Sonya Klopfer Dunfield, a U.S. champion, two-time World medalist and Olympian in the early 1950s, passed away Aug. 7, 2025. She was 90.
After the 1952 World Championships, Sonya enjoyed a ice show skating career with Ice Capades, Holiday on Ice and finally, the Roxy Theatre in New York.
From there, she married Peter Dunfield of Canada and they went on to have a brilliant coaching career together in the U.S. and Canada, with students who included Dorothy Hamill, Elizabeth Manley, Charlene Wong, Yuka Sato and Scott Smith.
Sonya once told SKATING magazine, “I want to help everybody learn to skate and love to skate. That’s my biggest joy — to see somebody do something they thought they couldn’t do and come out with a smile.”
She was inducted into the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2009 in Cleveland.
An in-person memorial in Sun Valley, Idaho, is being planned for Sept. 20, with the possibility of live video option, according to the couple’s sons, Gregory and Roger Dunfield.
“She [Sonya] was a force of nature in sport, who touched the lives of so many with her spirit, guidance and strength,” her sons posted on social media. “She will be deeply missed and forever remembered.”
A full obituary will appear digitally, coinciding with the Fall issue of SKATING magazine in early October.
