Herma Szabó

Herma Szabó
nation	Austria
birthday	February 22, 1902
place of birth	Vienna
date of death	May 7, 1986
Place of death	Admont
Career
discipline	Single run, pair run
Partner	Ludwig Wrede
Medal table
Olympic medals 1 × 0 × 0 × World Cup medals 7 × 1 × 1 ×
winter Olympics gold Chamonix 1924 Ladies  World figure skating championships gold Stockholm 1922 Ladies gold Vienna 1923 Ladies gold Oslo 1924 Ladies gold Davos 1925 Ladies gold Vienna 1925 Couples gold Stockholm 1926 Ladies bronze Berlin 1926 Couples silver Oslo 1927 Ladies gold Vienna 1927 Couples

Herma Szabó (born February 22, 1902 in Vienna ; † May 7, 1986 in Admont ) was an Austrian figure skater . She became Olympic champion and five-time world champion in the single run and twice world champion with partner Ludwig Wrede in pair skating . After the end of her figure skating career, she took part in competitions in alpine skiing .

Herma Szabó was born in Vienna in 1902 into a family with a great figure skating tradition. Her mother was Christa von Szabó , who won bronze in pair skating with Leo Horwitz at the 1913 and 1914 World Championships . Christa von Szabó was the sister of Eduard Engelmann junior , the European champion from 1892 to 1894 and the builder of the world's first artificial ice rink. Herma Szabó grew up playing figure skating at an early age and trained on her uncle's ice ring together with her cousins Helene Engelmann , who would later become Olympic champion and world champion in pair skating, and Christine Engelmann , who would later become the wife of multiple Olympic champion and world champion Karl Schäfer .

Herma Szabó started both in the individual run and in the sports pairs with Ludwig Wrede , who later became President of the Austrian Ice Skating Association. She was the dominant figure skater of the twenties and the most successful Austrian figure skater in history.

In the individual run , she was Austrian champion six times in a row from 1922 to 1927. During the same period she took part in world championships . From 1922 to 1926 she was world champion five times in a row. At the Olympic Games in Chamonix in 1924 , she won the gold medal.

In pair skating , she competed with Ludwig Wrede . They became Austrian champions in 1925 and 1926 and world champions in 1925 and 1927 . In 1926 they won bronze.

Herma Szabó ended her career after the World Cup in Oslo in 1927 , where she was only second behind Sonja Henie , after she had clearly led after the mandatory figures. The result was controversial as three judges came from Norway, one from Germany and one from Austria. The three Norwegians put Henie in first place, the other two judges Szabó, as did Henie's compatriot Karen Simensen , who won bronze in front of Ellen Brockhöft . This disaffected Szabó and she never ran again. Henie later offered her a new version of the duel, but she declined. For Ludwig Wrede, the sudden end of her career meant that he had to find a new partner at short notice before the 1928 Olympic Games .

In the results lists she is listed under the following names: Herma Szabo, Herma Plank-Szabo, Herma Planck-Szabo, Herma Jarosz-Szabo and Herma Jaross-Szabo (marriage to the Hungarian figure skater Pal Jarosz). Herma Szabo was the first woman who did not wear a long skirt or dress. She invented the short figure skating dress that is still common today for women. In 1982 she was finally inducted into the Figure Skating Hall of Fame .

After the end of her figure skating career, Szabó began alpine skiing in 1928 . She started for the Ski Club Arlberg which achieved top 10 rankings in the Austrian championships in 1932 and 1934 a victory in among other Schneeberg race in 1932. That same year, she reached for the internationally strong field 5. Arlberg-Kandahar in St. Anton am Arlberg ninth in the downhill, seventh in the slalom and eighth in the combination.

Results

Single run

Competition / year	1918	1922	1923	1924	1925	1926	1927
winter Olympics				1.
World championships		1.	1.	1.	1.	1.	2.
Austrian championships	2.	1.	1.	1.	1.	1.	1.

Pair skating

(with Ludwig Wrede )

Competition / year	1925	1926	1927
World championships	1.	3.	1.
Austrian championships	1.	1.

Web links

• Herma Szabó in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Erich Bazalka: Ski history of Lower Austria . Written on behalf of the Lower Austria State Ski Association, Waidhofen / Ybbs 1977, p. 57
2. ↑ About the Schneeberg slalom. In:  Sportblatt am Mittag / Sport-Tagblatt. Sports edition of the Neue Wiener Tagblatt , April 5, 1932, p. 5 (online at ANNO ).
3. ↑ The mountain hare. Yearbook of the Swiss academic ski club. Vol. 2, No. 6, 1932, pp. 253-255 ( online at issuu.com)