Ria Baran

Ria Baran
nation	BR Germany
birthday	November 29, 1922
place of birth	Dortmund
date of death	10th November 1986 (age 63)
Place of death	Dusseldorf
Career
discipline	Pair skating
Partner	Paul Falk
society	Düsseldorfer EG
Medal table
Olympic medals 1 × 0 × 0 × World Cup medals 2 × 0 × 0 × EM medals 2 × 0 × 0 ×
winter Olympics gold Oslo 1952 Couples  World figure skating championships gold Milan 1951 Couples gold Paris 1952 Couples  European figure skating championships gold Zurich 1951 Couples gold Vienna 1952 Couples

Maria Therese "Ria" Baran , married. Falk (born November 29, 1922 in Dortmund , † November 10, 1986 in Düsseldorf ) was a German figure skater who started in pair skating .

Her partner was Paul Falk . During their careers, the couple got married. They started for the Düsseldorfer EG and had neither a trainer nor a choreographer or even sponsors.

Ria Baran and Paul Falk never lost a competition. They became German champions as early as 1947, and they defended this title until 1952. However, they were only allowed to take part in international competitions from 1951, as Germany was largely excluded from international sport after the Second World War . In 1951 they promptly became European champions in Zurich and world champions in Milan . In 1952 they defended both titles at the European Championships in Vienna and the World Championships in Paris . They also won the gold medal at the 1952 Olympic Games in Oslo . They invented the lasso lift and were the first couple to do parallel double jumps in their freestyle.

Ria Baran and Paul Falk also became world champions in roller art for couples in 1951.

Ria Baran was athlete of the year three times in a row in Germany from 1950 to 1952 , including 1951 together with her husband as the overall winner. After their Olympic victory, the Falks switched to the professionals and went to Holiday on Ice . Ria Baran was a secretary by profession . Ria Baran was awarded the Silver Laurel Leaf together with her partner and husband Paul Falk .

In 2010 a street in Dortmund was named after her in recognition of her sporting achievements.

Results

Pair skating

(with Paul Falk )

Competition / year	1947	1948	1949	1950	1951	1952
winter Olympics						1.
World championships					1.	1.
European championships					1.	1.
German championships	1.	1.	1.	1.	1.	1.

Web links

• Ria Baran in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Stadtanzeiger Dortmund - Ostanzeiger, January 19, 2011