25 November 2023
Switzerland women crowned European champions
Switzerland women met Italy in the women’s gold medal game at the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships 2023.
With the last stone of the tenth end, Switzerland beat Italy by 6-5 to win gold and add this team’s first European title to their impressive performance record.
This was a first European final for this Italian team and a second successive final for the Swiss world champions.
In the opening end, Italy were facing two Swiss counting stones, and their skip Stefania Constantini cleared them both with a double take-out, forcing Switzerland to blank the end.
Italy held a 1-0 lead as the teams played the third end, and eventually, Switzerland’s fourth player Alina Paetz had a draw to score two points and take a 2-1 lead.
In the fourth end, Italy were facing two Swiss counters when Constantini played an open hit to score one and tie the game up at 2-2.
Then, in the fifth end, Switzerland’s Paetz played a tap, to score one point and take a 3-2 lead into the break.
Switzerland led by 4-2 in the seventh end, and Italy’s Constantini was forced to draw onto the four-foot ring for just one point, to reduce Switzerland’s lead to 4-3.
In the eighth end, Switzerland’s fourth player Alina Paetz had to get inside one Italian counter already sitting in the house. Her draw landed right on the button to give her team one point and extend their lead to 5-3.
In the ninth end, Constantini played a nose hit-and-stay, to score two points and tie the game at 5-5.
In the tenth end, with one Italian stone counting, Paetz attempted a hit-and-roll in, and moved the Italian stone just enough to score one for a 6-5 win to take the title.
Afterwards, a shaking Swiss skip Silvana Tirinzoni said, “Five minutes ago, I thought they were going to get the steal on us. But thank goodness we had two options, and it was a tough shot. I’m still trying to find my feelings, I’m all over the place right now.”
Swiss lead Carole Howald remembered her team’s last-stone loss in the 2022 final and said, “Last year it was just really tight and this year we could get it home, so it feels great.”
And speaking about the Swiss 100% record throughout the tournament, she added, “It was an awesome week and to just win everything — It’s great.”
Meanwhile, silver medal winning skip Constantini said, “It’s hard but I think we had a good game against a very strong team, and they did what a very strong team does. But I’m very proud of ourselves, we improved game by game, and the last two games were our best.”
The gold medal winning Swiss team are: skip Silvana Tirinzoni, fourth player Alina Paetz, second Selina Witschonke and lead Carole Howald, supported by alternate Stefanie Berset and coach Pierre Charette.
The silver medal winning Italian team are: skip Stefania Constantini, third player Elena Mathis, second Angela Romei and lead Giulia Zardini Lacedelli, supported by alternate Marta Lo Deserto and coach Violetta Caldart.
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