21 November 2024
Defending champions Switzerland will play Sweden for the women’s gold medals in Saturday’s final at the Le Gruyère AOP European Championships after their semi-final win over Italy. Sweden beat Scotland to secure their place in the gold medal game. Scotland and Italy will now play for bronze medals on Friday afternoon.
Switzerland versus Italy
Defending champions Switzerland took on Italy in one semi-final. The teams were tied at 2-2 after five ends. In the sixth, Switzerland’s fourth player Alina Paetz had a game-changing tap for four and a 6-2 lead.
Then, in the seventh end, Italy’s skip Stefania Constantini attempted a double take-out, but missed it, to give the Swiss a steal of one and a 7-2 lead. After this, Switzerland went on to win by 7-3.
Speaking later, Swiss skip Silvana Tirinzoni said, “You’re concentrating so much through the round robin, but it doesn’t really mean anything until you win the semis. So, we’re very happy. It was a momentous change when we scored four in the sixth, that really was the game.”
Sweden versus Scotland
In the other semi-final Sweden played Scotland. Scotland were leading the game by 1-0 after four ends. In the fifth Sweden’s skip Anna Hasselborg played a hit to score three and take the lead, 3-1.
Then, in the tenth end, Scotland’s Rebecca Morrison attempted a come-around shot that did not come off, giving Sweden a steal of one and a final winning score of 6-4.
Afterwards, a delighted Hasselborg said, “I’m so proud and so happy. This is exactly how we planned it, it’s a great feeling to feel that we are doing the right things and winning the big games.”
Women’s last round-robin session
Earlier, in a tense last women’s round-robin session, Scotland secured the last available semi-final slot with a 5-4 win over Norway.
This game was tied at 2-2 when, in the seventh, Scotland’s fourth player Rebecca Morrison played a nicely weighted hit, to score two and take a 4-2 lead. The Scots then went on to win by 5-4 to rank third overall, to face Sweden in the semi-finals. Norway finished seventh.
After this win, Scotland’s Morrison said, “We’re feeling great. We’ve been here before, so we’d like to go one better and get that first win out of the last two games. We’ve been playing brilliantly in the second half of the event, so we’re excited.”
Italy faced Sweden, with both teams already qualified for the semi-finals. Italy led by 4-2 in the eighth end when Sweden’s skip Anna Hasselborg played a gentle tap to score four points and take the lead at 6-4. The Swedes then went on to win by 8-4 to rank second and face Scotland in the semi-finals.
Denmark beat Lithuania by 9-2 in their final game and this result meant that the Lithuanians had to wait for results elsewhere to decide their fate going forward. As it happened, Lithuania, Estonia and Hungary all shared the same won one, lost eight record, so the ranking among them was decided by Draw Shot Challenge performance. This showed that Lithuania were best, to rank eighth and qualify for the world championship, while Estonia were ninth and Hungary finished tenth. Both of these teams are now relegated to next year’s B-Division.
Lithuania have never played at the world championship before, so afterwards, their lead player Ruta Blaziene couldn’t stop smiling. She said, “It’s marvellous, incredible and we’re really happy. We fought here until the last game and we gave as much as we can, so we’re proud.”
Elsewhere, the Swiss just managed to keep their unbeaten record with a come-from-behind 6-5 win over Estonia, thanks to a last-stone single steal. This result confirmed defending champions Switzerland as top-ranked semi-finalists.
Türkiye beat Hungary by 12-2 in this session, to rank sixth.
Men’s last round-robin session
The last men’s round-robin session was cause for celebration for some and heartbreak for others.
England, hoping for their first win of the championship, faced Germany. The Germans took an early lead, 4-0, after two ends. A score of six in the eighth by Germany sealed England’s fate, who then conceded with a 10-2 final result. This victory — and results elsewhere in the session — put the Germans into the semi-finals. England finished tenth and are now relegated to next season’s B-Division.
Already-qualified Scotland faced Sweden, who were hoping to keep their play-off dreams alive. Scotland took an early lead with back-to-back scores of two in the first and second ends. Sweden then reduced the deficit, as the Scots led by 7-2 at the break. Sweden then went into the tenth trailing by one point, 7-8. In that end, Sweden’s Niklas Edin was heavy with his last draw and Scotland’s Bruce Mouat didn’t need to throw his last to win the game. The final result was 11-7 to Scotland, who finished on top of the round-robin rankings, while Sweden ended fifth and didn’t qualify for the semi-finals.
Czechia, who were playing for a place at the world championship, faced Norway who had sights on the semi-finals. The game was tied at 2-2 at the break. With Norway scoring one point in the sixth and Czechia scoring one in the eighth, the game remained level at 3-3 going into the tenth end. With a score of two in the tenth it was Norway who won the game, 5-3, and secured a semi-final spot. Norwegian skip, Magnus Ramsfjell said after the game, “It feels great having played such good curling and being rewarded for it.”
Czechia finished eighth overall and secured a spot in the world championship line-up.
Austria faced Netherlands, with both teams fighting to avoid relegation. Netherlands scored two in the first end, and Austria responded with two in the second for 2-2. The game remained close and the teams were level at 4-4 at the break. Austria led by 7-6 going into the tenth end when they scored another point, winning the game by 8-6 to qualify for the world championship. Austria skip Mathias Genner said after the game, “We have a lot of work ahead of us. This is very important for curling in Austria.”
Austria finished seventh, while Netherlands came ninth overall and are now relegated to next season’s B-Division.
Italy faced Switzerland, with a semi-final place on the line, it was everything to play for. Italy scored first and, with a single steal in the second they were leading by 2-0 after two ends. However, Switzerland took three points in the third end to take the lead for the first time in the game. The teams were tied at 3-3 at the break. Italy scored one point in the seventh, but it wasn’t enough as Switzerland scored single points in each of the last three ends to win by 7- 4 and earn a place in the semi-finals. Italy did not qualify for the play-offs and finished sixth overall.
B-Division
In both the men’s and women’s B-Division the qualification and relegation pictures are becoming clearer.
In the women’s event, with one session of round-robin play to go, Czechia and Germany have already qualified for the semi-finals, while, at the opposite end of the table, Finland and Ukraine will fall down into next season’s C-Division.
In the men’s event, Spain, Türkiye and Belgium have qualified for the play-offs from Group A, while Ireland, Denmark and Poland have secured their play-off spots from Group B.
Find all the B-Division results here.
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