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
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
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
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
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