As the last action of the World Junior Curling Championships 2022, the women’s medal games were held in the Jönköping Curling Club.
Sweden and Japan played for the gold medals and the world title, while United States and Norway battled for the bronze medals.
Sweden versus Japan
Japan scored a single in the first end.
After a perfect double take-out by Japan, Swedish skip Moa Dryburgh needed to draw for one in the second. She had no problem with that and tied the game at 1-1.
In the third end, Dryburgh made a perfect hit-and-roll with her last. Japanese fourth player Ueno Miyu could not remove it and handed Sweden a steal of one point.
Dryburgh’s miss on a take-out attempt in the fourth opened the opportunity for Japan to score two. Ueno didn’t miss this chance, and after four ends, Japan were leading by one point, 3-2.
In the fifth, Sweden scored a single to tie the game at 3-3 before the break.
Japan executed a hit-and-stay for one in the sixth to go up, 4-3. In the seventh, Dryburgh was slightly heavy with her draw attempt and gave up a steal to Japan.
In the eighth, Japan filled the house with yellow stones and Dryburgh was forced to draw for one. With support from her sweepers, she executed that and reduced the Swedish deficit to a single point, 5-4 to Japan.
Japan’s Ueno made a hit for one in the ninth for 6-4. In the tenth, Dryburgh attempted a difficult angled runback. She was not successful with it, gave up a steal of one and the 7-4 win to Japan. With this result, Japan claimed the gold medals and the World title, while Sweden won silver.
Japanese skip, Yamamoto Sae expressed, “I am speechless. I still can’t believe that my dream came true. It is a great honour to bring this to Japan. Our coach Ayumi Ogasawara won silver in juniors, so I’m so happy to give this gold medal to her.”
The gold medal winning Japanese team are: skip Yamamoto Sae, fourth player Ueno Miyu, third Ogihara Eri, second Ueno Yui, supported by alternate Miura Yuina and coach Ogasawara Ayumi.
The silver medal winning Swedish team are: skip Moa Dryburgh, third Thea Orefjord, second Moa Tjaernlund, lead Moa Nilsson, supported by alternate Linda Stenlund and coach Margaretha Dryburgh.
United States versus Norway
In the Bronze medal game, Norway scored a single in the first end with a hit by skip Eirin Mesloe.
In the second, United States skip Delaney Strouse had a draw for two. She executed that well for a 2-1 lead.
Mesloe couldn’t remove the shot American stone with her last, and United States stole a single in the third end, 3-1.
In the fourth, Norway needed a precise draw against three Americans counters to score a single. Mesloe executed the draw perfectly and Norway reduced their deficit to one point, 3-2 to United States.
Strouse was forced to draw against four Norwegian stones in the fifth to take a single point. She just did that, for 4-2 at half time.
In the sixth, Norway filled the house with yellow stones, and even though Mesloe was not perfect with her tap on an American stone with her last, Norway still scored three to take a 5-4 lead.
Strouse was light with her draw in the seventh to give up a single, 6-4 to Norway. In the eighth, Strouse needed to draw for two in a cagey house. She executed the task at hand, scored two and tied the game at 6-6.
In the ninth, Mesloe had a miss on her take-out attempt to give up a steal of two and hand United States a two-point lead, at 8-6, going into the tenth.
In the tenth end United States stole a further two for a 10-6 win and the bronze medals.
United States skip, Delaney Strouse spoke after the game saying, “It feels really amazing after a tough game last night to just really pull through today with the girls. We had a very strong week, it was definitely exciting to see our hard work finally pay off.”
The bronze medal winning United States team are: skip Delaney Strouse, third player Anne O’Hara, second Sydney Mullaney, lead Susan Dudt, supported by alternate Kaitlin Murphy and coach Amy Harnden.
During the closing ceremony, Sportsmanship Awards – for the players voted on by the others as best exemplifying the spirit of curling – were awarded to Norway women’s skip, Eirin Mesloe and New Zealand men’s second player Darcy Nevill.
Before the medal games, Sweden’s Leif Öhman was inducted into the World Curling Hall of Fame and presented with the Freytag Award by World Curling Federation President, Kate Caithness.
Women’s Gold medal game result: Sweden 4-7 Japan
Women’s Bronze medal game result: United States 10-6 Norway
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