Lambiel raises Swiss skating hopes

Lambiel performing the men's short programme swissinfo.ch

The young Swiss skater, Stéphane Lambiel, put on a strong performance in Tuesday's men's figure skating championship in Lausanne, finishing the short programme in sixth place.

The 16-year old managed to keep up the high level of skating he demonstrated during Monday’s qualifying rounds, which he described as almost his best performance to date.

However, fellow Swiss skater Patrick Meier, who only narrowly qualified for the championships on Monday, finished in 16th place.

Both Swiss skaters were able to advance to Thursday’s decisive free dance.

The Russian champion, Alexei Yagudin, was the overall winner of the men’s ice dance event, positioning himself to recapture the men’s title which he has lost two years running to absent team mate, Yevgeny Plushchenko.

In the pairs’ short programme, Swiss siblings duo, Eliane and Daniel Hugentobler, reached ninth place in the Lausanne Championships, achieving their highest ever ranking.

The result places them in a strong position to qualify for the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, where it’s hoped they’ll rank among the top 15 pairs.

“We’ve finally attained the kind of scores we’ve been hoping for all along,” said Daniel Hugentobler, although he qualified the success by noting the absence of two other strong pairs in the competition.

In the overall rankings, the French duo Marina Anissima and Gwendal Peizerat came first in the waltz round, while their Italian counterparts, Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margalio came top in the blues dance programme.

swissinfo