1931 World Figure Skating Championships

The World Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which figure skaters compete for the title of World Champion.

The 1931 men, ladies, and pairs competitions took place from February 28 to March 1 in Berlin, Germany. It was the second year when all competitions were hold at the same location and the same time, but the first time in Europe.

Results

Men

Judges:

Ludwig Niedermayer  Germany

Ludwig Fänner  Austria

Eugen Minich  Hungary

W. L. Hildburgh  United States

Walter Jakobsson  Finland

Herbert J. Clarke  United Kingdom

H. Pika  Czechoslovakia

Ladies

Judges:

W. L. Hildburgh  United States

Kurt Dannenberg  Germany

S. Wallwork  United Kingdom

Hans Grünauer  Austria

O. R. Kolderup  Norway

Erich Bartel  Czechoslovakia

A. Anderberg  Sweden

Pairs

Judges:

S. Wallwork  United Kingdom

W. L. Hildburgh  United States

Walter Jakobsson  Finland

C. Schulze  Germany

Eugen Minich  Hungary

J. Edhoffer  Austria

Figure skating

Figure skating is a sport and activity in which individuals, duos, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport included in the Olympics, in 1908. The four Olympic disciplines are men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Non-Olympic disciplines include synchronized skating and four skating. From intermediate through senior-level competition, skaters generally perform two programs (short and long) which, depending on the discipline, may include spins, jumps, moves in the field, lifts, throw jumps, death spirals, and other elements or moves.

The blade has a groove on the bottom creating two distinct edges — inside and outside. In figure skating, the skater should glide on one edge of the blade and not on both at the same time, which is referred to as a flat edge. During a spin, skaters use the "sweet spot" of the blade, which is the roundest portion of the blade, just behind the pick and near the middle of the blade. Skates used in single and pair skating have a set of large, jagged teeth called toe picks on the front of the blade. Toe picks are mainly used in the take-off for jumps. Ice dancing blades are an inch shorter in the rear and have smaller toe picks.

Sonja Henie

Sonja Henie (8 April 1912 – 12 October 1969) was a Norwegian figure skater and film star. She was a three-time Olympic Champion (1928, 1932, 1936) in Ladies' Singles, a ten-time World Champion (1927–1936) and a six-time European Champion (1931–1936). Henie won more Olympic and World titles than any other ladies' figure skater. At the height of her acting career she was one of the highest paid stars in Hollywood.

Biography

Early life

Henie was born in Kristiania, current Oslo, the only daughter of Wilhelm Henie (1872–1937), a prosperous Norwegian furrier, and his wife Selma Lochmann-Nielsen (1888–1961). In addition to the income from the fur business, both of Henie's parents had inherited wealth. Wilhelm Henie had been a one-time World Cycling Champion and the Henie children were encouraged to take up a variety of sports at a young age. Henie initially showed talent at skiing, and then followed her older brother Leif to take up figure skating. As a girl, Henie was also a nationally ranked tennis player and a skilled swimmer and equestrienne. Once Henie began serious training as a figure skater, her formal schooling ended. She was educated by tutors, and her father hired the best experts in the world, including the famous Russian ballerina Tamara Karsavina, to transform his daughter into a sporting celebrity.

Ice skating

Ice skating is moving on ice by using ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including exercise, leisure, traveling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared ice surfaces (arenas, tracks, parks), both indoors and outdoors, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water, such as ponds, lakes and rivers.

History

Early history of ice skating

A study by Federico Formenti of the University of Oxford suggests that the earliest ice skating happened in southern Finland more than 3,000 years ago. Originally, skates were merely sharpened, flattened bone strapped to the bottom of the foot. Skaters did not actually skate on the ice, but rather glided on top of it. True skating emerged when a steel blade with sharpened edges was used. Skates now cut into the ice instead of gliding on top of it. Adding edges to ice skates was invented by the Dutch in the 13th or 14th century. These ice skates were made of steel, with sharpened edges on the bottom to aid movement. The construction of modern ice skates has stayed largely the same since then. In the Netherlands, ice skating was considered proper for all classes of people, as shown in many pictures by the Old Masters.

European Championship

There are various championships held in a variety of sports on a European level for senior athletes:

List