Live Blog: Day two at the WWCC
Team Scotland © WCF / Stephen Fisher
And that's a wrap
20 games down, 64 to go.
How much are we loving the LGT World Women’s Curling Championship 2023 so far? Join us again tomorrow for another jam-packed, mouth-watering showdown of curling action in Sandviken. Until then, let’s leave you with the standings after day two…
Here are the standings after two days of round-robin play in Sandviken#Curling #WWCC2023 pic.twitter.com/o6LCrPfEMq
— World Curling (@worldcurling) March 19, 2023
Results
And the results from this evening’s session in Sandviken…
Germany topple Italy
Germany skip Daniela Jentsch and her team will be pretty chuffed with their Sunday. They dispatch Italy 7-4 and now boast a winning record at the end of day two.
And with that result, Switzerland are now the only side yet to taste defeat in Sandviken so far. And it is the Germany rink they will face off against tomorrow.
Japan get first win
How about that? Japan do it at the death! A fantastic four-ender to win the game 9-8 against Scotland. It is worth noting that Japan trailed 7-1 at one point.
Here’s what skip Fujisawa Satsuki said post-match: ”
I’m super happy right now. The losses so far we were struggling to adapt to the ice but we wanted to trust ourselves. We hope this gives us confidence and go into tomorrow with our best.”
Einarson: I was angry at myself but dug deep
Speaking to fellow Canadian Joanne Courtney, here’s Kerri Einarson…
“I was very angry at myself for missing every shot,” admitted Einarson. “I dug deep and took a big breath then just threw to make it.”
On her first LGT World Women’s Curling Championship outside of Canada, she said: “It means so much for them to come over to Sweden. It is absolutely beautiful here and to have our family here to support.”
Canada get the W
Another victory for Canada on the last stone…
Kerri Einarson’s rink played every stone to a tee in the final end to prevent Norway from scoring. A steal of three secures a 9-6 triumph for Canada. That’s two wins out of two today.
We’ll hear from the skip shortly.
Last ends underway
The remaining three games on ice are heading into the tenth and (potentially) final end. Here’s the situation…
After a measure, Canada are kept to one in the ninth to tie it up at six apiece. Norway have the hammer in the final end.
Scotland take a three-point lead into the tenth – can Japan cut the gap with the last-stone advantage?
And finally, Germany score one in the ninth end to lead 7-3 against the unbeaten Italian rink. However, Stefania Constantini has the last throw.
Another dub for Switzerland
And the run continues! Switzerland beat Türkiye 7-2 in nine ends to progress their record to four wins and zero losses.
Here’s what Silvana Tirinzoni said to us afterwards: “We missed a few opportunities at the beginning but afterwards we started playing well and didn’t gift them any chances.
“The world championships are always a very tough competition. One-game days are really appreciated so we look forward to tomorrow.”
What they said...
Before they embarked on a trip across the Atlantic Ocean (and a bit more), Canada spoke to TSN back home. Here’s what they had to say…
“We expect to play well [at worlds],” Einarson told TSN after her team’s Scotties win. “And hopefully bring home gold for Canada. We’re going to give it our all.”
Second Shannon Birchard said: “We were happy with the bronze last year, but we really want that gold. We want to be on the top of the podium, and I think if we can put together a great week then we have a really good chance at it.”
The Manitoban rink currently trail 6-5 against Norway with two ends remaining. Einarson takes the hammer into the ninth.
Shot watch
Scotland are aiming to bounce back from defeat earlier today – and look to be in a strong position to do just that as they lead Japan 7-2 after six ends. Shots like this have helped, of course…
Great work by the Scotland 🏴 front end of Sophie Jackson and Sophie Sinclair who set things up beautifully with two on the button covered by the centre guard. 🤩
Watch live on the Curling Channel at https://t.co/fy3vfdBx89#WWCC2023 #curling pic.twitter.com/TQYK8ggV9O
— World Curling (@worldcurling) March 19, 2023
Norway come back at Canada
Norway have fought back to level it up at 5-5 versus Canada. It is Kerri Einarson’s rink who take the hammer into the even eighth end.
Meanwhile, Switzerland strengthen their grip over Türkiye as they lead 6-1 over on sheet E. Stop them if you can!
Scores at the break
A busy final session on day two. How are we looking going into the second half?
Canada 5-4 Norway
Japan 2-6 Scotland
Germany 3-2 Italy
Türkiye 0-4 Switzerland
Unbeaten teams
Three rinks – Switzerland, Norway and Italy – are looking to retain their 100% records here in Sandviken. But how about this statistic…
Team Silvana Tirinzoni have won 33 out of their last world women’s championship games. That’s a 97% win rate stretching back to 2019. They have only lost once in that time to Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg in the 2021 edition.
Domination.
Shot watch
‘Look at that, great shot!’ 👏 Rebecca Morrison’s throw is well managed by the Scotland 🏴 front end for a hit and roll to the perfect spot.
Watch live on the Curling Channel at https://t.co/fy3vfdBx89#WWCC2023 #curling pic.twitter.com/nOSSa4Rwfn
— World Curling (@worldcurling) March 19, 2023
Look familiar?
Some recognisable faces have popped into Göransson Arena today…
Japan search for first win
It’s not been the start to the campaign that Japan would have wished for but the beauty of this event is that there are always plenty of opportunities available.
Skip Fujisawa Satsuki’s draw to the four foot gives them a single point in the opening end over Scotland.
Head-to-head
How do the teams fare in previous meetings?
Well Switzerland’s Team Tirinzoni have won all five encounters over their Türkiye counterparts previously. That includes a 10-4 victory at last year’s Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships.
Team Fujisawa Satsuki have won the only previous match-up against Scotland’s Team Rebecca Morrison, which took place in November 2021.
This is the ninth occasion skips Stefania Constantini and Daniela Jentsch have met on the ice, with the German holding a 5-3 record over her Italian opposition.
Up next
We’ve had a delightful starter, a sumptuous main and now it’s time for a sweet dessert. Here’s what we have in store on ice this evening…
The last session of Day 2⃣ at the #WWCC2023 begins soon
🇨🇦 Canada v Norway 🇳🇴
🇯🇵 Japan v Scotland 🏴
🇩🇪 Germany v Italy 🇮🇹
🇹🇷 Türkiye v Switzerland 🇨🇭Read our blog: https://t.co/lCyk2kqrFx
Watch all games live: https://t.co/fy3vfdBx89📸 WCF / Jeffrey Au#Curling pic.twitter.com/bcp4mvGwWr
— World Curling (@worldcurling) March 19, 2023
Seungyoun: It is an honour
And here’s Ha Seungyoun discussing Korea’s first triumph this week.
“We were actually heavy-hearted after two losses,” admits Seungyoun. “We tried to cheer ourselves up and improve our performances.
“It is a honour to be here for the first time. I hope it can be a good experience. We want to win as much as we can in the round robin and get into the play-offs.”
Results
Let’s wrap up that session then shall we? 
First win for Korea
Korea inflict a first defeat on Denmark this week – and in the process collect their maiden win in Sandviken.
A steal of one in the final gives Ha Seungyoun’s team a 5-3 victory. Can they kick-start a run for the Pan Continental Curling Championships silver medallists?
Norway win it at the death
A chance for Tabitha Peterson to grab back-to-back wins for United States on day two goes awry as her last-stone fails to hold its line. A closely fought match but it’s Norway who prevail 7-5 to take a second win.
Meanwhile, only five stones remain to be thrown between Denmark and Korea, with the former trailing 5-3.
Perfection
We’ve had our first perfect game of the week from Switzerland’s lead Briar Schwaller-Hürlimann against Sweden. Appearing in her second world championship event, she pin-pointedly delivery nine draws and three take-outs. Nicely done!
W for Germany
A single-pointer in the seventh end results in handshakes between New Zealand and Germany, with the latter running out 8-2 victors. That puts Daniela Jentsch’s rink on the board.
“It felt very good [to get the win],” said Jentsch. “Yesterday didn’t go very well for us but we were much better today. We managed to find a better way.
“We felt in control today. We had a few misses to make it tighter than it should have been but I think we managed quite well.”
Germany closing in
A first win of the week is on the cards for Germany here as they lead New Zealand 7-2 after six ends. Still plenty can happen but it’s Daniela Jentsch who has last-stone advantage.
Elsewhere, Korea are 4-2 up against Denmark, while Norway lead United States 5-2. Both are in their eighth ends.
Switzerland beat Sweden
A tough result for the hosts Sweden as they fall 9-3 to the defending champions, Switzerland. The four-pointer in the third end put them out ahead and made the difference.
Tirinzoni spoke to us after her team move to 3-0 this week.
“I felt like I played pretty good but to make an open miss early on was frustrating for myself,” she said.
“We took advantage of any mistakes they make. We don’t score four against a team like Sweden too often so we made sure to claim it.
“We feel comfortable with the ice. We need to keep making sure we avoid blank ends but so far so good.”
Current scores
We’ve reached halfway through the session – and the day – so let’s take a look at the scoreboards…
Denmark 2-2 Korea
Sweden 2-9 Switzerland
Norway 2-1 United States
New Zealand 1-7 Germany
Shot watch
A very well played end from Switzerland 🇨🇭 culminates in Alina Paetz being served an open draw to the four foot for a big four points. 👏
Watch live on the Curling Channel at https://t.co/fy3vfdBx89#WWCC2023 #curling pic.twitter.com/VipI1zwPdk
— World Curling (@worldcurling) March 19, 2023
Norway up
After three blanked ends, Kristin Skaslien’s last-stone hit gives Norway a 2-0 lead over United States.
Amazingly, skip Marianne Roervik was a silver medallist when the LGT World Women’s Curling Championship last took place in Sweden 19 years ago. She was an alternate to Team Dordi Nordby in 2004.
Switzerland v Sweden
What a tantalising match-up we have on sheet B between the defending champions, Switzerland and 2018 Olympic champions, Sweden. It is also a repeat of last year’s semi-final and the 2019 final (see picture below).
Incredibly, this is Team Hasselborg and Team Tirinzoni’s 54th encounter between one another. Remarkably, only a hair splits them! The Swiss rink lead 27-26. Can the hosts level it up today?
Strong start
A straight-forward draw to lie three gives Germany’s Daniela Jentsch and her team a strong start against New Zealand. This is the skip’s ninth world championship appearance – but she’s yet to medal. Can she add one to her two European bronzes this week?
Introducing
Things you love to see…
Coming up
Enjoying the LGT World Women’s Curling Championship 2023 so far? Well, we’ve got more action on its way shortly…
Denmark v Korea
Sweden v Switzerland
Norway v United States
New Zealand v Germany
You can watch all the games live here: https://wcf.co/CurlingChannel
And if you’ve missed out on catching a game, you can watch the highlights here.
Results
An excellent session of curling this morning in Sandviken. Did you enjoy it? Let’s round up the results…
Denmark triumph
A one-point steal in the final end gives Denmark a 9-7 victory over Scotland. They like to do things the hard way, Dupont and co…
They’ll be back shortly to face Korea in the day’s second session.
Big win for United States
Cometh the hour, cometh the woman. Take a bow, Tabitha Peterson.
An outstanding last-stone take-out from the United States skip secures an 8-7 triumph for her team over Canada. A contender for ‘Shot of the Day’ for sure…
Tabitha Peterson spoke to us immediately afterwards to share her thoughts from the pulsating encounter.
“The last stone was the only shot we had and was so glad we made it,” she said. “We got a couple misses out of them and we capitalised.
“Becca and Tara are the best sweepers. I love them. I trust them completely – they can hold them and judge the weight so well.
“It was a huge win today. Yesterday’s game [against Denmark] was really close but it’s a long week and we just need to keep learning.”
Türkiye score five to win
Look up topsy-turvy in the dictionary and a picture of the scoreboard from Türkiye and New Zealand will appear.
A stunning victory for Türkiye is secured after a hit to lie five to win 13-10 and get their first W of the week. Skip Dilsat Yildiz spoke to us afterwards.
“I’m happy to get our first win, but it’s not enough,” she said. “The goal is to finish in the top six so we’ll see what happens in the coming games. We need to be solid and keep improving.”
New Zealand respond...again
The vibe on sheet A is: what you can do, we can do just as well…
Take a look at the scoreboard between Türkiye and New Zealand. Who can predict the tenth and final end? 
Constantini: Team's support gave me confidence
And here is the Italian skip giving us her thoughts after they beat Korea 8-3 this morning.
“My team worked very well at the beginning, when I struggled a little bit,” said Constantini. “Their support helped me regain my confidence.
“We are not overthinking too much. We want to enjoy our time here and do our best to reach the play-offs.
“It’s important to be mentally strong – but it helps that we are super close off the rink.”
Italy get win
One encounter that won’t be heading into a tense finale is Italy v Korea, as Stefania Constantini’s rink win 8-3 to collect their second victory.
They’ll return this evening to face Germany. We’ll likely hear from the Italian skip shortly…
Swings and roundabouts
What do you love most about curling? Surely the fact that one stone, one end or one call can change the course of the game dramatically. Well, we’ve just witnessed not one, but two games changed in a split second.
Türkiye grabbed a terrific four-ender to regain the advantage over New Zealand, leading 8-6 with two ends left.
Whilst United States responded to Canada’s three-pointer with one of their own to snatch the lead back. With a couple of ends remaining, United States have a 7-6 lead.
We did say there’ll be some tense finales…
Stat check
A three-ender in the seventh puts Canada in charge over their North American rivals, leading 6-4 on sheet B.
Only lead Briane Harris (95%) is hitting a higher percentage than Val Sweeting on the Canadian rink. Let’s take a look at how the thirds are playing thus far…
📸 Snaps from this morning
Tight affairs
We had a few early finishes on opening day but so far this morning, all indications point to a tense finale in all four match-ups.
Half-time scores
It’s time for the eight teams to grab a quick snack and rehydrate. Which brings up the question: what is the best interval fuel…energy bars? bananas? the classic orange? United States are opting for some gels!
Türkiye 2-3 New Zealand
United States 3-3 Canada
Scotland 5-6 Denmark
Italy 5-2 Korea
Shot watch
“Alexa, show me a perfect triple take-out…”
‘Wow, wow, wow!’ 🤩 The triple is on offer and Yang Taei 🇰🇷 makes no mistake to clean up and roll behind cover.
Watch live on the Curling Channel at https://t.co/fy3vfdBx89#WWCC2023 #curling pic.twitter.com/N8sMAII0xZ
— World Curling (@worldcurling) March 19, 2023
How did they get here?
The teams qualified through two different routes for this championship — through their performances in the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships, held in November 2022 in Oestersund, Sweden, and at the inaugural Pan Continental Curling Championships, staged in Calgary, Canada earlier in November 2022.
From Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships Denmark, Switzerland, Scotland, Italy, Sweden, Türkiye, Germany and Norway secured their world championship spot, in qualification order.
From the Pan Continental Championships Japan, Korea, Canada, United States and New Zealand qualified for the world championship, in qualification order.
Korea level it up
Korea skip Ha Seungyoun, who is making her debut at this level, took silver at the inaugural Pan Continental Curling Championships in 2022.
This morning they are up against Italy, who got off to a wonderful start yesterday with a 12-1 victory over Türkiye. It’s currently tied up at 2-2 after three ends.
16 years later
Skip Madeleine Dupont first medalled at a world championship back in 2007. There were juniors competing a few weeks ago that were born after…
But her experience is paying dividends so far in Sandviken as they steal three in the second end to extend Denmark’s advantage to 4-0 over Scotland. Remember, they come across the border as gold medallists from last year’s Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships.
How is it looking on the ice after the first end?
A well-swept draw grabs enough of the button to secure a single point for United States against Canada.
The first end has been blanked between Türkiye and New Zealand, with the latter seeking to register a first-ever world championship win here today.
Elsewhere, Denmark are forced to take one over Scotland, while Italy score a two-ender to kick things off on sheet D.
🎙️ Ready, set and go
Day 2 of #wwcc2023 begins with North American battle. @TeamPetersonUSA 🇺🇸 take o. @EinarsonTeam 🇨🇦. I am on the call with @Kmartcurl #curling. Tune in on recast https://t.co/EvOtmnabXd pic.twitter.com/QpwQJ0eU44
— Luke Coley (@ColeysNotes) March 19, 2023
Ready?
As the players go through their warm-up routines, let’s remind you that we have three sessions for your entertainment on day two.
What caught your eye on day one? And what are you looking forward to seeing most today? Let us know using the hashtag #WWCC2023!
Morning pairings
Good morning!
Here’s our Sunday breakfast menu from Sandviken:
🇹🇷 Türkiye v New Zealand 🇳🇿
🇺🇸 United States v Canada 🇨🇦
🏴 Scotland v Denmark 🇩🇰
🇮🇹 Italy v Korea 🇰🇷🕘: 9 am (CET)
✍️: https://t.co/lCyk2kqrFx
📺: https://t.co/fy3vfdBx89📸 WCF / Jeffrey Au#Curling #WWCC2023 pic.twitter.com/mQ5I3P8Cip
— World Curling (@worldcurling) March 19, 2023
Happy Sunday from Sandviken!
Good morning and welcome to Day 2 at the LGT World Women’s Curling Championship 2023!
