Blue Swords Cup

The inaugural edition of the DELV-Pokal (Deutscher Eislauf-Verband-Pokal; Cup of the German Figure Skating Club) was held in 1961 in Dresden, in what was then East Germany.^[1] The competition was designed to provide young skaters the chance the compete at an international event.^[2] Beginning in 1968, Meissen Porcelain became the competition's sponsor, and the name was changed to reflect that sponsorship. The name Blue Swords refers to the company's logo, which depicts two blue crossed swords against a white background. Meissen Porcelain also sculpted the trophies that were awarded to the champions.^[3]

The Blue Swords Cup was held regularly between 1961 and 1996. It began as a senior-level event, but in 1984, the Ice Skating Association of East Germany reset the competition for junior-level skaters only.^[4] Banking on the fact that most junior-level skaters did not have many opportunities to compete internationally prior to the World Junior Figure Skating Championships, the East German federation hoped this change would drive participation in their event.^[5]

The fall of the Berlin Wall occurred while the 1989 Blue Swords Cup was in progress. Members of the U.S. figure skating team flocked to the Potsdamer Platz in East Berlin when crews began dismantling sections of the wall. Like many tourists, skaters were able to collect remnants of the wall as souvenirs. While the skating competition proceeded as normal, many of the East German volunteers at the arena did not return once East Germans were granted passage to West Berlin.^[6]

In 1997, the Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating – then called the Junior Series – was established by the International Skating Union as a series of international skating competitions exclusively for junior-level skaters.^[7] The Blue Swords Cup was one of the inaugural events,^[8] and has been held numerous times since.^[9]

From 1953 to 1990, Chemnitz was known as Karl-Marx-Stadt.^[10]

Men's singles

More information Year, Location ...

Men's event medalists

Year	Location	Gold[11]	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
1961	Dresden	Bodo Bockenauer	Károly Ujlaki	Mr. Kotek	[1]
1962	East Berlin	Ralph Borghard		Valeri Meshkov	[12]
1963	Dresden		Bodo Bockenauer	Günter Zöller	[13]
1964	East Berlin	Robert Dureville	Ondrej Nepela		[14]
1965	Karl-Marx-Stadt	Ralph Borghard	Robert Dureville		[15]
1966		Günter Zöller	Marián Filc	Reinhard Ketterer	[16]
1967			Vladimir Kurenbin	Günter Anderl	[17]
1968			Valeri Meshkov	Vladimir Kurenbin	[18]
1969			Vladimir Kovalev	Jan Hoffmann	[19]
1970		Jan Hoffmann	Igor Bobrin	Ralf Richter	[20]
1971			Bernd Wunderlich	Michael Glaubitz	[21]
1972	Dresden			Konstantin Kokora	[22]
1973			Igor Bobrin	Ronald Koppelent	[23]
1974	Karl-Marx-Stadt	Konstantin Kokora	Bernd Wunderlich	Hermann Schulz	[24]
1975		Jan Hoffmann	Andrei Yablokov	Mario Liebers	[25]
1976	East Berlin	Konstantin Kokora	Mario Liebers	Gilles Beyer	[26]
1977	Karl-Marx-Stadt	Mario Liebers	Joachim Ehmann	Gerald Schranz	[27]
1978		Hermann Schulz	Heiko Fischer	Torsten Ohlow	[28]
1979	East Berlin	Jan Hoffmann	Mario Liebers	Norbert Schramm	[29]
1980	Karl-Marx-Stadt	Grzegorz Głowania	Didier Monge	Falko Kirsten	[30]
1981		Alexander König	Joachim Ehmann	Thomas Wieser	[31]
1982		Falko Kirsten	Fernand Fédronic	Didier Manaud	[32]
1983	East Berlin	Boris Uspenski	Falko Kirsten	Pierre Seveno	[33]
1984	Karl-Marx-Stadt	Vladimir Petrenko	Rudy Luccioni	Daniel Weiss	[34]
1985	East Berlin		Rudy Galindo	Yuriy Tsymbalyuk	[35]
1986	Karl-Marx-Stadt	Yuriy Tsymbalyuk	Rico Krahnert	Mirko Eichhorn	[36]
1987	East Berlin	Ronny Winkler	Philippe Candeloro	Elvis Stojko	[37]
1988		Vyacheslav Zahorodnyuk	Scott Davis	Mirko Eichhorn	[38]
1989		Mirko Eichhorn	Sergei Minajev	Zsolt Kerekes	[39]
1990	Chemnitz	Dmitri Dmitrenko	Jan Kannegiesßer	Alexandre Orset	[40]
1991		Konstantin Kostin	John Bevan	Patrick-Rene Reinhardt	[41]
1992		Evgeni Pliuta	Cyril Deplace
1993		Naoki Shigematsu	Yvan Desjardins	Markus Leminen
1994		Gabriel Monnier	Jens ter Laak	Michael Hopfes	[42]
1995		Alexei Yagudin	Gabriel Monnier	David Jäschke	[43]
1996		Evgeni Plushenko	Timothy Goebel	Vincent Restencourt	[44]

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Women's singles

More information Year, Location ...

Women's event medalists

Year	Location	Gold[11]	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
1961	Dresden	Gabriele Seyfert	Helga Zöllner	Alena Pokorná	[45]
1962	East Berlin	Eva Grožajová	Gabriele Seyfert	Heidemarie Steiner	[46]
1963	Dresden	Gabriele Seyfert	Diana Clifton-Peach		[13]
1964	East Berlin		Jana Mrázková	Beate Richter	[47]
1965	Karl-Marx-Stadt		Beate Richter	Hilde Überlacher	[15]
1966			Martina Clausner	Beate Richter	[48]
1967		Beate Richter		Sybille Stolfig	[17]
1968		Sonja Morgenstern	Eva Kriegelstein	Christine Errath	[18]
1969			Simone Gräfe		[19]
1970			Christine Errath	Simone Gräfe	[20]
1971		Christine Errath	Anita Johansson	Marina Titova	[21]
1972	Dresden		Steffi Knoll	Marion Weber	[22]
1973			Anett Pötzsch		[23]
1974	Karl-Marx-Stadt				[24]
1975				Petra Wagner	[25]
1976	East Berlin	Anett Pötzsch	Marion Weber	Carola Weissenberg	[26]
1977	Karl-Marx-Stadt	Natalia Strelkova		Gabriela Voica	[27]
1978		Katarina Witt	Sonja Stanek	Kerstin Wolf	[28]
1979	East Berlin	Anett Pötzsch	Katarina Witt	Carola Weissenberg	[29]
1980	Karl-Marx-Stadt		Svetlana Frantsuzova	Janina Wirth	[30]
1981		Katarina Witt	Anna Kondrashova	Carmen Hartfiel	[31]
1982		Janina Wirth	Petra Schruf	Kerstin Wolf	[32]
1983	East Berlin		Beatrice Gelmini	Marion Krause	[33]
1984	Karl-Marx-Stadt	Inga Gauter	Natalia Skrabnevskaya	Evelyn Großmann	[34]
1985	East Berlin	Natalia Gorbenko	Inga Gauter	Cornelia Renner	[35]
1986	Karl-Marx-Stadt	Inga Gauter	Tanja Krienke	Alina Pisarenko	[36]
1987	East Berlin	Karen Preston	Atsuko Suda	Kathleen Fenske	[37]
1988		Tanja Krienke	Tisha Walker	Stephanie Ferrer	[38]
1989		Robyn Petroskey	Tanja Krienke	Kaisa Kella	[39]
1990	Chemnitz	Maria Jerdzizkaja	Marie-Pierre Leray	Kumiko Koiwai	[40]
1991		Anna Rechnio	Stephanie Fiorito	Susanne Mildenberger	[41]
1992		Tanja Szewczenko	Astrid Hochstetter	Yuko Fukuya	[49]
1993		Inna Zayets	Kateřina Beránková	Astrid Hochstetter	[50]
1994		Tara Lipinski	Yulia Lavrenchuk	Masayo Oishi	[42]
1995		Sydne Vogel	Elena Pingacheva	Fumie Suguri	[43]
1996		Elena Pingacheva	Angela Nikodinov	Veronika Dytrt	[44]

Close

From left to right (all from East Germany): Jan Hoffmann, six-time Blue Swords champion in men's singles; Gabriele Seyfert and Christine Errath, five-time Blue Swords champions in women's singles; Annerose Baier and Eberhard Rüger, three-time Blue Swords champions in ice dance

From left to right (all from East Germany): Manuela Groß and Uwe Kagelmann, four-time Blue Swords champions in pair skating; Knut Schubert, four time Blue Swords champion in pair skating, three of which were with Birgit Lorenz; Heinz-Ulrich Walther, four-time Blue Swords champions in pair skating, three of which were with Heidemarie Steiner

Notes