# 1981 World Figure Skating Championships

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

| Discipline | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 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

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | United States (USA) | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 2 | Soviet Union (URS) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 3 | Great Britain (GBR) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | Switzerland (SUI) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | East Germany (GDR) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | Austria (AUT) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | West Germany (FRG) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (7 entries) | Totals (7 entries) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 12 |

## Results
### Men

| Rank | Name | Nation | CP | SP | FS | SP+FS | Total |
| 1 | Scott Hamilton | United States | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.8 |
| 2 | David Santee | United States | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5.4 |
| 3 | Igor Bobrin | Soviet Union | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6.6 |
| 4 | Fumio Igarashi | Japan | 6 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 8.4 |
| 5 | Jean-Christophe Simond | France | 1 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 8.6 |
| 6 | Brian Orser | Canada | 9 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 12.8 |
| 7 | Norbert Schramm | West Germany | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 14.0 |
| 8 | Brian Pockar | Canada | 3 | 8 | 11 | 10 | 16.0 |
| 9 | Vladimir Kotin | Soviet Union | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 20.0 |
| 10 | Robert Wagenhoffer | United States | 14 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 21.2 |
| 11 | Grzegorz Filipowski | Poland | 8 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 21.2 |
| 12 | Jozef Sabovčík | Czechoslovakia | 11 | 9 | 13 | 13 | 23.2 |
| 13 | Falko Kirsten | East Germany | 15 | 14 | 9 | 11 | 23.6 |
| 14 | Thomas Öberg | Sweden | 12 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 26.4 |
| 15 | Takashi Mura | Japan | 17 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 31.2 |
| 16 | Bruno Watschinger | Austria | 13 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 31.2 |
| 17 | Christopher Howarth | United Kingdom | 18 | 18 | 16 | 16 | 34.0 |
| 18 | Michael Pasfield | Australia | 19 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 36.2 |
| 19 | Todd Sand | Denmark | 20 | 19 | 19 | 19 | 38.6 |
| 20 | Xu Zhaoxiao | China | 21 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 40.6 |
| WD | Miljan Begovic | Yugoslavia | 16 | | | | |
Referee:
* Donald H. Gilchrist Canada
Assistant Referee:
* Elemér Terták Hungary
Judges:
* Walburga Grimm East Germany
* Junko Hiramatsu Japan
* Monique Georgelin France
* Gerhard Frey West Germany
* Maria Zuchowicz Poland
* Sergei Kononykhin Soviet Union
* Linda Petersen Denmark
* Hugh C. Graham jr. United States
* Geoffrey Yates United Kingdom
Substitute judge:
* Bojan Lipovšćak Canada

### Ladies

| Rank | Name | Nation | CP | SP | FS | SP+FS | Total |
| 1 | Denise Biellmann | Switzerland | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4.2 |
| 2 | Elaine Zayak | United States | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7.4 |
| 3 | Claudia Kristofics-Binder | Austria | 1 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 8.0 |
| 4 | Deborah Cottrill | United Kingdom | 2 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 8.4 |
| 5 | Katarina Witt | East Germany | 11 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 10.0 |
| 6 | Kristiina Wegelius | Finland | 3 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 10.8 |
| 7 | Priscilla Hill | United States | 5 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 16.0 |
| 8 | Carola Paul | East Germany | 16 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 18.4 |
| 9 | Karin Riediger | West Germany | 9 | 14 | 8 | 9 | 19.0 |
| 10 | Tracey Wainman | Canada | 6 | 15 | 10 | 12 | 19.6 |
| 11 | Sanda Dubravčić | Yugoslavia | 8 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 21.6 |
| 12 | Kira Ivanova | Soviet Union | 13 | 4 | 13 | 11 | 22.4 |
| 13 | Manuela Ruben | West Germany | 17 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 24.8 |
| 14 | Anne-Sophie de Kristoffy | France | 15 | 11 | 16 | 15 | 29.4 |
| 15 | Karen Wood | United Kingdom | 18 | 16 | 14 | 14 | 31.2 |
| 16 | Andrea Rohm | Austria | 14 | 18 | 17 | 17 | 32.6 |
| 17 | Reiko Kobayashi | Japan | 10 | 13 | 22 | 19 | 33.2 |
| 18 | Catarina Lindgren | Sweden | 19 | 20 | 15 | 16 | 34.4 |
| 19 | Corinne Wyrsch | Switzerland | 20 | 22 | 18 | 18 | 38.8 |
| 20 | Sonja Stanek | Austria | 12 | 19 | 24 | 23 | 38.8 |
| 21 | Masako Kato | Japan | 21 | 23 | 19 | 21 | 40.8 |
| 22 | Editha Dotson | Belgium | 23 | 17 | 21 | 20 | 41.6 |
| 23 | Päivi Nieminen | Finland | 25 | 21 | 20 | 22 | 43.4 |
| 24 | Vicki Holland | Australia | 26 | 26 | 23 | 24 | 49.0 |
| 25 | Rudina Pasveer | Netherlands | 22 | 27 | 26 | 26 | 50.0 |
| 26 | Lisa Coppola | Italy | 27 | 24 | 25 | 25 | 50.8 |
| 27 | Hanne Gamborg | Denmark | 24 | 25 | 27 | 27 | 51.4 |
| 28 | Lim Hye-kyung | South Korea | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 56.0 |
| 29 | Rosario Esteban | Spain | 30 | 31 | 29 | 29 | 59.4 |
| 30 | Denyse Adam | New Zealand | 29 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 59.4 |
| 31 | Bao Zhenghua | China | 31 | 29 | 31 | 31 | 61.2 |
Referee:
* Sonia Bianchetti Italy
Assistant Referee:
* Charles U. Foster United States
Judges:
* Tjaša Andrée Yugoslavia
* Ludwig Gassner Austria
* Karl-David Runeskog Sweden
* Jane Sullivan United States
* Kuniko Ueno Japan
* Helga von Wiecki East Germany
* Marie Lundmark Finland
* Eugen Romminger West Germany
* David Dore Canada
Substitute judge:
* Pamela Davis United Kingdom

### Pairs

| Rank | Name | Nation | SP | FS | Total |
| 1 | Irina Vorobieva / Igor Lisovski | Soviet Union | 1 | 1 | 1.4 |
| 2 | Sabine Baeß / Tassilo Thierbach | East Germany | 2 | 2 | 2.8 |
| 3 | Christina Riegel / Andreas Nischwitz | West Germany | 4 | 3 | 4.6 |
| 4 | Marina Cherkasova / Sergei Shakhrai | Soviet Union | 3 | 4 | 5.2 |
| 5 | Kitty Carruthers / Peter Carruthers | United States | 7 | 5 | 7.8 |
| 6 | Veronika Pershina / Marat Akbarov | Soviet Union | 5 | 6 | 8.0 |
| 7 | Barbara Underhill / Paul Martini | Canada | 10 | 7 | 11.0 |
| 8 | Susan Garland / Robert Daw | United Kingdom | 8 | 8 | 11.2 |
| 9 | Birgit Lorenz / Knut Schubert | East Germany | 6 | 9 | 11.4 |
| 10 | Lea Ann Miller / William Fauver | United States | 9 | 10 | 13.6 |
| 11 | Luan Bo / Yao Bin | China | 11 | 11 | 15.4 |
Referee:
* Benjamin T. Wright United States
Assistant Referee:
* Martin Felsenreich Austria
Judges:
* Maya Reinhart Switzerland
* Jacqueline Kendall-Baker Australia
* Walburga Grimm East Germany
* Dorothy MacLeod Canada
* Pamela Davis United Kingdom
* Liudmila Kubashevskaya Soviet Union
* Maria Zuchowicz Poland
* E. Newbold Black IV. United States
* Eugen Romminger West Germany
Substitute judge:
* Junko Hiramatsu Japan

### Ice dancing

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

## Sources

* Result list provided by the ISU