Live Blog: Day five at the WMDCC

We’ll be back tomorrow with the last day of round-robin action at the Gangneung Curling Centre.

Day 5⃣ #shotoftheday comes from Joó Linda with a brilliant shot for 3!#WMDCC2023 #curling pic.twitter.com/r87cUVe2ju

— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 26, 2023

Click here to read our update from the World Senior Curling Championships.

Find all the results from the event here.

Have a look at our gallery of the event by clicking here.

Standings | Group A and B after 5⃣ days of competition #WMDCC2023 #curling pic.twitter.com/KscSD0Gj6T

— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 26, 2023

Canada’s Brent Laing said, “They played quite well, we missed the odd shot here and there, but we hung in there. I thought we had them in eight but she made a great double on her last, we played a good end to tie it up and in the last end we were fortunate she missed her last. We put some pressure on them, a win is a win, but that was stressful.”

Scotland’s Jennifer Dodds said, “That was a really good game, we got a big four in the first end and we just kind of kept that momentum. We had a couple of tough shots to make but we made them. And I think for the next couple of games we just continue that.”

Estonia’s Harri Lill said, “They started a lot better and we got to crawl back. We just played a really good last two ends, so happy about that. Great teamwork!”

RESULTS | From a tense evening session at the #WMDCC2023 👀 pic.twitter.com/T470u4dhLX

— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 26, 2023

Canada stole a single point in the extra end against Hungary and won the game by 8-7.

After this session, Canada secured a spot in the play-offs.

CANADA! Qualify for the play-offs at the #WMDCC2023 👊🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/orqce8SYJX

— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 26, 2023

With a perfect take-out by Marie Kaldvee, Estonia scored two in the eighth end and won the game by 7-6 over Italy.

This victory qualified Estonia for the play-off stage.

ESTONIA! Qualify for the #WMDCC2023 play-offs! 🇪🇪👏 pic.twitter.com/JEoOB32QR3

— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 26, 2023

Scotland were 8-6 winners over Australia, while Denmark won a close battle against Czech Republic, by 6-5.

With this win, Scotland have qualified for the play-offs.

SCOTLAND get into the #WMDCC2023 play-offs! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🙌 pic.twitter.com/3IgN7jM5kk

— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 26, 2023

Netherlands won over hosts Korea by 8-4, mostly thanks to a big score of three in the second end and a steal of two in the third.

This was Netherlands’ third win of the week out of eight games, while Korea have a won two, lost six record.

Hungary scored three points in the seventh with power-play and are now leading by 7-5 against Canada.

On the neighbouring sheet, Estonia scored three with power-play in the sixth to take the lead for the first time in the game. Italy 4, Estonia 5, playing the seventh.

Precisely what was called. 👊 Not only does Lorinc Tatar 🇭🇺 make the double, he also holds the shooter and gets the roll over to split the rings, setting up a three-points score.

Watch live on the Curling Channel at https://t.co/fy3vfdBx89#WMDCC2023 #curling pic.twitter.com/vncfaWr8O5

— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 26, 2023

Scotland scored two points in the fifth end against Australia. It could have been three points, but Jennifer Dodds’ last stone came up just a bit too short.

Scotland are now leading the game by 7-3, playing the sixth.

Hungary 4-3 Canada

Italy 3-2 Estonia

Czech Republic 3-4 Denmark

Korea 3-5 Netherlands

Scotland 5-3 Australia

Denmark scored three points in the fourth end against Denmark, mostly due to an exceptional promotion take-out by Henrik Holtermann, followed by a precise last draw by Jasmin Lander.

Italy are up 3-0 against Estonia in the fourth end, partly due to two single steals.

A perfect double take-out by Hungary’s Joó Linda with her last resulted in three points for them against Canada in the second end.

Hungary 3, Canada 2, playing the third.

No problem on the double for Linda Joo 🇭🇺 who removes the yellows, sticks the shooter, and holds the back reds to score three. 🤩

Watch live on the Curling Channel at https://t.co/fy3vfdBx89#WMDCC2023 #curling pic.twitter.com/x5qEMkRtzR

— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 26, 2023

Scotland, 2021’s world champion duo, put a big score of four on the board in the first end against Australia, mostly due to their exceptional draw play.

We are taking a short break at the Gangneung Curling Centre and we’ll be back with the evening session at 6 pm (KST, which is UTC +9 hours).

Here are the evening pairings:

Hungary v Canada

Italy v Estonia

Czech Republic v Denmark

Korea v Netherlands

Scotland v Australia

Watch all the games live (and later as replays) on The Curling Channel.

Team Japan improves to 7-0 with a win vs Türkiye! #WMDCC2023 #curling @japan_curling pic.twitter.com/yVUbQGTBOF

— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 26, 2023

United States’ Korey Dropkin said, “A big one! You know, a great team, they’ve been playing really well all week, it was a battle out there.”

“We are definitely in a good position now, we’ve got two big games coming up tomorrow, Türkiye and Spain, and they’ve both proven to be really good on the ice, so we’re just going in and we’ll do what we do best.”

Spain’s Mikel Unanue said, “It was a super big win! After papering the rocks, we didn’t find our best game yesterday, our feelings were really bad. We have to keep learning.”

Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller was talking about their power-play end, saying, “Actually, we didn’t open up the way we wanted, and they made a good soft peeling, but in the end we had a lot of good spots and good draws, she line called it great, which made the difference.”

Results | Here are the scores from this afternoons session in Gangneung #WMDCC2023 #curling pic.twitter.com/06QRa8ibAC

— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 26, 2023

Japan stole a single in the eighth end against Türkiye to win the game by 7-4 and stay undefeated after seven round-robin games.

This was Türkiye’s third loss out of seven games.

Excellent work by Yannick Schwaller 🇨🇭 who holds the line and makes the hit and roll, freezing on top of his own stone behind cover and lying four. 🙌

Watch live on the Curling Channel at https://t.co/fy3vfdBx89#WMDCC2023 #curling pic.twitter.com/I2BzZ3X8Ml

— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 26, 2023

Spain were leading their game against Austria by 7-4, going into the eighth end.

In that end, Austria’s Hannah Augustin made a perfect hit-and-roll with her last, but it was good only for a single.

Spain 7, Austria 5 is the final result.

This was Spain’s third win out of seven games. Austria was a won one, lost six record.

Germany scored two points with power-play in the seventh end, and were leading the game by 8-3 against England after seven.

At that point, England’s father-daughter duo conceded the game.

Neither Türkiye in the sixth, Nor Japan in the seventh could score multiple points with their power-play.

Mostly thanks to a big score of three in the second end, Japan are leading the game by 6-4, playing the eighth.

England’s Lina Opel (playing red stones) found the pocket with her last draw of the sixth end, which made Germany’s Pia-Lisa Schoell throw her last stone away. England 3, Germany 6 after six.

What a great shot by Yannick Schwaller on the way to a single steal for Switzerland in the fifth!

‘Really nice.’ 👏 Great effort from Yannick Schwaller who hits his own stone thin on the outside for the raise to get two reds moving and Switzerland 🇨🇭 lie three.

Watch live on the Curling Channel at https://t.co/fy3vfdBx89#WMDCC2023 #curling pic.twitter.com/D762noTn30

— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 26, 2023

United Stated had a three-end stealing streak against Norway in the first half of the game to lead by 4-0 at half time.

In the fifth, Norway called their power-play. Martine Roenning however, was forced to draw for a single in that end, and she did it without a problem. United States 4, Norway 1, playing the sixth.

Spain 3-3 Austria

Sweden 2-2 Switzerland

England 1-6 Germany

United States 4-0 Norway

Japan 4-3 Türkiye

Spain were leading their game against Austria by 3-2, going into the fourth end.

In that end, Oihane Otaegi came up short with her last draw attempt and Spain gave up a single steal.

Sweden and Switzerland have a close battle so far. The teams exchanged single-point scores with hammer throughout the first three ends. Sweden 2, Switzerland 1, playing the fourth.

Mixed doubles made its Olympic debut at the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games 2018.

Instead of playing in teams of four, mixed doubles curling is for teams of two players – one male and one female (no alternate player is allowed).

The game is played on the same sheets of ice as “traditional” curling, with some differences, including:

• Teams have only six stones each (instead of eight) and one of those stones, from each team, is prepositioned before each end starts.
• Player one delivers the first and last stones and player two plays the second, third and fourth stones. If they choose to, the two players may swap positions from one end to the next.
• Sweeping can be done by both team members.
• Each team receives 22 minutes of thinking time and games are fixed at 8 ends. If games are tied after 8 ends, extra end(s) will be played with three minutes of thinking time added for each extra end.

The force is on and Briar Schwaller-Huerlimann makes sure Switzerland 🇨🇭 get it with a neat double that leaves the shooter lying on back four. 👊

Watch live on the Curling Channel at https://t.co/fy3vfdBx89#WMDCC2023 #curling pic.twitter.com/g4EsmMxvSA

— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 26, 2023

After stealing a single in the first end, Germany stole two in the second against England to go up, 3-0.

Türkiye are playing against undefeated Japan in this session.

Japan had last-stone advantage in the first end, but Matsumura Chiaki’s raise attempt with her last stone didn’t work out, and Japan gave up a single.

In 50 minutes we are back with Session 14 of round-robin play.

Here’s what to expect:

Spain v Austria

Sweden v Switzerland

England v Germany

United States v Norway

Japan v Türkiye

Watch them all live (of later as replays) on The Curling Channel.

Results | First session of the day is complete ✅ here are the scores#WMDCC2023 #curling pic.twitter.com/ALX3emHgxs

— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 26, 2023

“Today is a big day for us,” says Jennifer Dodds of Scotland. So starting the day off with a win is good. The ice was a wee bit different today but I think we got on top of it and hopefully we can carry that onto tonight [against Australia]. It’s a fast pace game and every country you play – it’s a big game for you. I think if you look at the tables now, they are pretty tight for qualification so it’s a really good thing to see!”

Group A toppers stay locked in first place.

“We had a few first good ends,” says Marie Kaldvee of Estonia. “We made two quite tough shots to get the five so I guess that boosted us. In Mixed Doubles anybody can get a four or five quite easily so …”

“The ice changed a little bit and trying to get the perfect line, but I thought we played ‘ok’ and never really got ourselves into any trouble which is the biggest thing in Mixed Doubles,” says Canada’s Jennifer Jones. “What an opportunity for us to be on the world stage together. We are usually standing in the stands cheering each other on, and it’s probably been one of the best moments of my life to be able to share this with Brent.”

A slight over curl on Denmark’s final guard left a small port for Canada’s Jennifer Jones to get through and make the hit for two points.

Czech Republic made a perfect double on their last, leaving a nose hit for Netherlands to take one on their power-play, trailing 4-6.

Denmark play a raise for a possible two, but it doesn’t curl enough leaving Canada with a steal of one for a 3-1 lead.

Korea get a single after a draw to the button and trail Italy 1-4.

Hungary pick up two points and Scotland retain a 4-3 lead.

Netherlands played a hit into a pile of Czech stones, and resulted in a measure for a single, which went to Czech to tie the game, 3-3.

Australia got forced to a single on their power play and Estonia keep control, up 8-2.

Scotland lead Hungary 4-1, but lots of Hungarian stones lay around the rings in the fourth end.

FEATURE | Canadian pair Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing have represented their country countless of times on the world stage – but never together, until now! 🇨🇦

See what the husband and wife team have to say: https://t.co/DCEBtebwab | #WMDCC2023

— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 26, 2023

A huge game for table toppers, Estonia, open with five against Australia.

Good morning!

We are ready for the second-last day of round robin at the Gangneung Curling Centre.

The first session starts at 10 am (KST, which is UTC +9 hours).

We’ll have the following match-ups:

Netherlands v Czech Republic

Denmark v Canada

Scotland v Hungary

Estonia v Australia

Korea v Italy

Watch all games live (or later as replays) on The Curling Channel.