Figure skating is a sport with participants across the world. Originally based in North America and Europe, the sport has experienced a major expansion in the countries of East Asia.
The international governing body of the sport is the International Skating Union (ISU). Only those nations which are members of the International Skating Union are allowed to compete in the figure skating events in the Olympic Games.
Some countries within Asia are listed here if they may compete at the European Championships.
Brisbane hosted the World Junior Championships in 1988 and 1996. Stephanie Zhang (ladies' bronze, 2000) and Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya / Harley Windsor (pairs gold in 2016) have won ISU Junior Grand Prix medals for Australia.
In 1897, Gustav Hügel became the first Austrian to win a World title in figure skating. In 1922, Herma Szabo won Austria's first World ladies' title. She would go on to win the next four World Championships.
Willy Böckl won four consecutive World titles (1925–28). In the 1930s, Karl Schäfer (1930–36) and Felix Kaspar (1937–38) produced a nine-year streak of World men's titles for Austria. Following World War II, Austrian competitors were initially barred from international events. They returned to the World Championships in 1948.
In the 1960s, Austria experienced a resurgence led by Emmerich Danzer, a three-time World champion (1966–68), and Wolfgang Schwarz, the 1968 Olympic champion.
Vienna (1907, 1913, 1923, 1925, 1937, 1955, 1967, 1979) is the only city within the modern borders of Austria to host the World Championships.