Wally Diestelmeyer gained attention in Canada when he won the pairs competition at the junior Canada Figure Skating championships in 1942 with Flaurine Ducharme. With partner Suzi Morrow, however, he not only won a bronze medal in figure skating pairs at the 1948 Winter Olympics, but developed and first performed figure skating’s “death spiral” with only one hand. Previously this move, which entails the man pivoting with one toe on the ice while the woman circles him with her body almost parallel to the ice, had been performed professionally with two hands, and thus the female was not lowered entirely to the ice. The pair had also taken the same medal at the 1948 World Championships. He and Morrow were the North American pairs champions in 1947, and the Canadian champions in 1947 and 1948. Diestelmeyer also had a previous pairs title with the non-Olympian Joyce Perkins in 1946. He also competed occasionally in singles events, but did not perform remarkably at the international level, placing 9th at the 1948 World Championships and 12th at that year’s Olympic Games. He was, however, the Canadian champion in the event in 1948. After his retirement, he worked as a skating coach and instructor. He, along with partner Morrow, was made a member of the Skate Canada Hall of Fame in 1992.
Canada