WM - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 1979 - 4 Shilling

In 1979, Vienna was the venue for the World Figure Skating Championships for the eleventh time. In 1896 this major sporting event took place for the first time for men in St. Petersburg. The gold medal was won by the German Gilbert Fuchs, the Viennese Gustav Hügl finished second. Then followed the great time of Gustav Hügl, where he won the World Championships in 1897 in Stockholm, 1899 in Davos and 1900 also in Davos for Austria. This was followed by Ulrich Salchow, a Swede who managed to win a total of ten World Championship titles, an unprecedented record to date. His famous "Triple Salchow" is still an integral part of every World Championship program today. World Championships for women were only from 1906. Austria's most successful figure skater ever was Herma Szabo. She won the world title in 1922 in Stockholm, 1923 in Vienna, 1924 in Oslo, 1925 in Davos and 1926 in Stockholm. She also won an Olympic gold medal and two pairs world champion titles. In 1907, the first World Championships in Vienna took place on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Vienna Ice Skating Club. The Austrian Karl Schäfer is considered an exceptional phenomenon in figure skating. He was a world champion from 1930 to 1936, winning two Olympic gold medals and eight European titles. Other names in the Austrian figure skating sports are Felix Kaspar, Helene Engelmann, Emmerich Danzer and Trixi Schuba, just to name a few.