Ernst Baier

Herber and Baier at the1934 World Championships
Personal information
Born	(1905-09-27)27 September 1905 Zittau,German Empire
Died	8 July 2001(2001-07-08) (aged 95) Garmisch-Partenkirchen,Germany
Figure skating career
Country	Germany
Retired	1941
Medal record Representing Germany Men'sFigure skating Olympic Games 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Singles World Championships 1933 Zürich Singles 1934 Stockholm Singles 1931 Berlin Singles 1932 Montreal Singles European Championships 1931 St. Moritz Singles 1932 Paris Singles 1933 London Singles 1935 St. Moritz Singles 1936 Berlin Singles German Championships 1933 Opole Men’s Singles 1934 Braunlage Men’s Singles 1935 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Men’s Singles 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Men’s Singles 1937 Hamburg Men’s Singles 1938 Cologne Men’s Singles 1932 Riessersee Men’s Singles PairsFigure skating Olympic Games 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Pairs World Championships 1936 Paris Pairs 1937 Vienna Pairs 1938 Berlin Pairs 1939 Budapest Pairs 1934 Helsinki Pairs European Championships 1935 St. Moritz Pairs 1936 Berlin Pairs 1937 Prague Pairs 1938 St. Moritz Pairs 1939 London Pairs

Ernst Baier (27 September 1905 inZittau,Saxony,Germany – 8 July 2001 inGarmisch,Bavaria,Germany) was a Germanfigure skater who competed inpair skating andsingle skating. He becameOlympic pair champion in 1936 together withMaxi Herber. The duo also won several World and European championships.

Ernst Baier skated for the club Berliner SC.^[1] He also enjoyed success as a single skater and won silvers at the European, World and Olympic games in singles. He competed at the European Championships in 1929, coming in seventh place, and again in 1930, coming in fifth place. He competed at the World Championships four times, between 1931 and 1934, and won two bronze medals and two silver medals.^[2]

Skating with Herber, he won seven national titles, five European titles, and four World titles, in addition to their Olympic gold. The pair performed several side-by-side jumps, including side-by-sideAxel jumps at the1934 Championships, when they won a bronze medal, likely the first side-by-side Axels competed by a pair at anISU championship.^{[3]: 120–121 [4]} They also developed a 'Baier lift', which was similar to atwist lift but lacking a release of Herber into the air.^[3]: 135 They did not compete in 1935 due to an injury, but returned in 1936 and as figure skating historian James R. Hines put, "were unbeatable for the remainder of the prewar period".^[4] They won the gold medal at theWinter Olympics in 1936.^[4]

Herber and Baier married after their skating career ended in 1940. They had three children and divorced in 1964. AfterWorld War II they skated in ice shows; they created their own, which was later sold toHoliday on Ice.^[5] He also worked as an architect and coach.^[6] They were elected to theWorld Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1979.^[4]

On 15 May 1965 he married the Swedish figure skater Birgitta Wennström (born 10 November 1935 in Enskede, Stockholm, Sweden) known by the stage name "Topsy" from Holiday on Ice together with her partner Steve. They had a daughter in 1968, but divorced in 1973.

Some years later he remarried Maxi Herber, but they later divorced again.

(men's singles)

(pairs withMaxi Herber)

• E.R. Hall & T.D. Richardson –Champions all: camera studies by E.R. Hall (Frederick Muller, 1938)
• Richardson T.D –Modern Figure Skating (Methuen, 1938)

• Ernst Baier atOlympics.com
• Ernst Baier atOlympedia

• 1905 births
• 2001 deaths
• German male pair skaters
• German male single skaters
• Figure skaters at the 1932 Winter Olympics
• Figure skaters at the 1936 Winter Olympics
• Olympic figure skaters for Germany
• Olympic gold medalists for Germany
• Olympic silver medalists for Germany
• Olympic medalists in figure skating
• World Figure Skating Championships medalists
• European Figure Skating Championships medalists
• Medalists at the 1936 Winter Olympics
• Sportspeople from Zittau
• Figure skaters from Saxony
• 20th-century German sportsmen

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata