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 1963 competitions for men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dance took place from February 28 to March 3 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. The competition was held in the open-air ice stadium, with events running as late as 1 or 2am, by which time it was very cold. This caused the ice to become hard and brittle, as well as causing discomfort to those in attendance."Arctic Cold Chills World Championships", Skating magazine, May 1963
Perhaps due to the poor ice conditions, the men's competition was marred by many falls. Both the winner Donald McPherson and second-place finisher Alain Calmat fell on triple loop attempts, but neither Manfred Schnelldorfer nor Karol Divín, who had been placed 1-2 after the compulsory figures, performed well in the free skating.
Marika Kilius and Hans-Jürgen Bäumler won the pair competition, although some questioned whether some of their lifts, including a "triple Axel lift" (an Axel lasso lift with 3.5 rotations), were legal under the ISU rules of the time. The Canadian team of Debbi Wilkes and Guy Revell had to withdraw after Wilkes suffered a head injury in a fall while posing for press photos.
Disaster also struck the American dance team Yvonne Littlefield and Peter Betts. They placed 9th in the compulsory dances, but in the free dance Betts's blade came unscrewed from the boot and they were unable to finish their program. Meanwhile, the defending champions Eva Romanová and Pavel Roman came from behind to retain title after being defeated in the compulsory dances by the British team, Linda Shearman and Michael Phillips, who had also defeated the Romans at the European Championships earlier that year.
Defending champion Sjoukje Dijkstra also retained her title, building a big lead in the compulsory figures and following it with a good performance in the free skate, in which she now included a double Lutz for the first time. Nicole Hassler, second in the free skate and third overall, had two strong double Axels at the end of her program."Informal Comments on Worlds", Skating magazine, May 1963 The Japanese competitor Miwa Fukuhara, who finished 6th overall, included a triple salchow in her program.
Medal table
Results Men Rank Name Places 1 Donald McPherson 18 2 Alain Calmat 22 3 Manfred Schnelldorfer 22 4 Karol Divín 34 5 Scott Allen 40 6 Peter Jonas 59 7 Sepp Schönmetzler 71 8 Donald Knight 79 9 Emmerich Danzer 80 10 Nobuo Satō 83 11 Monty Hoyt 88 12 Robert Dureville 117 13 Hugo Dümmler 122 14 Jenő Ébert 130 15 William Neale 136 16 Valeriy Meshkov 144 17 Giordano Abbondati 145 18 Malcolm Cannon 159 19 Wouter Toledo 161
Judges: Charlotte Benedict-Stieber Zdeněk Fikar Edwin Kucharz J. A. McKechnie Giovanni de Mori Pamela Peat John R. Shoemaker Néri Valdes Adolf Walker
Ladies Rank Name Places 1 Sjoukje Dijkstra 9 2 Regine Heitzer 22 3 Nicole Hassler 30 4 Wendy Griner 36 5 Petra Burka 39 6 Miwa Fukuhara 68 7 Inge Paul 73 8 Jana Mrázková 73 9 Helli Sengstschmid 75 10 Lorraine Hanlon 89 11 Diana Clifton-Peach 97 12 Ingrid Ostler 110 13 Karen Howland 130 14 Franziska Schmidt 128 15 Eva Grožajová 138 16 Ann-Margreth Frei 140 17 Junko Ueno 147 18 Sandra Brugnera 160 19 Christine Haigler 161 20 Shirra Kenworthy 167 21 Zsuzsa Szentmiklóssy 191 22 Karin Dehle 198 23 Tatyana Nemtsova 204 24 Elżbieta Kościk 215
Judges: Charlotte Benedict-Stieber Walter Fritz Theo Klemm Oskar Madl E. R. S. McLauchlin Gérard Rodrigues-Henriques Ardelle Sanderson Emil Skákala Sergey Vasilyev
Pairs Rank Name Places 1 Marika Kilius / Hans-Jürgen Bäumler 9 2 Lyudmila Belousova / Oleg Protopopov 20 3 Tatyana Zhuk / Aleksandr Gavrilov 31 4 Gertrude Desjardins / Maurice Lefrance 31.5 5 Milada Kubíková / Jaroslav Votruba 51.5 6 Gerda Johner / Rüdi Johner 58.5 7 Judianne Fotheringill / Jerry Fotheringill 64 8 Vivian Joseph / Ronald Joseph 66.5 9 Patti Gustafson / Pieter Kollen 84 10 Sonja Pfersdorf / Günther Matzdorf 84 11 Linda Ward / Neil Carpenter 95 12 Gunilla Lindberg / Gunnar de Shàrengrad 107
Judges: Zdeněk Fikar Walter Fritz Walter Malek E. R. S. McLauchlin Ardelle Sanderson Elemér Terták Néri Valdes Sergey Vasilyev János Zsigmondy
Ice dance Rank Name Places 1 Eva Romanová / Pavel Roman 14 2 Linda Shearman / Michael Phillips 15 3 Paulette Doan / Kenneth Ormsby 26 4 Janet Sawbridge / David Hickinbottom 36 5 Donna Mitchell / John Mitchell 47 6 Mary Parry / Roy Mason 62 7 Sally Schantz / Stanley Urban 66 8 Lorna Dyer / John Carrell 71 9 Györgyi Korda / Pál Vásárhelyi 82 10 Carole Forrest / Kevin Lethbridge 93 11 Marlyse Fornachon / Charly Pichard 96 12 Armelle Flichy / Pierre Brun 116 13 Helga Burkhardt / Hannes Burkhardt 117 14 Jitka Babická / Jaromír Holan 120 15 Christel Trebesiner / Georg Felsinger 132 16 Ghislaine Houdas / Francis Gamichon 141 17 Yvonne Littlefield / Peter Betts 152 18 Maria Toncelli / Vinicio Toncelli 153
Judges: Cia Benacchi-Bordogna Claude Lambert J. A. McKechnie Hans Meixner Mollie Phillips John R. Shoemaker Emil Skákala Elemér Terták Hermann Wollersen
References