Trailblazers: The First Skaters From Each Country To Compete At The World Championships

The Great Globe at Swanage on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, England. Photo courtesy Library of Congress.

Over the years, the skating world has duly given great recognition to the men and women who made history at the World Figure Skating Championships. Ulrich Salchow, Sonja Henie and Irina Rodnina won an incredible ten World titles. In 1962, Donald Jackson became the first skater to land a triple Lutz at the Worlds in Prague. In 1978, Vern Taylor was the first man to land a triple Axel at the Worlds in Ottawa; eleven years later in Paris Midori Ito became the first woman to do so. Under IJS, history has been made by groundbreaking skaters like Yuzuru Hanyu, who became the first skater to earn over three hundred points and Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, the first ice dance team to receive a perfect 10.0 for program components. These milestones - and so, so many others - are part of the very fabric of our sport's rich history, but today I want to explore a part of skating history that has been sadly overlooked... the first skaters in each discipline to represent their country at the World Championships.

A couple of notes about this list:

- Skaters who withdrew either before or during the the World Championships are not included, but skaters who were eliminated mid-way due to a qualifying round, short program cut-off, etc. are.
- There are a lot (!) of firsts that are open to debate or have caveats, which are marked with a *, **, etc.
- The ice dance team who is slated to make history in Montpelier as the first from their country is included presumptively. Wondering who they are? Check out the listing for New Zealand! 

ARGENTINA

Horatio Tertuliano Torromé (1902)*

*Horatio Tertuliano Torromé actually represented Great Britain at the 1902 World Championships, but he represented Argentina in the 1908 Summer Olympic Games. Horatio was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to an Argentine mother and Brazilian father but emigrated to England during the Victorian era. If 'you count him', he was also the first South American skater to compete at the Worlds. Technically, the first skater to represent Argentina at Worlds was Denis Margalik in 2016, who was born in Buenos Aires to Ukrainian parents but lived and trained in Canada.

ARMENIA

Aramayis Grigorian (1996)
Julia Lebedeva (2000)
Maria Krasiltseva and Alexander Chestnikh (1997)
Kaho Koinuma and Tigran Arakekian (1995)

AUSTRALIA

Dunbar Poole (1911)*
Patricia Molony (1947)
Jacqueline Mason and Mervyn Bower (1952)
Liane Telling and Michael Fisher (1984)

*Dunbar Poole was born in Northern Ireland and emigrated to Australia during the Edwardian era. Though he had no Swedish roots whatsoever, he accept an invitation to represent the Stockholms Allmanna Skridskoklubb, which he held a membership with, at the World Championships in 1911. The first man to actually represent Australia was Melbourne's Reg Park in 1950.

AUSTRIA



Gustav Hügel (1896)
Jenny Herz (1906)
Helene Engelmann and Karl Mejstrik, Christa von Szabo and Leo Horwitz (1913)*
Ilse Reitmayer and Hans Kutschera, Paulin Haffner and Herbert Huber (1952)**

*Mizzi and Otto Bohatsch and Christa von Szabó and Gustav Euler represented Austria in the international pairs event held in conjunction with the 1903 World Championships.
**Helga Binder and Edwin Fuhrich, Pauline Haffner and Herbert Huber, Trude Letner and Rudolf Gregorin, Ilse Reitmayer and Willy Behringer represented Austria at the international ice dancing competition held at the 1951 World Championships.

AZERBAIJAN


Igor Lioutikov (1994)
Yulia Vorobieva (1994)
Natalia Krestianinova and Alexei Torchinski (1994)
Olga Pershankova and Nikolai Morozov (1994)

BELARUS

Alexander Murashko (1993)
Inna Ovsiannikova (1993)
Elena Grigoreva and Sergei Sheiko (1993)
Tatiana Navka and Samvel Gezalian (1993)

BELGIUM


Robert van Zeebroeck. Photo courtesy Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Robert van Zeebroeck (1926)
Yvonne de Ligne (1929)
Suzanne Diskeuve and Edmond Verbustel, Micheline Lannoy and Pierre Baugniet (1947)
Karen and Douglas Mankovich (1981)*

*Suzanne Gheldolf and Jacques Renard represented Belgium at the international ice dancing competition held at the 1951 World Championships.

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Damjan Ostojič (2009)
Nina Bates (2004)
Ana Galitch and Andrei Griazev (2000)

BRAZIL

Kevin Alves (2009)
Stacey Perfetti (2009)

BULGARIA

Boyko Aleksiev (1986)
Petya Gavazova (1985)
Rumiana Spassova and Stanimir Todorov (2005)
Hristina Boyanova and Iavor Ivanov (1983)

CANADA

Montgomery 'Bud' Wilson. Photo courtesy City of Toronto Archives.

Montgomery 'Bud' Wilson (1928)
Constance Wilson (1928)
Maude Smith and Jack Eastwood (1928)
Lindis and Jeffery Johnston (1955)

CHINA

Wang Zhili (1980)
Liu Zhiying (1980)
Luan Bo and Yao Bin (1980)
Liu Luyang and Zhao Xiaolei (1985)

CHINESE TAIPEI

David Liu (1988)
Pauline Lee (1986)
Amanda and Darryl Sunyoto-Yang (2009)
Yucca Liu and Jim Sun (1988)

CROATIA

Tomislav Čižmešija (1992)
Željka Čižmešija (1992)
Amy Ireland and Michael Bahoric (2008)
Kamilla Szolnoki and Dejan Illes (2001)

CZECHOSLOVAKIA




Josef Slíva. Photo courtesy Czech National Museum.

Josef Slíva (1925)
Eva Nyklová, Zdenka Porgesova (1939)
Else and Oscar Hoppe (1925)
Eva Romanová and Pavel Roman (1962)

CZECH REPUBLIC


Jaroslav Suchý (1993)
Kateřina Beránková, Lenka Kulovaná (1994)
Radka Kovaříková and René Novotný (1994)
Radmila Chroboková and Milan Brzý (1993)

CYPRUS

Emilea Zingas (2021)

DENMARK

Per Cock-Clausen (1938)
Esther Bornstein (1934)
Kaetlyn Good and Nikolaj Sørensen (2010)

ESTONIA

Roman Martonenko (1993)
Olga Vassiljeva (1992)
Jekaterina Nekrassova and Valdis Mintals (1995)
Anna Mosenkova and Dmitri Kurakin (1994)

FINLAND


Anna-Lisa Allardt. Photo courtesy Sveriges Centralförening för Idrottens Främjande Archive.

Björnsson Schauman (1914)
Anna Lisa Allardt (1913)
Ludovika and Walter Jakobsson (1910)
Saila Saarinen and Kim Jacobson (1982)

FRANCE

Jean Henrion (1927)
Gaby Clericetti, Jeanine Garanger, Jacqueline Vaudecrane (1936)
Anita del Monte and Louis Magnus (1912)
Fanny Besson and Jean-Paul Guhel, Claude Weinstein and Claude Lambert (1955)

GEORGIA


Bessaron Tsintsadze (1993)
Elene Gedevanishvili (2006)
Evgenia Filonenko and Alexander Chestnikh (2000)
Tatiana Siniaver and Tornike Tukvadze (2003)

GERMANY*

Gilbert Fuchs (1896)
Elsa Rendschmidt (1906)
Anna Hübler and Heinrich Burger (1908)**
Jennifer Goolsbee and Hendryk Schamberger, Saskia Stahler and Sven Authorsen (1991)

*These skaters listed represented all represented a unified Germany. The first East German skaters to compete at Worlds were Bodo Bockenauer, Gaby Seyfert and Irene Müller and Hans-Georg Dallmer in 1962. The first East German pairs team at Worlds was Annerose Baier and Eberhard Rüger in 1965. The first West German skaters to compete at Worlds were Freimut Stein, Gundi Busch, Helga Dudzinski, Inge Jell, Erika Kraft, Ria Baran and Paul Falk, Inge Minor and Hermann Braun, Marlies Schrör and Hans Schwarz and 1951. The first West German dance team to compete at Worlds were
Sigrid Knake and Günther Koch in 1955.
**Hedwig (Müller) Weingartner and Martin Gordan represented Germany in the international pairs competition held in conjunction with the 1902 World Championships.

GREAT BRITAIN

Madge Syers

H. Charles Holt (1898)
Madge Syers (1902)*
Phyllis and James Henry Johnson (1908)**
Joan Dewhirst and John Slater, Jean Westwood and Lawrence Demmy (1952)***

*Madge Syers was the first British woman to compete at the World Championships, in the men's event in 1902. At the international women's competition held in conjunction with the 1905 World Championships, Great Britain was represented by Muriel Harrison, Mrs. Kellie and Bella McKinnan. At the 1906 International Championship For Ladies, later deemed by the ISU as the first official World Championships for women, the British representatives were Madge Syers and Dorothy Greenhough Smith.
**Madge and Edgar Syers represented Great Britain in the international pairs competition held in conjunction with the 1902 World Championships.
***Gladys Duddell and French Brewster won an informal waltzing competition held in conjunction with the 1902 World Championships. Julie and William Barrett, Joan Chessman and George Bellchamber and Sybil Cooke and Robert S. Hudson represented Great Britain at the international ice dancing competition held at the 1950 World Championships.

GREECE

Harris Halta (1993)
Lefki Terzaki (1994)
Elaine Asanakis and Mark Naylor (1992)
Christa-Elizabeth Goulakos and Eric Neumann-Aubichon (2007)

HOLLAND

Wouter Touledo (1963)
Alida Elisabeth Stoppelman (1951)
Daria Danilova and Michel Tsiba (2021)
Lydia Boon and Aadrian van Dam, Catharina and Jacobus Odink (1952)*

*Catharina and Jacobus Odink represented Holland at the international ice dancing competition held at the 1951 World Championships

HONG KONG

Cheukfai Lai (1985)
Shuk-Ching Ngai (1985)
Shuk-Ching Ngai and Kwokyung Mak (1985)

HUNGARY

Lili Kronberger. Photo courtesy Sveriges Centralförening för Idrottens Främjande Archive.

Andor Szende (1910)
Lili Kronberger (1906)*
Olga Orgonista and Sándor Szalay, Emília Rotter and László Szollás (1929)
Györgyi Korda and Pál Vásárhelyi (1962)

*Lili Kronberger also represented Sweden in the international women's event held in conjunction with the 1905 World Championships.

INDIA

Ami Parekh (2007)

IRELAND

Clara Peters (2009)

ISRAEL

Michael Shmerkin (1993)
Daria Zuravicky (2001)
Julia Shapiro and Vadim Akolzin (2004)
Tamara Ruby and Konstantin Kaplin (1993)

ITALY

Carlo Fassi (1949)
Fiorella Negro (1954)
Anna (Cattaneo) Dubini and Ercole Cattaneo (1937)
Bona Giammona and Giancarlo Sioli (1955)

JAPAN


Left: Kazuyoshi Oimatsu. Right: Etsuko Inada. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

Ryuichi Obitani, Kazuyoshi Oimatsu (1932)
Etsuko Inada (1936)
Mieko Otwa and Yutaka Doke (1962)
Eiko Kaneko and Mikio Takeuchi (1962)

KAZAKHSTAN

Sergei Umirov (1993)
Jalina Kakadyl (1993)
Marina Khalturina and Andrei Kriukov (1994)
Elizaveta Stekolnikova and Dmitri Kazarlyga (1993)

LATVIA


Konstantin Kostin (1992)
Alma Lepina (1992)
Elena Berezhnaya and Oleg Shliakhov (1993)
Aliki Stergiadu and Juris Razgulaevs (1992)

LITHUANIA

Vaidotas Juraitis (1994)
Edita Katkauskaite (1992)
Goda Butkutė and Nikita Ermolaev (2016)
Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas (1992)

LUXEMBOURG

Paul Cechmanek (1975)
Anna Bernauer (2004)

MALAYSIA

Julian Zhi Jie Yee (2017)

MEXICO

Joaquin Guerrero (1988)
Diana Marcos (1988)
Laura and Luke Munana (2005)

MONACO


Kim Lucine (2011)
Mérovée Ephrem (2007)

NEW ZEALAND

Christopher Blong (1992)
Gay Le Comte (1976)
Charlotte Lafond-Fournier and Richard Kang In Kam* (2022)

*Janna Greene and Alan Wild were the first New Zealand ice dance team entered to compete at the World Championships in 1977, but had to withdraw due to illness.

NORTH KOREA

Kim Myo-sil (1979)
Ri Ji-hyang and Thae Won-hyok (2012)

NORWAY

Margot Moe. Photo courtesy Sveriges Centralförening för Idrottens Främjande Archive.

Oscar Holthe, Johan Peter Lefstad (1897)
Margot Moe (1922)
Mimi Grømer and Karl Erikson, Alexia Schøien and Yngvar Bryn (1909)

PHILIPPINES

Michael Dimalanta (2009)
Lauren Ko (2010)

POLAND

Alfred Hirv (1939)
Elżbieta Kościk (1963)
Zofia Bilorówna and Tadeusz Kowalski (1934)
Teresa Weyna and Piotr Bojańczyk (1971)

PUERTO RICO



Andrew Huertas (2009)
Victoria Muniz (2008)

ROMANIA

Max Bindea (1939)
Marta Chisu (1996)

RUSSIA*

Nicolai Poduskov, Georg Sanders (1896)
Xenia Caesar (1914)
A.L. Fischer and Lidia Popova (1908)
Oksana Grishuk and Evgeni Platov, Angelika Krylova and Vladimir Fedorov, Maya Usova and Alexander Zhulin (1993)

*These skaters listed represented all represented Russia. The first skaters from the Soviet Union to compete at Worlds were Lev Mikhailov, Igor Persiantsev and Valentin Zakharov, Ludmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov and Nina and Stanislav Zhuk in 1958. The first women's singles skater from the Soviet Union to compete at Worlds was Tatiana Nemtsova in 1962. The first ice dance team from the Soviet Union to compete at Worlds was Lyudmila Pakhomova and Viktor Ryzhkin.

SERBIA*

Marina Seeh (2010)

*These skaters represented Serbia at the World Championships. Trifun Zivanovic and Ksenija Jastsenjski were the first skaters to represent the former Serbia and Montenegro in 2004.

SLOVAKIA


Rastislav Vnučko (1994)
Zaneta Stefanikova (1994)
Olga Beständigová and Jozef Beständig (1998)
Viera Poracova and Pavel Porac (1994)

SLOVENIA

Jan Čejvan (1993)
Mojca Kopač (1992)

SOUTH AFRICA


Dino Quattrocecere (1992)
Margaret Betts (1968)
Glenda and Brian O'Shea (1968)
Fiona Kirk and Clinton King (1992)

SOUTH KOREA

Han Soo-Bong (1977)
Chang Myung-Su (1972)
Choi Jung-hoo and Lee Yong-min (1992)
Park Kyung-sook and Han Seung-jong (1986)

SPAIN


Darío Villalba Flores (1956)
Gloria Mas (1979)
Laura Barquero and Aritz Maestu (2018)
Sara Hurtado and Adrià Díaz (2011)

SWEDEN


Ulrich Salchow. Photo courtesy Sveriges Centralförening för Idrottens Främjande Archive.

Thidolf Borgh, Hugo Carlson, Ulrich Salchow (1897)
Magda Mauroy, Svea Norén (1913)*
Valborg Lindahl and Nils Rosenius, Gertrud Ström and Richard Johansson (1909)**
Ulla Örnmarker and Thomas Svedberg (1982)

*Elna Montgomery, Helga Liljegren and Anna Hamilton represented Sweden in the international women's event held in conjunction with the 1905 World Championships.
**Emmy Sjöberg and Christian Soldan represented Sweden in the international pairs competition held in conjunction with the 1902 World Championships.

SWITZERLAND

Georges Gautschi (1925)
Angela Anderes (1937)
Pierette and Paul Du Bois (1938)
Albertina and Nigel Brown (1952)*

*Albertina and Nigel Brown represented Switzerland at the international ice dancing competition held at the 1951 World Championships

THAILAND

Charuda Upatham (1989)
Alisa Allapach and Peter Kongkasen (2006)

TURKEY

Emrah Polatoglu (1994)
Tuğba Karademir (2003)
Jenette Maitz and Alper Uçar (2010)

UKRAINE


Dmitri Dmitrenko (1993)
Oksana Baiul (1993)
Svetlana Pristav and Viacheslav Tkachenko (1993)
Irina Romanova and Igor Yaroshenko (1993)

UNITED STATES


Beatrix Loughran. Photo courtesy Library of Congress.

Beatrix Loughran (1924)
Nathaniel Niles, Roger Turner (1928)
Beatrix Loughran and Sherwin Badger, Theresa Weld Blanchard and Nathaniel Niles (1928)
Carmel and Ed Bodel, Carol Ann Peters and Danny Ryan (1952)*

*Carmel and Ed Bodel, Irene Maguire and Walter Muehlbronner and Lois Waring and Michael McGean represented the U.S. at the international ice dancing competition held at the 1950 World Championships.

UZBEKISTAN

Roman Skorniakov (1997)
Tatiana Malinina (1993)
Nigora Karabaeva and Evgeny Sviridov (1994)
Aliki Stergiadu and Juris Razgulajevs (1993)

YUGOSLAVIA

Zoran Matas (1970)
Katjusa Derenda (1967)
Sylva Palme and Paul Schwab (1939)

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on FacebookTwitterPinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.