12 January 2024
Last one sweeping — The latest techniques and approaches to sweeping
From corn brooms, through Norwegian pads to one unified approved fabric — sweeping has significantly changed during the last 50 years.
House brushes were replaced by carbon-made handles, and different pad materials and physical strength took over.
Ever since, curlers have been trying to find ways to affect the stones’ path as much as possible; whether it is to make it slide further, curl less, or even curl more.
Although the real rollercoaster for sweeping came eight years ago, even now, elite teams are still coming up with adjustments or changes in their techniques.
“The big change, compared to 20 years ago, is that now teams have actual sweeping training and know much more about what is the best sweeping angle, how to manage the stone along the sheet, and when to put the right amount of pressure on the brush,” says two-time world champion Craig Savill.
Observation research
Elite teams keep testing new ways to make sweeping more effective, using different methods to gather their findings. One of the most common ones is observation.
“I do not do my own research, but I definitely watch other sweepers and see whether their method has an effect on keeping the rock straight or dragging it a long way. Then, I try it myself to see whether it could work for me as well,” says Sweden’s reigning Olympic champion Sweden’s Rasmus Wranaa.
“We test new ideas on our practices and then we try them also on different surfaces, because you cannot know whether it will work the same with different ice conditions,” says six-time world champion and current European champion, Switzerland’s Carole Howald.
Ice conditions, the strength of the sweepers and the overall rock management by the sweepers and the rest of the team are the main factors of the sweeping science.
Just a few years ago, however, rock management was much easier thanks to more “aggressive” pads and inserts, and according to top athletes, it nearly ruined the sport. Eight years ago, it was Canada’s Olympic and world champion, Brad Gushue with his team who shared a video from their practice where they tested different pads and inserts. They showed how drastically they could navigate the direction of the stone.
Back to the roots?
This affair ended with the World Curling Federation approving only one type of material for sweeping pads, for both women and men.
Moreover, within a team at World Curling events, sweepers cannot share their brooms and can only use their own. It might seem like progress has been stopped by these measures, but even now, elite curlers are coming up with new ideas and skills to improve their sweeping game.
“Teams can manoeuvre the rock even now if they know the right angle of sweeping,” thinks Craig Savill.
Most top sweepers have now been doing the “pressing” technique, during which they push with their whole body on the broom whilst not moving the head in front of the stone (seen below).
One of the first ones was Scotland’s Team Mouat and Sweden’s Team Edin. “It is a big energy saver and it makes the stone go further and straighter. We believe it has a similar effect on the stone as classic sweeping,” says Rasmus Wranaa.
A less common — but still heavily used — technique is the so-called “knifing”. The sweeper uses the thin head of the brush and sweeps the stone at an angle to curl it more. In this one, however, even the top curlers cannot agree on whether and how much it works.
“We have been testing it and sometimes it does look that it works and sometimes it looks like it did not do as much for it to curl. Also, no one uses this technique to hold it straight, which is strange,” says Carole.
“We do not use it as we have not tested it enough yet, so we cannot confirm whether it works,” adds Rasmus.
Single sweeper
The one thing that has been adopted widely now is a single sweeper practice. Teams sweep with only one player when they try to affect the direction of the stone.
For speed, they still have two sweepers brushing, although they agree that the sweeper who is further from the stone has a much lower impact.
There is a team that has decided to use this single sweeper practice literally — Team Schwaller from Switzerland. Pablo Lachat, playing lead for the team, is the main sweeper for almost every shot.
The reason, according to his teammate Benoit Schwarz-van Berkel, is simple: “I am very happy to say that Pablo is way more effective than me in most situations. He is one of the best in the game and there is no reason to miss out on his talent when we can.”
More clarity on what the effects of sweeping and different techniques are could be brought by the new research made by the University of Saskatchewan. The study — supported by the World Curling Federation — started in early 2023 and includes analysing broom pads after sweeping and monitoring the ice. The results of the research will be available in the middle of 2024.
Written by Feature Writer, Anna Kubeskova
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