Rodney Ward

Rodney Ward started skating at the Nottingham Stadium at the age of nine, and four years later in 1954 teamed up with Carolyn Krau. They had an immediate impact as pairs skaters and came second in the British Junior Pairs Championship that year. They won it the following year, and were runners-up to Joyce Coates and Tony Holles in their first crack at the senior title in the 1955/56 season

Selected for the 1956 Cortina Olympics, Ward and Krau finished last out of 11 starters. With a combined age of 27 years 160 days, however, they were the youngest pair in the competition. Ward and Krau competed in the 1956 and 1958 World and European Championships but without a podium finish. They were runners-up again to Coates and Holles in the British Championship in the 1957/58 season.

Ward injured his knee at the end of the 1955/56 season, and when he made his comeback he skated singles and won the British Junior Men’s Championship in March 1957 (Krau won the junior women’s title that year). Ward and Krau teamed up again, and the month after winning their junior singles titles, they won the Southern Counties title in their first competition together for a year.

Following the death of Ward’s mother, the partnership again came to an end, and both Ward and Krau eventually went on to enjoy individual careers, with Ward finishing third in the British Senior Men’s Championship in the 1958/59 season. After turning professional, he also finished third in the World’s and British Open Professional Figure Skating Championships in 1960. As a professional, Ward also took part in Ice Shows.