The 1969

Blue Swords Blue Swords (german: Pokal der Blauen Schwerter) is an international figure skating competition organized by the Deutsche Eislauf-Union. It is usually held in Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladi ...

(german: Pokal der Blauen Schwerter) was an international senior-level

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

competition organized in

Karl-Marx-Stadt Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 28th largest city of Germany as ...

, East Germany. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles,

pair skating Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating a ...

, and

ice dancing Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. Ac ...

. East Germany's

Günter Zöller Günter Zöller (born 21 May 1948) is a German figure skating coach and former competitor for East Germany. He is the 1970 World bronze medalist, the 1970 European bronze medalist, a five-time Blue Swords champion, and a five-time East German ...

won his fourth consecutive Blue Swords title, defeating the Soviet Union's

Vladimir Kovalev Vladimir Nikolayevich Kovalyov (russian: Владимир Николаевич Ковалёв; born 2 February 1953) is a retired figure skater who competed internationally for the USSR. He is an Olympic silver medalist and 2-time World champion. ...

and teammate

Jan Hoffmann Jan Hoffmann (born 26 October 1955) is a German figure skater who represented East Germany in competition. A four-time Olympian, he is the 1980 Olympic silver medalist, the 1974 & 1980 World Champion, and a four-time (1974, 1977–1979) Eur ...

. East Germans swept the ladies' podium, led by

Sonja Morgenstern Sonja Morgenstern (born 22 January 1955) is a German figure skating coach and former competitor. Morgenstern was coached by Jutta Müller in Chemnitz and represented the SC Karl-Marx-Stadt club and East Germany ( GDR). In 1966 she won the Sp ...

. Soviet duo

Lyudmila Smirnova Lyudmila Stanislavovna Smirnova (russian: Людмила Станиславовна Смирнова; born July 21, 1949, in Leningrad) is a retired pair skater who competed for the Soviet Union. With partner Andrei Suraikin, she is the 197 ...

Andrei Suraikin Andrei Alexandrovich Suraikin (russian: Андрей Александрович Сурайкин; 20 October 1948 -28 September 1996) was a Russian pair skater. With partner Liudmila Smirnova, he was the 1972 Olympic silver medalist. Care ...

outscored

Manuela Groß Manuela Manja Groß (later Leupold, born 29 January 1957 in East Berlin, East Germany) is a German former competitive pair skater. With partner Uwe Kagelmann, she is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist, and she is the youngest female figure skat ...

Uwe Kagelmann Uwe Kagelmann (born 6 September 1950 in Dresden, Saxony, East Germany/GDR) is a German former competitive pair skater. Competing with Manuela Groß, he was twice bronze medalist at the Olympics. He later became a figure skating coach. The pair ...

for gold in the pairs' event. In the ice dancing category, future Olympic champions

Lyudmila Pakhomova Lyudmila Alekseyevna Pakhomova (russian: Людмила Алексеевна Пахомова; 31 December 1946 – 17 May 1986) was an ice dancer who competed for the Soviet Union. With her husband Alexandr Gorshkov, she was the 1976 Olympic c ...

/ Alexander Gorshkov won their third straight Blue Swords title. It was the last edition of the event that included ice dancing, prior to the 1990s.

Results

Men

Ladies

Pairs

Ice dancing

References