1949
Still 19 remaining after the post-Olympic bleed, that’s pretty good and shows that skating and the world as a whole is on the mend: AUT, BEL, CAN, DEN, FIN, FRA, FRG, GBR, HUN, ITA, JAP, KOR, NED, NOR, POL, SWE, SWI, URS, USA. Thus we again need a preliminary round of 3 matches. The participating quarter-finalists from last year, FIN, POL, CAN, NOR, GBR, SWE and URS, that is, all except Czechoslovakia, for whom the world is not on the mend, are exempt. The draw is: BEL-NED, DEN-GBR, HUN-SWI. The matches:
Belgium-Netherlands 0-7
Denmark-Britain 0-5
Hungary-Switzerland 5-1
The first round proper then consists of: AUT, CAN, FIN, FRA, FRG, GBR, HUN, ITA, JAP, KOR, NED, NOR, POL, SWE, URS, USA. The participating semi-finalists from last year, NOR, FIN and URS, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw: POL-USA, KOR-FRG, JAP-HUN, FIN-GBR, SWE-NOR, NED-ITA, FRA-URS, AUT-CAN. The matches proceed as follows:
Poland-USA 4-5
Korea-West Germany 10-0
Japan-Hungary 0-5
Finland-Britain 5-5;distances:10-5—Britain win!
Sweden-Norway 0-11
Netherlands-Italy 7-0
France-USSR 0-10
Austria-Canada 4-4;distances: 4-4—Austria win on quality, but far from their former power
The quarter-final consists of: AUT, GBR, HUN, KOR, NED, NOR, URS, USA. The finalists from last year, NOR and URS, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is as follows: HUN-URS, AUT-GBR, KOR-NOR, NED-USA. Results of the matches:
Hungary-USSR 4-6, unlucky draw
Austria-Britain 1-5
Korea-Norway 0-11, unlucky draw
Netherlands-USA 6-1
Semi-final draw: NED-GBR, URS-NOR. Matches:
Netherlands-Britain 6-1
USSR-Norway 5-6, had to happen some time
Bronze final: Britain-USSR 5-5;distances:5-10—Britain win!
FINAL: Netherlands-Norway
58,1 - 49,5 (0-1)
- - 1.43,4 (0-2)
3.20,6 - 2.41,9 (0-3)
- - 5.38,0 (0-4)
- - 9.46,8 (0-5)
44,9 - 41,8 (0-6)
- - 1.33,0 (0-7)
2.18,3 - 2.13,9 (0-8)
4.54,7 - 4.55,4 (1-8)
8.16,3 - 8.15,4 (1-9)
17.02,3 -16.57,4 (1-10)
Final result 1-10
Statistics:
NOR GOLD 44x URS GOLD 5x FIN GOLD 4x NED GOLD 2x SWE GOLD 2x AUT Silver 4x FRG Silver 2x HUN Silver 2x JAP Silver 1936 USA bronze 2x CZE bronze 1895 CAN bronze 1897 LAT bronze 1940 GBR bronze 1949 SWI 4th 3x FRA 4th 1902 DEN 4th 1912 ITA 4th 1945 BEL 4th 1946 EST QF 5x POL QF 3x LIT QF 1927 KOR QF 1949 ROM 1R 2x AUS 1R 1936 COL PR 1933