The 1981 championships took place on March 11–16, 1981 in Hartford, Connecticut, USA. The ISU Representative was Olaf Poulsen and the ISU Technical Delegate Josef Dedic.
The judging system was modified since 1980. Compulsory Figures lost their importance and counted only 30% of the final result, short program 20% and free program 50% for the single events. The rank in each category was multiplied with a factor and these three numbers were added to the total score. The factor for the compulsory figures was 0.6, for the short program 0.4 and for the free program 1.0. The rank within these three categories were judged according to the 6.0-judging system.
In pairs the short program had the factor 0.4 and the free program 1.0. The ranks within the two pair categories were also judged according to the 6.0-judging system.