Why they rank here
The first great champion of organised figure skating, and the only skater whose name is spoken thousands of times a day in every rink on earth. Salchow won ten world titles between 1901 and 1911, still the men's record more than a century later, and nine European championships between 1898 and 1913. He took the Olympic title at the 1908 London Games, where figure skating became the first winter sport ever contested at an Olympics. In 1909 he performed the edge jump that carries his name, a take-off from the back inside edge with no toe assistance, which remains one of the six jumps in the modern repertoire and is the entry point for most skaters' first triple and first quadruple. He was also an administrator of consequence, serving as ISU president from 1925 to 1937 and shaping the rules of the sport he had just finished dominating. Whatever era adjustment one applies, no man has won more world championships.
Career profile
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