Major honours
Sweden produced organized figure skating's first great champion. Ulrich Salchow won ten World Championship titles between 1901 and 1911, still the men's record more than a century later, and took the title when the sport became the first-ever Winter Olympic event at the 1908 London Games. In 1909 he introduced the edge jump that now bears his name, still one of the sport's six modern jumps and the one most skaters learn first. Salchow served as ISU president from 1925 to 1937, administering the rules of the very sport he had dominated. Sweden has not produced another champion of his stature since, but the city where he trained remains one of the sport's early hubs, and his name is spoken thousands of times a day at rinks around the world.
Record comparison
Bars are scaled to the strongest team in this list.
Club legends
Rivalry
In the early 20th century Salchow's chief rivals were Britain's Madge Syers and a handful of other European skaters active at the same World Championships, in an era before distinct national rivalries had formed.