I would call her an outlier, since for many decades before and after her, the top skaters were several years older.
Before, jumps were not a big part of women's skating, in part because they competed wearing long skirts. As the skirts got shorter in the 1920s and 30s, the jumps became more important and the skaters got younger.
Cecilia Colledge
became the first female skater to land a two rotation jump in competition when she landed a double salchow
at 1936 Europeans. She was 15, right behind Henie at the big events that year, and fairly dominant for the next three years, along with
Megan Taylor.
Together they
participated in the 1932 Winter Olympics. They were virtually the same age—Colledge was 11 years and 68 days old, and Taylor was 11 years and 102 days. They are the youngest ever female competitors in any Olympic sport and the youngest ever competitors at the Winter Olympics.
Taylor finished second behind Henie at the World Championships in 1934 and 1936. After Henie retired in 1936, Taylor and Colledge competed for prominence.
Taylor would have been 13 when she medaled at 1934 Worlds.
Daphne Walker, another British skater, followed in their footsteps winning 1939 European and World bronze around age 14.
Carol Heiss
first came to national prominence in 1951, when she won the U.S. novice ladies' title, at age 11. She won the U.S. junior ladies' title in 1952, and then moved up to the senior level in 1953. From 1953 to 1956, she finished second to Tenley Albright at the national championships.
Heiss was 4th at 1953 Worlds, age 13, and 2nd in 1955 at 15.
In 1953, Heiss became the first female skater to land a double Axel jump.
Elaine Zayak won silver as a 14-year-old at 1981 Worlds and gold a year later at 15.
So young teenagers at or near the top ranks even when figures were the majority of the score (or a significant minority by Zayak's time) were not unknown. And indeed these youngsters tended to make their mark by outjumping the older ladies.
The trend I'm referring to is much more recent, dating back to Baiul and Lipinski and the 1990s.
Not coincidentally, this was the first generation of skaters who didn't have to compete school figures.
School figures in their original form are not going to come back to ISU singles skating. But I agree I would like to see more emphasis on specific blade-to-ice skills, and other kinds of jumping skills, and less emphasis on rotations in the air.
Nevertheless, the jump fireworks of the best young teen jumpers are also exciting, so maybe there need to be different disciplines with different emphases. Let the rules of one favor younger girls and the other favor more maturity, but let the competition decide who qualifies to compete more than birthdates. And let each fan decide which they prefer to watch or be free to watch both.
(There might be other reasons to keep children from competing at high-pressure events for their own long-term mental health. But then give them lower stakes events where they can showcase the skills they can do best now and might lose later when their bodies change.)
