Ethel MUCKELT

Ethel Muckelt came from a family who made their fortune manufacturing dyes from use in the textile industry and trained at the Manchester Ice Rink, the only one in Britain outside London. After competing with Sydney Wallwork at the Antwerp Games she forged a partnership with Jack Page that was to win nine consecutive national pairs titles up to 1931 and the silver medal at the 1924 World Championships. Muckelt was never British ladies champion although she finished runner-up to Page in 1926 which was the last year the British title was open to both sexes. Despite her success as a pairs skater her Olympic success came solo in 1924 when her performance in the compulsory figures was enough to hold off of more accomplished free skaters for the bronze medal. She placed 4th and 5th respectively in the ladies event at the 1923 and 1925 World Championships and also competed with Page in the 1926 and 1928 events though without winning a medal. Muckelt was one of the oldest female Winter Games medallists as she was thirty-eight years old in 1924 but continued competing into her fifties.