Figure Skating at the 1948 Sankt Moritz Winter Games:

19-year old Barbara Ann Scott from Ottawa was the heavy favorite for the Olympic Gold, having won all ISU Championships after World War II, the open European Championships 1947 and 1948 and the World Championships 1947. Scott, who started skating at the age of 4, became the first woman to land a double Lutz in competition at the age of 13. In the European Championship in Prague two weeks before the Olympics, she won by a comfortable margin ahead of the best European, Austrian Eva Pawlik.

In St. Moritz, Scott had a clear lead after the compulsory figures. A little surprising, Great Britain’s Jeanette Altwegg (only 5th in the European Championships) was in second position, closely followed by Eva Pawlik. Those 3 skaters were clearly ahead of the rest of the field. The free skating was performed on ice that had been badly scarred and rutted by two hockey games earlier in the day. Scott was again the best, securing the gold medal by a comfortable margin. Pawlik was second in the free skating and passed Altwegg in the struggle for silver.

At the World Championships in Davos one week later Scott was again the champion, and also this time Pawlik was second. Jiřína Nekolová of Czechoslovakia, 4th placed in the Olympics, got her revenge on Altwegg and won the bronze medal. After the 1948 season, Scott turned professional, skating with the Hollywood Ice Revue in Chicago.