New Zealand Figure Skating Championships
recurring figure skating competition
The New Zealand Figure Skating Championships are an annual figure skating competition organised by to the New Zealand Ice Figure Skating Association to crown the national champions of New Zealand. The first New Zealand Championships were held in 1939 on the Manorburn Dam in Central Otago. Early championships were frequently held concurrently with competitions in speed skating and ice hockey. No competitions were held from 1940 to 1945 due to World War II. The championships were cancelled in 1992 when a snowstorm damaged the arena where the competition was to have taken place, and again in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Medals are awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance at the senior and junior levels, although each discipline may not necessarily be held every year due to a lack of participants. Ricky Cockerill and Ivan McDonald are tied for winning the most New Zealand Championship titles in men's singles (with seven each), while Gay Le Comte and Alexandra Rout are tied for winning the most titles in women's singles (with six each). McDonald also holds the record in pair skating (with seven), although not all with the same partner, and the record in ice dance (with nine); again, not all with the same partner.
History
The first New Zealand Championships were held in 1939 on the Manorburn Dam in Central Otago; Alex W. Robertson won the men's event and Sadie Cameron won the women's event. No competitions were held from 1940 to 1945 due to World War II, and when they returned in 1946, events in pair skating and ice dance were introduced. Early figure skating competitions were held concurrently with competitions in speed skating and ice hockey.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “New Zealand Figure Skating Championships” is recurring figure skating competition. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Zealand, Figure and Skating, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “recurring figure skating competition” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2349249. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1939, 1940, 1945 and 1992.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “New Zealand Figure Skating Championships”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow New Zealand Figure Skating Championships primary sources, New Zealand Figure Skating Championships archive and Zealand research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “New Zealand Figure Skating Championships”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “New Zealand Figure Skating Championships” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.