1961 European Figure Skating Championships
Rank Name Nation Places
1 Alain Giletti France 9
2 Alain Calmat France 11
3 Manfred Schnelldorfer West Germany 23
4 Peter Jonas Austria 37
5 Emmerich Danzer Austria 51.5
6 Robin Jones United Kingdom 55.5
7 Sepp Schönmetzler West Germany 65
8 Bodo Bockenauer East Germany 80
9 Heinrich Podhasjski Austria 79
10 Per Kjølberg Norway 87
11 Peter Krick West Germany 91
12 Wouter Toledo Netherlands 111
13 Michael Flebbe East Germany 112
14 Giordano Abbondati Italy 122
15 Ragnar Wikström Finland 135
Results -- Men
The European Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which figure skaters compete for the title of European Champion. The 1961 competitions took place from January 26 to January 29, 1961, in West Berlin. Skaters competed in the disciplines of ladies' singles, men's singles, pair skating and ice dancing. The event took place without the participation of skaters from the Soviet Union not because of a political boycott, but rather because an exceptionally mild winter left the Russian skaters with insufficient ice for practice in their home country. The Soviet team was also withdrawn from the originally planned World Championships for the same reason, but that tournament was subsequently cancelled after Sabena Flight 548. The defending champions in all four divisions retained their titles. In the pairs competition, however, the champions Marika Kilius & Hans-Jürgen Bäumler faced a close battle with Margret Göbl & Franz Ningel, who had defeated them at the West German championships earlier in the season. Göbl & Ningel may have been penalized for including an illegal lift in their program. In the ladies' event, Sjoukje Dijkstra built up a lead in the compulsory figures that assured her of victory. Her free skating program was described as exhausting. The stars of the free skating were Helli Sengstschmidt and Jana Mrázková, who both reportedly did triple salchow jumps in their programs. Alain Giletti likewise assured himself of victory by winning the figures by a large margin.