Competitive

Schnelldorfer won his first competition at age eight. He was coached by his parents and skated for the Munich ERC club. Internationally, he represented the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany).

Schnelldorfer finished second behind Hans-Jürgen Bäumler at the German Junior Championships. The following year, he won the German senior title while Bäumler finished fourth.

At age 20, he won the gold medal at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck,^[2] became one of the youngest male figure skating Olympic champions. His victory was a surprise. The favorite was Alain Calmat of France, who won the Europeans between 1962 and 1964 and was silver medalist at the 1963 Worlds.

In all, Schnelldorfer was an eight-time German champion, one-time World champion (1964), three-time bronze and two-time silver medalist at the Europeans.

Post-competitive

After his Olympic win, the Ice Capades offered Schnelldorfer a $1.5 million three-year contract but he declined because of a promise to his parents.^[1] For two years beginning in 1967, he served as the sports director, officially "national coach", of the Deutsche Eislauf Union. After his parents gave their approval, he performed with the Deutsche Eistheater from 1969 to 1973.^[1]

Schnelldorfer was also a pop singer (German: Schlagersänger) and actor before becoming a coach and sport teacher. He was the first West German national coach for figure skating between 1974 and 1981.

Schnelldorfer owns some sport shops.^[1]

Songs

• Wenn du mal allein bist (When you are once alone)
• Deine schönen blauen Augen (Your beautiful blue eyes)
• Mizzie

Films

• Holiday in St. Tropez (1964)
• Ich kauf' mir lieber einen Tirolerhut (1965) (I prefer to buy a Tiroler hat)
• Tausend Takte Übermut (1965) (Thousand takts high spirits)
• Spukschloß im Salzkammergut (1966)
• Komm mit zur blauen Adria (1966) (Come to the Blue Adriatic)