24 November 2023
Norway win women’s bronze in Aberdeen
Sweden faced Norway in the women’s bronze medal game at the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships 2023 on Friday afternoon.
After a blank first end, Norway opened the scoring with a steal of two in the second.
Then, in the third end, Sweden skip Isabella Wranaa came up short with her last draw, to give Norway another steal of two and a lead of 4-0.
In the fourth end, Norway skip Marianne Roervik, who plays third stones, played a hit to set the end up well for her team. Later in the end, Sweden’s Wranaa wrecked on a front guard with her final stone, to give Norway a steal of four and an 8-0 lead.
Sweden finally got on the scoreboard in the fifth end, but skip Wranaa’s draw was too short, meaning they just scored one from a stone already sitting in the house, rather than the two they were looking for. However, they did manage to reduce the Norwegians’ lead to 8-1 at the break.
In the sixth end, Norway’s fourth player Kristin Skaslien played a tap to score one point, for 9-1.
Sweden’s Wranaa played a draw for two in the seventh end to reduce Norway’s lead again, to 9-3.
However, a nose hit by Norway’s Skaslien in the eighth end gave her team one more point, for a 10-3 lead, and Sweden immediately conceded.
This bronze medal for Norway now sits alongside the world silver medal they won last season.
After the game, Norway skip Roervik said, “We’re really happy to get a medal. They were unlucky with their last shot in the second and we got a lead early. We qualified from the B-Division a few years ago, and we got a medal in the worlds. Now we have a new medal and that’s really good.”
Her teammate Mille Haslev Nordbye agreed, “Obviously, we’re very happy. We really didn’t see that coming a week ago, so it’s over every expectation we had, I think. It started close with a blank, and we had a lucky steal in the second end. From there we just decided, ‘okay, let’s go for this’.”
The bronze medal winning Norwegian team are: skip Marianne Roervik, fourth player Kristin Skaslien, second Mille Haslev Nordbye and lead Martine Roenning, supported by alternate Ingeborg Forbregd and coach Rune Steen Hansen.
The men’s bronze medal game takes place on Friday evening, while both gold medal games will be staged on Saturday.
Engage with the World Curling Federation during the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships 2023 on X, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook and by searching the hashtags #curling and #ECC
