Timeline of the World Figure Championship

This event is now in its sixth year! To celebrate, here is a timeline. This information is drawn from the World Figure Championship website, the World Figure Sport website, the various versions of these sites archived in the Wayback Machine, and my own notes and recollections.

2015 Lake Placid, NY

The competition took place on August 28 and 29, following a Figure Festival from the 25th to 27th, on ice that had been painted black with white lines demarcating patches. Initially, entrants had to have passed US Figure Skating’s 8th test or an international equivalent, or have competed in the World Championship or Olympics before 1992. Later, this requirement was relaxed to the 6th test or equivalent. The entry fee was set at $500 ($485 early bird, $650 late). List numbers of competitors, figures, scoring info.

The first World Figure Championship was sanctioned by the ISI (endorsement #3-2552-2015). All skaters and judges were enrolled as ISI members by Peak Edge Performance, Inc. It did not use the ISI’s standard judging criteria or format; instead, skaters completed each set of four figures while the judges were absent. A time limit was set for each figure. Skaters commenced as a whistle blew and had until the next whistle to complete the six required tracings; the time allotted was quite generous. A referee watched each skater to note penalties (e.g., if the skater put a hand or foot down, fell, crossed a patch line, or exceeded the time limit), if necessary. Then, the judges examined and ranked the marks left on the ice without knowing who had skated them. Following the ISI system, each judge focused on a particular component: turns, edges, tracing, center, and alignment. Skaters received ordinal marks, which were combined with any penalties to produce a points core for each figure. This system remained in place for subsequent years of the event.

Figures

Figure	Name
1.1	Paragraph Double 3
1.2	Counter
1.3	Rocker
1.4	Change Loop
2.1	Paragraph Double 3
2.2	Change Bracket
2.3	Change Bracket
2.4	Paragraph Loop
3.1	Paragraph Double 3
3.2	Counter
3.3	Rocker
3.4	Change Loop
4.1	Paragraph Double 3
4.2	Change Bracket
4.3	Change Bracket
4.4	Paragraph Loop
Tie breaker	RFOI-LFIO Paragraph Loop

Results

Place	Ladies	Men
1	Jill Ahlbrecht	Richard Swenning
2	Sandy Lenz-Jackson	Shepherd Clark
3	Mandy Sisson-King	Stephen Thompson
4	Jan Calnan	Dmitri Peshkilev
5	Pamela Giangualano-Roberts	Christian Hendricks
6	Maggie Licata Brothers
7	Brooke Pitman
8	Nancy Blackwell-Grieder
9	Tiffani Healey
10	Tracey Mulherin
11	Kami Healey-Netri
12	Jennifer Tieche
13	Doris Papenfuss
14	Kim Millette Verde

Other Achievements

The Championship was accompanied by a Figure Festival that included workshops and informal competition. This continued in subsequent years.

The Richard Dwyer “Spirit of Skating” Award was presented to Jennifer Tieche. This award “is granted to a person who positively furthers World Figure Sport’s mission by expressing congeniality, dedication, and service to the outreach, promotion, and development of Figure & Fancy Skating, as exemplified by the life of Richard Dwyer,” according to the Hall of Fame page.

2016 Toronto

The competition was held on December 20-21, with practice on the 19th and the Figure Festival on the 22nd and 23rd. This was after rescheduling; it had originally been announced for August 23-27. The competition format remained essentially the same, but no sanction was mentioned in the announcement. Prospective competitors were initially asked to submit videos of their skating, but this requirement was dropped in favor of a description of their skating background. This year marks the inclusion of the first special figure (the Swiss S) and a creative figure.

Figures

Figure	Name
1.1	LFOI-RFIO One-Foot Eight
1.2	RFO-LFI Paragraph Three
1.3	LFI-RBI Rocker
1.4	RFOI-LFIO Change Loop
2.1	LBOI-RBIO Paragraph Double Three
2.2	RFO-LBO Counter
2.3	LBOI-RBIO Paragraph Loop
2.4	RFO Swiss S (Bracket Stop Bracket)
3.1	RFOI-LFIO One-Foot Eight
3.2	LFO-RFI Paragraph Three
3.3	RFI-LBI Rocker
3.4	LFOI-RFIO Change Loop
4.1	RBOI-LBIO Paragraph Double Three
4.2	LFO-RBO Counter
4.3	RBOI-LBIO Paragraph Loop
4.4	Creative Figure
Tie breaker	LBOI-RBIO Change Loop

Results

Place	Ladies	Men
1	Jill Ahlbrecht	Gary Beacom
2	Brooke Pitman	Shepherd Clark
3	Chantal Gagnon	Christian Hendricks
4	Tracey Robertson-Hanford
5	Jan Calnan
6	Nancy Blackwell-Grieder
7	Jennifer Tieche
8	Ryoko Natori
DNF	Colette Brabant

Other Achievements

On December 12, 2016, the IRS recognized the World Figure Sport Organization as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3). The organization’s EIN is 81-2904413.

Inclusive Skating events were added to the Figure Festival. They’ve been an annual feature since then.

The Richard Dwyer “Spirit of Skating” Award was presented to Karen Courtland Kelly.

2017 Vail, CO

This year’s event, held from September 28 to October 1, was called the “World Figure & Fancy Skating Championships” and sanctioned by “WorldFigureSport.org.” Skaters were allowed to participate by skating individual figures, in which they were ranked, but were not considered championship competitors unless they completed all segments. Two men and four women took advantage of this. Instead of charging entry fees, competitors were encouraged to raise $1500 for the organization.

Figures

Figure	Name
1.1	RFO-LFO Circle Eight
1.2	RFO-LFO Loop
1.3	LBOI-RBIO Serpentine
1.4	LBOI-RBIO Change Loop
2.1	RBI-LBI Double Three
2.2	LFI-RBI Counter
2.3	RFI Maltese Cross
2.4	LBI Swiss S
3.1	RFI-LFI Circle Eight
3.2	RFI-LFI Loop
3.3	RFO-LBO Rocker
3.4	LFOI-RFIO Change Loop
4.1	RFOI-LFIO Paragraph Loop
4.2	LFI Maltese Cross
4.3	RBI Swiss S
4.4	Creative Figure

Results

Place	Ladies	Men
1	Nancy Blackwell-Grieder	Shepherd Clark
2	Jennifer Lupia	Richard Swenning
3	Julie Schott-Lipsky	Christian Hendricks
4	Heather Zarisky
5	Sarah Jo Damron-Brown
6	Stephanie Chace Bass
7	Liz Schmidt
8	Kim Millette Verde

Other Achievements

The Richard Dwyer “Spirit of Skating” Award was presented to Deborah Hickey.

“Fancy skating” (freestyle with an artistic orientation) was offered as a separate event with two competitors in the men’s category and four in the women’s.

The Junior Championship for competitors aged 21 years or under was inaugurated.

The World Figure Sport Society offered exams in individual figures during the Festival for the first time. Skaters are scored on a scale of one through six. I posted about taking some of these exams.

2018 Vail, CO

The 2018 competition was held from September 27 to September 30. It followed the pattern of the 2017 event. There were a total of 13 skaters in the ladies’ event and seven in the men’s event, but not all received overall rankings.

Figures

Figure	Name
1.1	RFO-LFO Circle Eight
1.2	RFO-LFO Loop
1.3	LFOI-RBOI Change Three
1.4	LFOI-RFOI Change Loop
2.1	RBO-LBO Double Three
2.2	LFI-RBI Counter
2.3	RFI Maltese Cross
2.4	LFO Swiss S with Diamond Coutners
3.1	RBO-LBO Circle Eight
3.2	RBO-LBO Loop
3.3	LFO-RBO Rocker
3.4	RBOI-LBOI Change Loop
4.1	LFOI-RFIO Paragraph Loop
4.2	RFO Swiss S with Diamond Counters
4.3	LFI Maltese Cross
4.4	Creative Figure

Results

Place	Ladies	Men
1	Brooke Pitman	Shepherd Clark
2	Lisa Elmore	Marc Fenczak
3	Jill Ahlbrecht	Matt Snyder
4	Heather Zarisky
5	Nicole Lemanski
6	Shannon Cattaneo
7	Sarah Jo Damron Brown
8	Beth Woronoff
9	Jamie Chandler
10	Kim Millette Verde
11	Elisa Koshkina

Other Achievements

The Richard Dwyer “Spirit of Skating” Award was presented to Richard Stansberry posthumously.

The Maribel Vinson Trophy Lifetime Achievement award was inaugurated to reward “individulas [sic] who, throughout their life, have had a distinguished legacy within the skating world.” It was presented to Slavka Kouhout Button.

The Edinburgh 8 Record for the most skaters (18) skating on a single forward outside eight was set after the competition ended.

The first perfect 6 on an exam was given to a forward outside eight tested at the Festival.

2019 Vail, CO

The 2019 World Figure & Fancy Skating Championships, held from September 26 to September 29, featured a new requirement: a fancy skating segment replaced the first figure of the second set. Additionally, this year, skaters shared strips instead of having a whole strip to themselves, which enabled the competition to run more quickly as all skaters in the ladies’ event were able to compete at the same time. The division of each set of figures into two flights was unnecessary. This was possible because the figures were much smaller than usual, none larger than a standard two-circle figure from the ISU schedule.

A total of fourteen women and five men competed in at least one figure. Six women and four men received overall rankings.

Figures

Figure	Name
1.1	LFO-RFO Circle Eight
1.2	RFO-LFO Loop 3
1.3	RFO 3+RBI Bracket – LFO 3+LBI Bracket 8
1.4	LFOI Continuous Change of Edge Exterior Loop
2.1	Fancy Skating (replacing RFI-LFI Circle Eight)
2.2	RFI-LFI Loop
2.3	Mini LFI Counter + LBI Bracket – RFO Counter + RBI Bracket
2.4	RFI Maltese Cross
3.1	Mini RBO Rocker + RFO 3 – LBI Rocker + LBI 3
3.2	LFO Swiss S with Diamond Counters
3.3	RFO Swiss S with Diamond Counters
3.4	LFO Winged Diamond Cross-cut
4.1	RFOI Continuous Change of Edge Exterior Loop
4.2	LFI Maltese Cross
4.3	RFO Winged Diamond Cross-cut
4.4	Creative Figure

Results

Place	Ladies	Men
1	Lisa Elmore	Shepherd Clark
2	Sarah Jo Damron-Brown	Marc Fenczak
3	Heather Zarisky	Brendan Griffiths
4	Shannon Cattaneo	Matthew Snyder
5	Beth Woronoff
6	Kyla Jewell

Other Achievements

The Richard Dwyer “Spirit of Skating” Award was presented to Jonathan Chausovsky.

The Maribel Vinson Trophy Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Donald Jackson.

At the end of the event, skaters were offered the opportunity to set records. Lisa Elmore skated the Maltese cross 16 times on one foot, without touching down.

2020 Plattsburgh, NY

This competition will be held from December 30, 2020, to January 2, 2021.

Figures

Figure	Name
1.1	RFO-LFO Circle Eight
1.2	LFI-RFI Circle Eight
1.3	RFOIO-LFOIO Modern Quad Mini Composition
1.4	LFO+ Modern Twin 3s Mini Composition
2.1	RBO Rocker + RFO 3 – LBO Rocker + LFO 3
2.2	LBO Counter – RFI Counter
2.3	RBO-LBO Loop
2.4	LBI-RBI Loop (oriented perpendicular to 2.3)
3.1	RFO-LBO Swiss S with Change of Foot
3.2	LFI Maltese Cross
3.3	RFO-LFO Loop
3.4	LFI-RFI Loop (oriented perpendicular to 3.3)
4.1	LFO Winged Diamond Cross-cut
4.2	RFI Swirling Mirror
4.3	Creative Figure
4.4	Fancy Skating