What’s in the Swiss Spinners Special Sauce?
The dynasty of great Swiss spinners is something of a figure skating mystery. It started with 1991 World champion Denise Biellman, the flexy namesake of the ever-popular heel-over-head spin pictured here. Trivia point: The Biellman spin is the only spin named after a figure skater.
Then came Natalie Kreig followed by Lucinda Ruh. If you look back at this video of Ruh from 1999, you’ll see that’s she’s performing many of the same spins that skaters in today’s highest ranks are just beginning to perfect. We’re seeing more of Ruh’s difficult spins now because skaters are trying to collect as many points as possible from their spin elements in order to excel in the new points-based judging system. Ruh was way ahead of her time.
Stephane Lambiel breaks the mold a bit. Before Lambiel, many Swiss skaters could spin like tops, but had trouble with the jumps.
It turns out the Swiss are rather tight-lipped about their spinning secret. Lambiel swears “it is in the Swiss chocolate.”
March 26th, 2008 at 4:41 am
Just discovered the site! Nice work!
FYI- Biellman won worlds in 1981…