The 1981 World Figure Skating Championships was the 71st edition of World Figure Skating Championship, held in Hartford, Connecticut, United States from March 3 to 8. At the event, sanctioned by the International Skating Union, medals were awarded in men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.

The ISU Representative was Olaf Poulsen and the ISU Technical Delegate was Josef Dědič.

The judging system was modified since 1980. For the singles events, the short program was worth 20% and the free skating 50% while the value of compulsory figures was reduced to 30% of the final result. The rank in each category was multiplied with a factor and these three numbers were added to the total score. The factor for the compulsory figures was 0.6, for the short program 0.4 and for the free skating 1.0. The rank within these three categories were judged according to the 6.0-judging system. In pairs, the short program had the factor 0.4 and the free skating 1.0. The ranks within the two pair categories were also judged according to the 6.0-judging system.

Medal tables Medalists Men Scott Hamilton David Santee Igor Bobrin Ladies Denise Biellmann Elaine Zayak Claudia Kristofics-Binder Pair skating Irina Vorobeva / Igor Lisovski Sabine Baeß / Tassilo Thierbach Christina Riegel / Andreas Nischwitz Ice dancing Jayne Torvill / Christopher Dean Irina Moiseeva / Andrei Minenkov Natalia Bestemianova / Andrei Bukin

Medals by country

Results Men Rank Name Nation CP SP FS SP+FS Points Total 1 Scott Hamilton 4 1 1 1 3.8 2 David Santee 2 3 3 3 5.4 3 Igor Bobrin 5 4 2 2 6.6 4 Fumio Igarashi 6 2 4 4 8.4 5 Jean-Christophe Simond 1 5 6 6 8.6 6 Brian Orser 9 6 5 5 12.8 7 Norbert Schramm 7 7 7 7 14.0 8 Brian Pockar 3 8 11 10 16.0 9 Vladimir Kotin 10 10 10 9 20.0 10 Robert Wagenhoffer 14 12 8 8 21.2 11 Grzegorz Filipowski 8 11 12 12 21.2 12 Jozef Sabovčík 11 9 13 13 23.2 13 Falko Kirsten 15 14 9 11 23.6 14 Thomas Öberg 12 13 14 14 26.4 15 Takashi Mura 17 15 15 15 31.2 16 Bruno Watschinger 13 16 17 17 31.2 17 Christopher Howarth 18 18 16 16 34.0 18 Michael Pasfield 19 17 18 18 36.2 19 Todd Sand 20 19 19 19 38.6 20 Xu Zhaoxiao 21 20 20 20 40.6 WD Miljan Begovic 16

Referee: Donald H. Gilchrist

Assistant Referee: Elemér Terták

Judges: Walburga Grimm Junko Hiramatsu Monique Georgelin Gerhard Frey Maria Zuchowicz Sergei Kononykhin Linda Petersen Hugh C. Graham jr. Geoffrey Yates

Substitute judge: Bojan Lipovšćak

Ladies Rank Name Nation CP SP FS SP+FS Points Total 1 Denise Biellmann 4 2 1 1 4.2 2 Elaine Zayak 7 3 2 2 7.4 3 Claudia Kristofics-Binder 1 6 5 5 8.0 4 Deborah Cottrill 2 8 4 4 8.4 5 Katarina Witt 11 1 3 3 10.0 6 Kristiina Wegelius 3 5 7 7 10.8 7 Priscilla Hill 5 10 9 8 16.0 8 Carola Paul 16 7 6 6 18.4 9 Karin Riediger 9 14 8 9 19.0 10 Tracey Wainman 6 15 10 12 19.6 11 Sanda Dubravčić 8 12 12 13 21.6 12 Kira Ivanova 13 4 13 11 22.4 13 Manuela Ruben 17 9 11 10 24.8 14 Anne-Sophie de Kristoffy 15 11 16 15 29.4 15 Karen Wood 18 16 14 14 31.2 16 Andrea Rohm 14 18 17 17 32.6 17 Reiko Kobayashi 10 13 22 19 33.2 18 Catarina Lindgren 19 20 15 16 34.4 19 Corinne Wyrsch 20 22 18 18 38.8 20 Sonja Stanek 12 19 24 23 38.8 21 Masako Kato 21 23 19 21 40.8 22 Editha Dotson 23 17 21 20 41.6 23 Päivi Nieminen 25 21 20 22 43.4 24 Vicki Holland 26 26 23 24 49.0 25 Rudina Pasveer 22 27 26 26 50.0 26 Lisa Coppola 27 24 25 25 50.8 27 Hanne Gamborg 24 25 27 27 51.4 28 Lim Hye-kyung 28 28 28 28 56.0 29 Rosario Esteban 30 31 29 29 59.4 30 Denyse Adam 29 30 30 30 59.4 31 Bao Zhenghua 31 29 31 31 61.2

Referee: Sonia Bianchetti

Assistant Referee: Charles U. Foster

Judges: Tjaša Andrée Ludwig Gassner Karl-David Runeskog Jane Sullivan Kuniko Ueno Helga von Wiecki Marie Lundmark Eugen Romminger David Dore

Substitute judge: Pamela Davis

Pairs Rank Name Nation SP FS Points Total 1 Irina Vorobieva / Igor Lisovski 1 1 1.4 2 Sabine Baeß / Tassilo Thierbach 2 2 2.8 3 Christina Riegel / Andreas Nischwitz 4 3 4.6 4 Marina Cherkasova / Sergei Shakhrai 3 4 5.2 5 Kitty Carruthers / Peter Carruthers 7 5 7.8 6 Veronika Pershina / Marat Akbarov 5 6 8.0 7 Barbara Underhill / Paul Martini 10 7 11.0 8 Susan Garland / Robert Daw 8 8 11.2 9 Birgit Lorenz / Knut Schubert 6 9 11.4 10 Lea Ann Miller / William Fauver 9 10 13.6 11 Luan Bo / Yao Bin 11 11 15.4

Referee: Benjamin T. Wright

Assistant Referee: Martin Felsenreich

Judges: Maya Reinhart Jacqueline Kendall-Baker Walburga Grimm Dorothy MacLeod Pamela Davis Liudmila Kubashevskaya Maria Zuchowicz E. Newbold Black IV. Eugen Romminger

Substitute judge: Junko Hiramatsu

Ice dancing Rank Name Nation CD FD Total 1 Jayne Torvill / Christopher Dean 1 1 2 2 Irina Moiseeva / Andrei Minenkov 2 2 4 3 Natalia Bestemianova / Andrei Bukin 4 3 7 4 Judy Blumberg / Michael Seibert 3 4 7 5 Olga Volozhinskaya / Alexander Svinin 6 5 11 6 Carol Fox / Richard Dalley 5 6 11 7 Karen Barber / Nicholas Slater 7 7 14 8 Nathalie Hervé / Pierre Béchu 9 8 17 9 Jana Berankova / Jan Bartak 8 9 17 10 Birgit Goller / Peter Klisch 10 10 20 11 Wendy Sessions / Stephen Williams 11 11 22 12 Kelly Johnson / Kris Barber 13 12 25 13 Marie McNeil / Robert McCall 12 13 25 14 Judit Péterfy / Csaba Bálint 14 14 28 15 Elisabetta Parisi / Roberto Pelizzola 15 15 30 16 Noriko Sato / Tadayuki Takahashi 17 16 33 17 Gabriella Remport / Sándor Nagy 16 17 33 18 Maria Kniffer / Manfed Hübler 19 18 37 19 Karen Mankovich / Douglas Mankovich 18 21 39 20 Marianne van Bommel / Wayne Deweyert 21 19 40 21 Petra Born / Rainer Schönborn 20 20 40

Sources Result list provided by the ISU