Lambiel or Othman favored for Swiss title? | Golden Skate

Lambiel or Othman favored for Swiss title?

Favorite for Swiss title next year?

  • Othman

    Votes: 1 5.6%
  • Lambiel

    Votes: 17 94.4%

  • Total voters
    18

slutskayafan21

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 28, 2005
With the judges obvious disdain, and intense dislike, for Lambiel and his skating, and the talent and potential of rising star Jamal Othman which do you consider the favorite for the Swiss National title next year?
 

Kasey

Medalist
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Othman has no quad, is shaky on his other jumps, and does not appear to have the "Swiss spin gene". Why on earth, other than the manifested "Lambiel paranoia" that seems to pervade many of your posts, would you think that in one short season Othman could improve so dramatically to be a threat to Lambiel in their home country??
 

hockeyfan228

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
No, it's the international judges that hate Lambiel, not the Swiss judges!

Lambiel is the Kwan of Switzerland, at least as far as his homies are concerned.
 

slutskayafan21

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 28, 2005
Kasey said:
Othman has no quad, is shaky on his other jumps, and does not appear to have the "Swiss spin gene". Why on earth, other than the manifested "Lambiel paranoia" that seems to pervade many of your posts, would you think that in one short season Othman could improve so dramatically to be a threat to Lambiel in their home country??

I read a report on the Swiss Nationals last year in International Figure Skating Magazine that said Othman outscored Lambiel on the jumps at their Nationals, granted it said Lambiel missed a bunch of jumps, but still Lambiel was outscored in the jump category, and even though he won overall he needed to score higher on the spins, footwork, and PCS to win in the end. Although it did not specify Lambiel's margin of victory the impression I got from the article was it was a shaky and narrow win for Lambiel. So I would expect a fast improving Othman to be the slight favorite next year based on that.

Lambiel gets no real credit for his spins in the marks, so whether Othman has the "Swiss spin gene" I wouldnt have considered too much.
 

evenstar

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 6, 2006
Jamal Othman's effort at TEB last fall would've landed him SEVENTH in the LADIE'S event! He was last in the Men's event. At his latest event, he didn't make the cut for the long program. His fellow competitor Lambiel WON the worlds! They are so far apart it's almost laughable to think Othman is the better skater, or that he will beat Lambiel at nationals. A rather ridiculous presumption, I think. I also noted only 1 person has voted for Othman.... Hmmm, who could THAT be?:think: ;)
 

slutskayafan21

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 28, 2005
In International Skating Magazine last year they mentioned Lambiel missed 2 jumps in the short, and 5 in the long at Swiss Nationals, and was outscored by Othman in "jumps", but won because of his scores in the other categories. He also was quoted in the Magazine as saying "I always seem to have my worst skates of the year at Nationals." seemingly that would be much worse then even his worst Senior performances like the Olympic long program this year, or his Cup of China long program this year. I just have a feeling Othman will improve alot next year too.
 

Kasey

Medalist
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Well, considering all the mistakes Lambiel made at nationals, and he still beat Othman, it would seem that the judges DO like him, DO recognize his quality, and DO score him appropriately. I don't dislike Othman at all, I got to see him live at Skate Canada this past season. He's a pleasant enough skater, and really a nice person. But he isn't in Lambiel's league, and it would seem most people know that.
 

CDMM1991

Medalist
Joined
Jun 3, 2005
I will be absolutely gobsmacked if Othman gets more than one vote in this poll. I'm sorry, but you've got to be kidding me. The Olympic silver medallist and World Champion is obviously going to be favoured over a skater that didn't even make the cut at Worlds in an Olympic year.
 

hockeyfan228

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Othman's a lovely skater, but he's tall and hasn't quite gotten a certain gangliness under control, and it affects his jumps most of all.
 

slutskayafan21

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 28, 2005
He reminds me of former U.S mens competitor Shephard Clarke in the footage I have seen of him, both in stature and in skating style. His long body makes him look stylish I find in how he creates lines and moves around the ice. Hopefully his jumps become more consistent then Shephard's ever were.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
I first saw Othman in an SP in Moscow. He was the most promising skater at that Worlds, but everything went down hill in the following season. I think Hockeyfan mentioned he's had injuries. Maybe injuries is a swiss gene. If all injuries are healed, let's give him another chance.

Joe
 

JonnyCoop

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 28, 2003
I'm still bummed that Patrick Meier is no longer part of the Swiss skating picture; yeah, he wasn't half the overall skater Lambiel is, but WHAT A GOOD LOOKING MAN..... :biggrin:

(For those unfamilar with Mr. Meier, I would be more than glad to provide a link, but I have yet to find even one picture of him that does him justice; having seen him up close in person, not a single photo I can find even comes close...)

As to the topic, I'd have to go with Lambiel; even if he's a bit off at Swiss Nationals, I don't think the judges would vote lightly against a 2-time World Champion. However, based on what I've heard about Othman, in 2 or 3 seasons, that could develop into a great head-to-head matchup.
 

slutskayafan21

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 28, 2005
The thing about the new system is you have to lose alot of points for mistakes. If you fall you lose 3 for the -GOE, another 1 point for the fall, maybe another 0.5 on GOE for the jump who knows there, maybe another 1 or 2 points on PCS in the long for the fall, so you could lose 6 points per fall say as a possable estimate per fall in the long program. If you make multiple mistakes you could be losing 20 points or so. Another thing is the scores of the lower ranked skater in other areas tend to come alot closer to the higher ranked skater then they would in an international event. Because that skater who might be ranked much lower then the other on the World stage, is suddenly the 2nd or 3rd ranked in their country and right behind that guy in the rankings rather then far behind, and their skating quality stands out more in the Nationals field then a World field, while the other one already does in a Worlds fields, that tends to bring their PCS scores, GOE scores, perhaps even spin and footwork levels
(there are some leighway to interpretation in those)closer.
 
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