Before they abolished figures, there were medals awarded to the top three free-skate placings; that tiny bronze medal is something I’m very proud of it. It inspired me in Paris the following year; it was another link in the chain.

Forcing the Edge, pag. 85

Who speak is Kurt Browning, the medal he refers to is the first one he has won in a World Championship. He had already participated in the World Championship in 1987 and the Olympics in 1988, but it is at the 1988 World Championship that he wrote a page of skating history. In that competition he became the first skater capable of landing a quadruple jump. After the compulsory figures he was twelfth, but with the seventh short program and the third free skate he climbed to sixth overall. The medals were won by Brian Boitano, Brian Orser and Viktor Petrenko. But there were other medals at stake, albeit less important.

With the second short program and the first free skate, Orser won the gold small medal, with the best short program and the second free skate Boitano won the silver, and Browning won the bronze, ahead of Petrenko, third in the short, fifth in the free. The following year the World Championship was held in Paris, and Browning won the first of his four world title. The small medal was instrumental in Browning’s wins, it convinced him that he was really strong.

I was unable to find accurate information on small medals. They are probably linked to the birth of the short program. Until 1972 the competitions were made up of compulsory figures and free skate. The figures, however, were boring to watch, very technical, so the television did not transmit them, even if it was the figures that were linked to the greater part of the final score. Skaters very good in figures, a very famous example is Beatrix Schuba, conquered a wide advantage and won important competitions despite not excellent free programs. The public did not understand the result, could not understand it with what they had seen, and believed that the results were biased. To reduce the importance of compulsory figures, since 1973 a third program has been added, the short program. The importance of the three programs was changed several times over time until 1990, the last year in which the figures were part of the competitions.

At least, this happened for Men and Ladies. Pairs and Ice Dance have a little different past: Pairs never had compulsory figures, for Ice Dance the figures were abolished in 2010.

He never won or finished second in a world or Olympic championship, but he was the world free skating champion (combined short and long program finishes) three times.

Figure Skating’s Greatest Stars, pag. 31

Who wrote is Steve Milton, the skater to whom he is referring is Toller Cranston. These are Cranston’s results:

		Rank	CP	SP	FS	SP+FS
1970	WC	13	15		12
1971	WC	11	15		6
1972	OG	9	12		5
1972	WC	5	9		1
1973	WC	5	6	1	5	?
1974	WC	3	8	1	1	1
1975	WC	4	4	3	2	?
1976	OG	3	7	1	2	?
1976	WC	4	5	1	2	?

Two bronzes, at the 1974 World Championship and at the 1976 Olympic Games, but, as Milton said to us, three gold in the free skate (SP+FS). As we can see, Cranston was not really strong in the compulsory figures, but his importance for figure skating is way beyond his medals.

For several (not all) the World Championship of the ’80s. Wikipedia said to us who won the small pedal for the short program+free skate. According to Browning, the small medals were awarded before the abolition of the compulsory figures. Bur now at the World Championship (and also at the European Championship and Four Continents Championship) the ISU award to the skaters small medals for the short program and for the free skate. The small medals were really deleted and subsequently restored, or they were never deleted? I don’t know, I’d like that the ISU someday would publish a book with all the data and the stats.

What I know is that for the skaters even the small medals are important, these medals give to them strength and confidence. Since I like numbers, I checked who won the most small medals, assuming that since 1991 one has been assigned per every program, as is done now.

If this is true, the skater who won the highest numbers of small medals is Michelle Kwan, 18, from 1995 to 2005. Kwan really stand out with a huge number in a lot of year. It’s true that if a skater has competed in a lot of championship he could have won more medal of a skater who competed in less championship, but the longevity of an athlete, especially now, with the increased risk of injury because jumps have more rotations, for me is another sign of his greatness. Remaining at the top for so many years (and every year Kwan has won at least one small medal, only in 1994, when she made her debut at the World Championship at a very young age, did she not win anything) is difficult, and it’s difficult phisically and mentally.

I checked only the Men’s and Ladies’ competitions. With 12 small medals there is Irina Slutskaya. With 10 there is Carolina Kostner. Yuna Kim and Mao Asada are tied with 9. For the men I complied a file Excel (I’m sure to I’m sure I’ve done it for the ladies too, but I can’t find it anymore. I no longer even find a file I had done on the year-end rankings, sometimes finding files on my computer is really complicated).

The gray or light blue colored background indicates that the skater did not participate in the competition (or, in some cases, that he did not compete in the free skate). I checked all the placings of the skaters who have won at least one small medal, highlighting the medals with the three colors. This way we can see where the medals stand in their entire career. Some skaters have participated in the World Championship even before 1991, however even considering a small medal in each of the seasons in which they have obtained important results, no one reaches 10. With different rules, Browning would reach 11, but up to when there were compulsories figures the small medal was one, so he stops at 9. Petrenko won only another small medal, in 1990. Previous skaters, however strong, won less small medals because at that time was awarded only one for World Championship.

There are skaters who had a long career, but were among the best in the world only for a few years. Michal Brezina competed in 11 World Championship, but only in two of his first three he was really competitive. Javier Fernandez started as a not so strong skater, but when he became strong, he was really strong. In his last four partecipation, he always competed for a medal, even if in the 2017 he ended outside the podium. But his gold small medal say to us that he was strong.

In the last three columns I did some sum. The last column is the number of small medals won by every skaters. In green I highlighted the two skaters who won the most, 12, the same number as Irina Slutskaya. They are Patrick Chan and Yuzuru Hanyu. Only Michelle Kwan won a higher number.

The third to last column indicates the number of times each skater has participated in the World Championship. The next column indicates in how many editions of the World Championship that skater has won at least one small medal. For example, Alexander Abt participated in three World Championship, but only in one did he win a small medal. I highlighted in blue when a skater has won at least one small medal in all the World Championships in which he has participated. Three, Yuma Kagiyama, Tatsuki Machida and Kazuki Tomono (curious, all Japanese. Japan has a lot of really strong skaters, and sometimes even one of the best skaters in the world isn’t able to go to the World Championship because in his nation there are several skaters stronger than him) have participated in only one World Championship, so the number is not very significant. Two, Yuzuru Hanyu and Alexei Yagudin, has won at least a small medal in all the World Championship in which they partecipated, 8 Hanyu and 6 Yagudin (Evgeni Plushenko almost did the same, in 2005 he has retired because of an injury). They are the only one that if they went to a World Championship, they were always one of the best skaters in the World.