Tenley Albright '57 put on figure skates nine years ago and started collecting modals two years later. She now juggles skating practice with study time for Radcliffe exams, a good trick even for a champion.

As 1953 Women's World Figure Skating Champion, Tenley leaves for Oslo next month to defend her title. She'll also give exhibitions in Copenhagon, Switzerland, and Paris before she returns for the Nationals in Los Angeles in late March.

Last year Tenley extended her European exhibitions to take in a skating tour of Japan. Hayes Jonkins, the Men's World Champion Figure Skator, did pair skating with her for the first time there. Tenley said that skating to Japanese music was difficult, however.

First Title at 11

She captured her first title at 11, only four months after an attack of non-paralytic polio: the Eastern U.S. Ladies' Juvenile Figure Skating Championship. She went on to take the Triple Crown of World, North American, and U.S. titles at 17.

Tenley practices from about four to seven a.m. at the Skating Club of Boston. Willie Frick, the Club's instructor, started her off and is still her teacher.

According to Tenley, you can't get nervous before a Championship. Any tenseness would ruin your form. As to her feelings after a victory she says: "There were so many speeches and pictures after my World title it was three in the morning before I had time to feel happy."

Now at the top of women's figure skating in the world, Tenley still doesn't want to turn pro. She may major in French here and suggests she will then "probably go to med school and become a doctor, like my father."

Bright Boys

Tenley finds "Harvard tough on the girls; the boys are all so brilliant, especially in Chemistry and Economics." She's used to Harvard socially, having "started going to Harvard dances four years ago," and manages to combine hard study with a full social life. She commutes between home and Radcliffe classes in her '47 Crosley.

Work comes first with Tenley, but she definitely isn't the knee socks, book bag type. Like most Radcliffe girls, she went to all the football games; but she says it's almost impossible to reach her the week before a Chem hour exam. She likes "all sorts of fun," and her skating carries over to her skill on the dance floor.

Next summer will probably include exhibitions in Australia and maybe summer school for Chem 20. And Cambridge will get a look at Tenley's skating prowess when she appears in the Boston Skating Club's Ice Chips Show in April.