# 1979 World Figure Skating Championships

The 1979 World Figure Skating Championships were held in Vienna, Austria from March 13 to 18. At the event, sanctioned by the International Skating Union, medals were awarded in men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dance.

## Medal tables
### Medalists

| Discipline | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Men's singles | Vladimir Kovalev | Robin Cousins | Jan Hoffmann |
| Ladies' singles | Linda Fratianne | Anett Pötzsch | Emi Watanabe |
| Pair skating | Tai Babilonia / Randy Gardner | Marina Cherkasova / Sergei Shakhrai | Sabine Baeß / Tassilo Thierbach |
| Ice dance | Natalia Linichuk / Gennadi Karponosov | Krisztina Regőczy / András Sallay | Irina Moiseyeva / Andrei Minenkov |

### Medals by country

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Soviet Union (URS) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 2 | United States (USA) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | East Germany (GDR) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 4 | Great Britain (GBR) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Hungary (HUN) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | Japan (JPN) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (6 entries) | Totals (6 entries) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 12 |

## Results
### Men

| Rank | Name | Nation | CP | SP | FS | SP+FS | Points | Places |
| 1 | Vladimir Kovalev | Soviet Union | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 185.80 | 17 |
| 2 | Robin Cousins | United Kingdom | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 185.18 | 22 |
| 3 | Jan Hoffmann | East Germany | 1 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 185.10 | 23 |
| 4 | Charles Tickner | United States | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 184.28 | 28 |
| 5 | Scott Cramer | United States | 8 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 178.04 | 52 |
| 6 | Fumio Igarashi | Japan | 10 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 177.06 | 57 |
| 7 | Jean-Christophe Simond | France | 6 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 175.58 | 67 |
| 8 | David Santee | United States | 3 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 174.58 | 71 |
| 9 | Mitsuru Matsumura | Japan | 11 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 172.74 | 83 |
| 10 | Igor Bobrin | Soviet Union | 7 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 172.04 | 87 |
| 11 | Konstantin Kokora | Soviet Union | 12 | 6 | 13 | 11 | 169.60 | 104 |
| 12 | Hermann Schulz | East Germany | 13 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 169.38 | 106 |
| 13 | Brian Pockar | Canada | 14 | 7 | 14 | 14 | 168.50 | 109 |
| 14 | Mario Liebers | East Germany | 9 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 166.54 | 120 |
| 15 | Vern Taylor | Canada | 20 | 15 | 9 | 9 | 163.62 | 133 |
| 16 | Norbert Schramm | West Germany | 15 | 16 | 19 | 17 | 156.44 | 147 |
| 17 | Thomas Öberg | Sweden | 18 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 153.10 | 157 |
| 18 | Helmut Kristofics-Binder | Austria | 16 | 20 | 18 | 19 | 151.78 | 162 |
| 19 | Jozef Sabovčík | Czechoslovakia | 17 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 148.16 | 175 |
| 20 | Christopher Howarth | United Kingdom | 21 | 19 | 17 | 18 | 148.62 | 175 |
| 21 | William Schober | Australia | 19 | 22 | 21 | 21 | 146.40 | 182 |
| 22 | Matjaž Krušec | Yugoslavia | 22 | 21 | 22 | 22 | 138.86 | 198 |
Referee:
* Sonia Bianchetti Italy
Assistant Referee:
* Benjamin T. Wright United States
Judges:
* Eva von Gamm West Germany
* Margaret Berezowski Canada
* Toshio Suzuki Japan
* Monique Georgelin France
* Yvonne Tutt United States
* Walburga Grimm East Germany
* Tatiana Danilenko Soviet Union
* Pamela Davis United Kingdom
* Tjasa Andrée Yugoslavia
* Václav Skála Czechoslovakia

### Ladies

*: better placed due to the majority of the better placings
| Rank | Name | Nation | CP | SP | FS | SP+FS | Points | Places |
| 1 | Linda Fratianne | United States | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 186.92 | 11 |
| 2 | Anett Pötzsch | East Germany | 1 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 184.36 | 18 |
| 3 | Emi Watanabe | Japan | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 180.52 | 31 |
| 4 | Dagmar Lurz | West Germany | 2 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 179.96 | 33 |
| 5 | Denise Biellmann | Switzerland | 11 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 177.28 | 49 |
| 6 | Lisa-Marie Allen | United States | 8 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 176.68 | 54 |
| 7 | Claudia Kristofics-Binder | Austria | 5 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 175.44 | 63 |
| 8 | Susanna Driano | Italy | 6 | 3 | 14 | 9 | 173.46 | 70 |
| 9 | Carola Weißenberg | East Germany | 9 | 21 | 7 | 11 | 170.54 | 88 |
| 10 | Kristiina Wegelius | Finland | 7 | 8 | 18 | 15 | 169.26 | 98 |
| 11 | Carrie Rugh | United States | 12 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 169.34 | 97 |
| 12 | Sanda Dubravčić | Yugoslavia | 21 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 166.96 | 115 |
| 13 | Natalia Strelkova | Soviet Union | 14 | 20 | 15 | 16 | 164.94 | 134 |
| 14 | Deborah Cottrill | United Kingdom | 10 | 16 | 20 | 20 | 164.80 | 136 |
| 15 | Karin Riediger | West Germany | 15 | 12 | 16 | 17 | 164.50 | 142 |
| 16 | Renata Baierová | Czechoslovakia | 18 | 15 | 13 | 13 | 164.00 | 144 |
| 17 | Petra Ernert | West Germany | 19 | 19 | 12 | 14 | 163.24 | 149* |
| 18 | Kira Ivanova | Soviet Union | 20 | 13 | 10 | 12 | 164.02 | 147 |
| 19 | Janet Morrissey | Canada | 17 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 162.04 | 162 |
| 20 | Reiko Kobayashi | Japan | 13 | 18 | 21 | 21 | 161.30 | 170* |
| 21 | Jeanne Chapman | Norway | 16 | 14 | 19 | 19 | 161.80 | 166 |
| 22 | Anita Siegfried | Switzerland | 22 | 28 | 24 | 26 | 150.34 | 207 |
| 23 | Astrid Jansen in de Wal | Netherlands | 23 | 24 | 26 | 25 | 149.18 | 216 |
| 24 | Franca Bianconi | Italy | 26 | 23 | 22 | 22 | 149.04 | 218 |
| 25 | Bodil Olsson | Sweden | 30 | 26 | 23 | 23 | 147.02 | 225 |
| 26 | Corinne Wyrsch | Switzerland | 24 | 22 | 28 | 27 | 146.76 | 233 |
| 27 | Kim Myo-sil | North Korea | 27 | 25 | 25 | 24 | 145.48 | 237 |
| 28 | Belinda Coulthard | Australia | 25 | 27 | 27 | 28 | 145.92 | 238 |
| 29 | Katie Symmonds | New Zealand | 23 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 134.58 | 261 |
| 30 | Shin Hea-sook | South Korea | 29 | 30 | 31 | 30 | 120.44 | 270 |
| 31 | Gloria Mas | Spain | 31 | 31 | 30 | 31 | 112.28 | 279 |
Referee:
* Hermann Schiechtl West Germany
Assistant Referee:
* Martin Felsenreich Austria
Judges:
* Eugen Romminger West Germany
* Berit Aarens Norway
* Evgenia Bogdanova Soviet Union
* Lena Vainio Finland
* Jürg Wilhelm Switzerland
* Giordano Abbondati Italy
* Ingrid Linke East Germany
* Jacqueline Kendall-Baker Australia
* Charles Foster United States
* Suzanne Francis Canada

### Pairs

| Rank | Name | Nation | SP | FS | Points | Places |
| 1 | Tai Babilonia / Randy Gardner | United States | 1 | 1 | 144.54 | 12 |
| 2 | Marina Cherkasova / Sergei Shakhrai | Soviet Union | 2 | 2 | 142.22 | 16 |
| 3 | Sabine Baeß / Tassilo Thierbach | East Germany | 4 | 3 | 137.74 | 32 |
| 4 | Irina Vorobieva / Igor Lisovski | Soviet Union | 3 | 4 | 138.72 | 33 |
| 5 | Marina Pestova / Stanislav Leonovich | Soviet Union | 5 | 5 | 133.98 | 46 |
| 6 | Vicki Heasley / Robert Wagenhoffer | United States | 6 | 6 | 132.50 | 54 |
| 7 | Cornelia Haufe / Kersten Bellmann | East Germany | 7 | 10 | 128.98 | 70 |
| 8 | Christina Riegel / Andreas Nischwitz | West Germany | 9 | 8 | 128.56 | 75 |
| 9 | Sheryl Franks / Michael Botticelli | United States | 8 | 9 | 127.64 | 77 |
| 10 | Kerstin Stolfig / Veit Kempe | East Germany | 11 | 7 | 125.92 | 84 |
| 11 | Barbara Underhill / Paul Martini | Canada | 10 | 11 | 123.92 | 94 |
| 12 | Gabriele Beck / Jochen Stahl | West Germany | 14 | 12 | 117.62 | 114 |
| 13 | Elizabeth Cain / Peter Cain | Australia | 12 | 13 | 115.32 | 117 |
| 14 | Kyoko Hagiwara / Hisao Ozaki | Japan | 13 | 14 | 114.02 | 120 |
Referee:
* Elemér Terták Hungary
Assistant Referee:
* Emil Skákala Czechoslovakia
Judges:
* Thérèse Maisel France
* Liudmila Kubashevskaya Soviet Union
* Jacqueline Kendall-Baker Australia
* Günter Teichmann East Germany
* Mary Louise Wright United States
* Willi Wernz West Germany
* Oskar Urban Czechoslovakia
* Junko Hiramatsu Japan
* Suzanne Fancis Canada
* Pamela Davis United Kingdom
* Giordano Abbondati Italy

### Ice dance

* better placed due to the majority of the better placings
| Rank | Name | Nation | CD | FD | Points | Places |
| 1 | Natalia Linichuk / Gennadi Karponosov | Soviet Union | 1 | 1 | 207.86 | 9 |
| 2 | Krisztina Regőczy / András Sallay | Hungary | 2 | 2 | 204.10 | 22 |
| 3 | Irina Moiseeva / Andrei Minenkov | Soviet Union | 3 | 3 | 203.74 | 23 |
| 4 | Liliana Řeháková / Stanislav Drastich | Czechoslovakia | 4 | 4 | 196.94 | 36 |
| 5 | Janet Thompson / Warren Maxwell | United Kingdom | 5 | 5 | 194.00 | 51 |
| 6 | Lorna Wighton / John Dowding | Canada | 6 | 6 | 192.70 | 52 |
| 7 | Susi Handschmann / Peter Handschmann | Austria | 7 | 7 | 188.72 | 65 |
| 8 | Jayne Torvill / Christopher Dean | United Kingdom | 8 | 8 | 187.84 | 71 |
| 9 | Stacey Smith / John Summers | United States | 9 | 10 | 185.70 | 81 |
| 10 | Natalia Bestemianova / Andrei Bukin | Soviet Union | 11 | 9 | 184.06 | 87 |
| 11 | Carol Fox / Richard Dalley | United States | 10 | 11 | 180.30 | 98 |
| 12 | Henriette Fröschl / Christian Steiner | West Germany | 12 | 12 | 175.50 | 108 |
| 13 | Karen Barber / Nicky Slater | United Kingdom | 13 | 13 | 169.74 | 121 |
| 14 | Anna Pisánská / Jiří Musil | Czechoslovakia | 14 | 14 | 168.70 | 124 |
| 15 | Patricia Fletcher / Michael de la Penotiere | Canada | 15 | 15 | 165.24 | 134 |
| 16 | Martine Olivier / Yves Tarayre | France | 16 | 16 | 161.44 | 145 |
| 17 | Jindra Holá / Karol Foltán | Czechoslovakia | 18 | 17 | 157.64 | 157 |
| 18 | Gabriella Remport / Sándor Nagy | Hungary | 17 | 18 | 158.26 | 157 |
| 19 | Yumiko Kage / Tadayuki Takahashi | Japan | 19 | 19 | 153.30 | 175* |
| 20 | Claudia Koch / Peter Schübl | Austria | 20 | 20 | 151.94 | 174 |
Referee:
* Hans Kutschera Austria
Assistant Referee:
* Lawrence Demmy United Kingdom
Judges:
* Igor Kabanov Soviet Union
* Brenda Long United Kingdom
* Pál Vásárhelyi Hungary
* Gerhard Frey West Germany
* Lysiane Lauret France
* Virginia Le Fevre United States
* Dennis McFarlane Canada
* Rudolf Zorn Austria
* Gerhardt Bubnik Czechoslovakia
* Tsukasa Kimura Japan