1930 World Figure Skating Championships

1930 World Figure Skating Championships
Type:	ISU Championship
Date:	February 3 – 5
Season:	1930
Location:	New York City, New York, United States
Host:	U.S. Figure Skating
Venue:	Ice Club Madison Square Garden
Champions
Men's singles: Karl Schäfer
Ladies' singles: Sonja Henie
Pairs: Andrée Brunet / Pierre Brunet
Previous: 1929 World Championships
Next: 1931 World Championships

The 1930 World Figure Skating Championships were a figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU) in which skaters competed for the title of World Champion. The events were held from February 3 to 5 in New York City. They were the first World Championships staged outside Europe and the first in which the men's, ladies' and pairs competitions were held together as one championship.

School figures were skated on February 3 and 4 at the Ice Club, the rink of the Skating Club of New York. Free skating took place on February 5 at Madison Square Garden. The same five judges marked all three events. Karl Schäfer of Austria won the men's title. Sonja Henie of Norway won the ladies' title for the fourth time. Andrée Brunet and Pierre Brunet of France won the pairs.

Background

The championships were organized by the United States Figure Skating Association, now U.S. Figure Skating, with the Skating Club of New York. They were the association's first World Championships and the first of two interwar Worlds held in North America. The other was Montreal in 1932.

James R. Hines counted 22 entries: nine from the United States, six from Canada and seven from Europe. He described the European turnout as disappointing. Ocean travel and the onset of the Great Depression made the crossing difficult in either direction. Reigning men's champion Gillis Grafström of Sweden was entered but did not compete.

Ladies skated four minutes of free skating and men five. Pairs skated five minutes. Six compulsory figures were drawn from the official list of 41. Time reported that Henie slipped at the start of her free skating at the Garden, recovered and won as expected, then gave an exhibition with Schäfer. J. Lester Madden of Boston fell four times.

Medal table

  *   Host nation (United States)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Austria	1	1	0	2
2	France	1	0	0	1
	Norway	1	0	0	1
4	United States*	0	1	2	3
5	Canada	0	1	0	1
6	Switzerland	0	0	1	1
Totals (6 entries)		3	3	3	9

Results

Joel B. Liberman of the United States, who judged the competition, published the placements and point totals in the March 1930 issue of Skating, the association's magazine. "Places" are the sum of the five judges' ordinal rankings.

The judging panel for all three events was:

• Birger Børjeson
• H. J. Clarke
• Julius Edhoffer
• Joel B. Liberman
• J. Cecil McDougall

Henry W. Howe was the referee.

Men

Left to right: Nagle, Wrede, Turner, Wilson, Gautschi, Schäfer, Borden, Madden

Schäfer received first-place ordinals from every judge. Roger Turner of the United States took silver. Georges Gautschi of Switzerland won bronze.

Rank	Name	Places
1	Karl Schäfer	5
2	Roger Turner	11
3	Georges Gautschi	19
4	Montgomery Wilson	20
5	Ludwig Wrede	20
6	Gail Borden	32
7	Lester Madden	35
8	William Nagle	38

Ladies

Left to right: Wilson, Davis, Brunner, Smith, Vinson, Henie

Henie received first-place ordinals from every judge. Cecil Smith of Canada was second. Maribel Vinson of the United States won bronze.

Rank	Name	Places
1	Sonja Henie	5
2	Cecil Smith	12
3	Maribel Vinson	16
4	Constance Wilson-Samuel	19
5	Melitta Brunner	23
6	Suzanne Davis	30

Pairs

The Brunets won with 6.5 places. Melitta Brunner and Ludwig Wrede of Austria took silver. Beatrix Loughran and Sherwin Badger of the United States won bronze.

Rank	Name	Places
1	Andrée Brunet / Pierre Brunet	6.5
2	Melitta Brunner / Ludwig Wrede	13.5
3	Beatrix Loughran / Sherwin Badger	16
4	Constance Wilson-Samuel / Montgomery Wilson	21
5	Isobel Rogers / Melville Rogers	25.5
6	Theresa Weld / Nathaniel Niles	30.5
7	Maude Smith / Jack Eastwood	32.5
8	Edith Secord / Joseph Savage	34.5