Ulrich Salchow

Karl Emil Julius Ulrich Salchow (7 August 1877 – 19 April 1949) was a Swedish figure skater, who dominated the sport in the first decade of the 20th century.

Salchow won the World Figure Skating Championships ten times, from 1901 to 1905 and from 1907 to 1911. This is still a record, which he shares with Sonja Henie, who also won 10 titles in the 1920s and 1930s, and with Irina Rodnina, who won 10 titles in the 1960s and 1970s. Salchow did not compete in the 1906 World Championships that were held in Munich, as he feared that he would not be judged fairly against Gilbert Fuchs of Germany.

When figure skating was first contested at the Summer Olympic Games in London (1908), Salchow also won the title with ease and became one of the oldest figure skating Olympic champions. In addition, Salchow won the European Championships a record nine times (1898–1900, 1904, 1906–1907, 1909–1910, 1913) and placed second in the World Championships three times.

Salchow was famous for his Salchow Star figure, which he used for a second-place finish at the World Championship in Davos, Switzerland in February 1900.

In 1909, Ulrich Salchow first landed a jump in competition in which he took off on the back inside edge and landed on the back outside edge of his other foot. This jump is now known as the Salchow jump in his honor.

After his competitive days, Salchow remained active in the sport and was president of the International Skating Union (ISU) from 1925 to 1937. Furthermore, he was the chairman of AIK in Stockholm between 1928 and 1939 – the leading Swedish club in football, ice hockey, bandy, tennis and other sports.

Ulrich Salchow was married to the dentist Dr. Anne-Elisabeth Salchow.

Salchow died in Stockholm at the age of 71 and was interred there at Norra begravningsplatsen.

Results Event 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1913 1920 Olympics 1st 4th World Championships 2nd 2nd 2nd 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st European Championships 1st 1st 1st 3rd 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st Swedish Championships 1st 1st 1st