistic side of his skating.

THE ICE DANCE COMPETITIONS

Photos courtesy "Skating" magazine

On and off ice partners Doreen Leech and Norman Walker had retired and the other top three dance teams didn't return in 1955 either. Jeffery Johnston, third with Claudette Lacaille in 1954, was skating with his sister Lindis. Geraldine Fenton was skating with Gordon Crosland instead of her usual partner William McLachlan. After skating the Viennese Waltz, Killian and Westminster in a group flight, couples returned to perform a new addition to the senior dance event at Nationals - the free dance. As the free dance hadn't been contested at Nationals in previous years, Canadians had been at a major disadvantage internationally.

The top two teams were separated by only one ordinal placing, with teenagers Lindis and Jeffery Johnston coming out on top by a narrow margin. Fenton and Crosland finished second; Beverley and William de Nance Jr. third. William McLachlan was fourth with his partner from the Minto Club, Heather West. The following year, he resumed dancing with Geraldine Fenton. The de Nance's won the Waltz and the Johnston's the Tenstep. Junior dance champions Jacques and Manzie 'skated up' in all three senior dance events, their best finish a fifth in the Tenstep. The Johnston's were students at Central High School in London and the de Nance's had been married since June of 1954. Beverley was a former school teacher; William a lawyer.

In his book "A Nobody's Dream... Came True", Gordon Crosland recalled, "Miss Beryl [Goodman Williamson] asked me if I would like to compete in the Senior Dance Competition at the Canadian Championships, with Geraldine Fenton. I agreed immediately! My amateur career just took another turn! It was 1955 and my luck couldn’t have been better as Geraldine was one of the top few female ice dancers in the country at that time. I on the other hand was a complete unknown. I only had a few months to try to get up to speed, as Gerri was a far superior ice dancer then I. It certainly was a crash course in training. Not knowing what to expect, the Canadian Championships turned out better than I could have hoped for. We were second in the Senior Dance Championship, on our first time out and won the Waltz Championship, which was a separate event. I naively, was very happy. Geraldine and the Fenton family it seems were not. Apparently, we had won in total points, but lost the title by one ordinal. Ordinals count first, one first and two seconds are stronger than two firsts and three thirds. Total points in this system are used to break ties. Confused? Yes, don’t ask! The judging systems have always been a nightmare to me and are even worse today. Gerri and I had two firsts, and three thirds. The [Johnston's], who finished in first place, were a sister and brother team from London, and had one first and three seconds and one third. My parents and younger sister Lois had moved to Toronto by then and since the championships were being held at Varsity Arena, I got them tickets. This was the first time they had seen me skate since I had left home... I am sure my father saw it as a great waste."

THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION

Defending champion Barbara Gratton had retired from competition to focus on her university studies. Vevi Smith, the bronze medallist from 1954, withdrew due to illness, as did Vancouver's Pamela Willman. This left only four entries in the senior women's competition and placed the 1954 silver medallist Sonja Currie in the role of 'the favourite'. To the surprise of many, Currie placed fourth in the figures, which were won by Toronto's Ann Johnston.

There was a margin of less than five percent between first and fourth and no skater had a majority of first place ordinals. Currie took a tumble in the free skate and Joan Shippam, who had been second in figures, skated very cautiously. Though Johnston delivered a solid free skate with speed and clean jumps, it was Carole Jane Pachl who emerged victorious after placing only third in figures. She only had two first place ordinals but a majority of seconds. Judge Sandy McKechnie remarked, "Pachl was like a runner in a long-distance race. She didn't lead in compulsory figures and she didn't lead in the free skating - the leaders were constantly changing - but she was the most consistent competitor, and that consistency paid off."

Carole Jane Pachl posing with the Gold's and her skates after the Canadian Championships. Photo courtesy City Of Ottawa Archives.

In her memoir "Dreams Upon The Stars", Carole Jane Pachl's mother recalled, "She looked stunning in her white chiffon, rhinestone-embroidered dress. Her blonde, curly hair was held back a rhinestone-embroidered tiara and flowed loosely from beneath it. The music she skated to was the dramatic 'Roumanian Rhapsody'. She glided over the ice with grace and power. Without a fault, she ended her dynamic and captivating presentation. The entire audience burst into 'Bravos!' and a standing ovation... Victory had finally come to her and she became the Canadian Lady Champion of 1955."

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.

Stocks And Spirals: The Herbert J. Clarke Story

"These international meetings of sportsmen and sportswomen are some of the few good things that seem to be left in this tottery old world, and they are possibly some of the best ways of helping to put it in order again." - Herbert James Clarke, speech at the International Meeting At Davos, February 1950

Born April 10, 1879 in London borough of Lambeth, Herbert James 'H.J.' Clarke was the son of Julia (Horne) and Alfred George Clarke. He was a middle child and his father was a well-to-do member of the London Stock Exchange. The family, who resided in the elegant East Sussex ward of at St Leonards-on-Sea, were parishioners of the Church of England.

Herbert took up figure skating as a young man and was a regular at Prince's Skating Club in Knightsbridge at the turn of the century. At sixteen stone - over two hundred and twenty pounds - Herbert didn't exactly have the typical 'skater's physique'. Mentored by Bernard Adams, he developed a keen interest in both English and Continental Style skating, testing in both styles, and spent many hours on rollers as well. He earned the National Skating Association's gold medal in the International (Continental) Style and won a junior competition at Prince's in the spring of 1908, defeating Arthur Cumming, who would go on to win the silver medal in the special figures at the first Olympic Games to include figure skating later that year. In 1914 and 1924, he won the Bandy Club Cup in St. Moritz, being a regular at the Swiss skating resorts during the long English winters. He also finished third in a competition for junior skaters held in conjunction with the 1914 World Championships for women's and pairs.

When Freda Whitaker opened a small ice rink on Hertford Street in Mayfair in 1924, Herbert was there every day performing every figure on the ISU schedule. In his only appearance in a major international senior competition, the 1924 Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix, he placed a disappointing tenth out of eleven entries.

Gwendolyn Lycett and Herbert Clarke at Prince's Skating Club

Off the ice, Herbert was a jobber with the London Stock Exchange who devoted just as much time to do golfing in the summer as he did skating in winter. In April 1906, he married Clara Kathleen Vera Kennedy. The couple settled on Hornton Street in Kensington, hiring four servants to take care of them and their young daughter Kathleen. Less than ten years later, Herbert left his wife and daughter and took up residence at the Homeside Wimbledon in Surrey. Clara was finally granted her divorce petition on February 1, 1915. During The Great War, Herbert served as a driver with the Royal Army Service Corps.

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

Though he was a talented athlete, Herbert's most important contributions to the figure skating world were off the ice. He served as the chairman of the Figure Committee of the National Skating Association and for a good many years. For many years, he was only one of three judges in Great Britain qualified to preside over the the Association's First Class Test. Along with Guy Campbell, Horatio Tertuliano Torromé, James Henry Johnson and Herbert Ramon Yglesias, he assisted Walter Stanton in adapting International Style of figure skating to rollers.

Henry Hainwright Howe and Herbert James Clarke at the 1928 Winter Olympic Games in St. Moritz. Photo courtesy "Skating Through The Years".

Herbert judged at his first World Championships in 1923 and sat on countless pre-World War II judging panels that awarded World or European titles to Sonja Henie, the Brunet's, Karl Schäfer, Herma Szabo, Cecilia Colledge, Megan Taylor, Graham Sharp, Maxi Herber and Ernst Baier and others. He was also a judge at the 1928 and 1932 Olympic Games and referee of countless British Championships. In her book "Advanced Figure Skating", Maribel Vinson Owen recalled a hilarious judging story about Herbert thusly: "The most uproarious loop-change-loop incident in skating history occurred at the 1932 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid. It was time for Suzanne Davis of the American team to skate the figure, starting forward on the right foot, and she picked a piece of ice right beside the hockey dasher. The judges ranged themselves at strategic points here and there, while H. J. Clarke, the revered English judge... decided that he could see best and at the same time take the weight off his over-worked feet by sitting on the fence just below Sue's starting center. Now Mr. Clarke, as all who know him will agree, is one of the more substantial of the world's skaters. Everyone who has ever seen him grinding out his rockers or laboring through his loop-change-loops on the ice of the London Ice Club invariably marvels at the dexterity of a man who weighs well over 14 stone and is built in proportion. Sue started her figure and laid out her first complete tracing. She was just on her way through the left-foot retracing when there was a sudden loud crash, a gasp of dismay from the spectators, and then, after a few seconds, bursts of such uncontrollable laughter - as a serious school figure competition has never known before - or since. Intent on Sue's efforts, Mr. Clarke had unexpectedly overbalanced and gone backward head over heels into the hockey box, where there wasn’t even a convenient chair to break his fall! The sight of such a weighty man doing a sudden back somersault off the fence at first caused instant consternation; when he ruefully but laughingly picked himself up and the crowd saw no damage was done, wave after wave of hilarity burst over the whole arena. The center of attention, however, quickly shifted from Mr. Clarke back to Sue, and she became the real star of the incident. For throughout all the uproar - and it was tremendous - she had never once so much as glanced up. She kept her attention riveted on the figure she was skating, and not until she had put down all six lines and completely finished one of the best loop-change-loop diagrams she had ever skated in her life did she allow herself a flicker of interest in what had happened. When I asked her later how she had managed such superhuman concentration, she replied that she knew if she once glanced up she'd be lost and she didn’t know whether the referee would count helpless laughter as an adequate excuse for starting a figure over again!"

Herbert Clarke (sitting on the barrier again) at Richmond Ice Drome with Mary Hales in 1942

Herbert joined the International Skating Union's council in 1925, succeeding George Herbert Fowler as Great Britain's representative in the governing body of international figure skating. He served two terms as the ISU's Vice-President before becoming ISU President in December 1945 when Gerrit van Laer passed away. Under his presidency, the ISU faced the daunting tasks of rebuilding international figure skating after World War II and adapting rules that hadn't been changed in nearly a decade to reflect the evolution of figure skating during wartime. Herbert's reign celebrated the successes of skaters like Barbara Ann Scott and Dick Button, reduced the number of compulsory figures from twelve to six and added the discipline of ice dance to the World Championships.

Herbert Clarke presenting awards to Hans Gerschwiler at the 1947 World Championships. Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine.

Interestingly, during World War II Herbert was involved with the MI6. Michael Booker recalled that in the early fifties, "H. J. Clarke, had been honored for his services in the secret service during the War... With his cockney accent, [he] didn't have the right credentials to be a member of the [English Style] Royal Skating Club. He was very nice to me and a great pal of Georg Hasler, who also was very nice to me.  Some many years later when I had started collecting porcelain I met H.J´s nephew, Tim Clarke, who was 'the' porcelain expert in UK working for Sotheby's. He had been a member of the Westminster Club and knew Sonja Henie. When she died her will stipulated that he was to sell her belongings and to quote him, 'A lot of junk it was too!'" This wasn't the only example of Herbert's wry wit. On another occasion, he quipped, "If you can't skate your brackets, you can't skate."

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

In 1949, Herbert became the first non-American honorary member of the USFSA, a gesture put forth for over twenty-five years of fostering good 'skating relations' between America and Great Britain. That was only one of nearly a dozen such honours. In an issue "Skating World" magazine from 1950, Nigel Brown remarked, "His services to skating and to skaters may best be expressed by the fact that ten nations have nominated him an honorary member of their national associations. Several foreign clubs have nominated him honorary member, including the second oldest club in the world, the Wiener Eislaufverein. This club bestowed a particular honour upon Mr. Clarke during the 1948 Winter Olympics at St. Moritz, when their President presented him with the special badge, 'Ehren Abzeichen', a title given only twenty-seven times in eighty-two years."

Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine

At the 1953 ISU Congress in Stresa, Herbert ran for re-election as ISU President, defeating Gustavus H.C. Witt, whom many thought would be his successor. After losing, Witt - then the Vice President for Figure Skating - announced his retirement from the ISU. Dr. James Koch was elected as Witt's replacement. 

Upon returning from Italy to his flat at Fairacres on Roehampton Lane in Wandsworth, Herbert suffered from a heart condition aggravated by bronchitis and pneumonia. That October, he unexpectedly announced his resignation. He was succeeded by Dr. James Koch and two years later elected an Honorary President of the ISU.

Photo courtesy National Archives Of Poland

Herbert passed away on September 5, 1956 at The Putney Hospital, leaving the entirety of his sixty-seven thousand pound estate to his lawyer and a clerk at the London Stock Exchange. He was inducted to the World Figure Skating Hall Of Fame posthumously in 1996, the same year as Brian Boitano and Sheldon Galbraith. His competition and NSA test medals are among the collections of the World Figure Skating Museum in Colorado Springs.

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.