- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
Well, I think there are two points to be made. First, they (Lambiel and Smith) don't have the same jump content in their programs. Comparing Scott's all-time best event, the 2005 Onreij Nepela (thanks, Sylvia ) to, for instance, Stephane's 2006 Worlds skate, the total base value for Scott's eight jumping passes is 56.4 and Stephane's (correcting for the disputed triple Axel) is 62.2.Am I the only one who finds Scott Smith and Lambiel have a similar skating style? I dont see why if he lands the same jumps they would not be scored similar since they have a similar style.
Then there are the other elements. For the two step sequences Scott has a level 2 and a level 1, while Stephane has two level 3's.
They are about equal in the levels of their spins, but Lambiel -- perhaps the best spinner in the world -- picks up extra points in GOE.
Finally, as Chuckm keeps pointing out, the tech score is only half the battle. Figure skating is one of the few sports where it's not only what you do, it's how good you look doing it. Comparing the program component scores (skating skills, transitions, performance/execution, choreography, and interpretation) we have
Smith: 6.80, 6.20, 6.35, 6.45, 6.35
Labiel: 7.79, 7.68, 7.82, 7.79, 7.86
That's a whopping difference of about a point and a half across the board (and these differences are multiplied by 2 in the final scores for the LP), reflecting the judges opinions about the skaters' "style".
Like Joe says, it is starting to seem like everyone is picking on Scott on this thread. But that's not it at all. Lambiel is the two-time and defending world champion. He is very good!
BTW, it is an interesting point that in the Olympic LP, Lambiel (2 quads) and Lysacek (0 quads) came out about even. But this can be spun either way. Should Lysacek work on his quads, or should Lambiel work on the rest of his game?
MM
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