19 February 2024

Switzerland women: lonely on the top of the standings

The third day of round robin at the World Junior Curling Championships 2024 saw two women’s draws and one men’s session.

At the end of the day, only Switzerland women are perfect on five wins and no losses, while on the men’s side, Denmark are the only undefeated team after four sessions.

Women’s competition

Before the morning draw, there were three undefeated teams in the field — Japan, Norway and Switzerland —, while two teams — China and Sweden — were still looking for their first win.

Table-topper Switzerland and Japan played each other in the morning. Their encounter was a tactical one, featuring three blank ends, controlled by Switzerland.

The Swiss kept Japan to take singles, while they put twos on the board twice. The teams went into the tenth end with 5-3, Switzerland leading. Japan needed to make a difficult double take-out to take the game to an extra end, but their skip Momoha Tabata missed it and gave Switzerland a stolen point and the 6-3 win.

After the game, Swiss third Selina Gafner said, “It was a very important win for our team, because we wanted to show what we can do and we wanted to really win this game. And we showed what we can do, we fought until the end.

“We started pretty well, they didn’t really have a chance to draw for two. And if we had the hammer, we always had a chance to draw for two. That was a good one”, she added.

The third undefeated team, Norway, were playing Türkiye in the morning. After a first blanked end, Norway scored twos with hammer, while kept Türkiye to take their singles in the next six ends. This meant a 6-3 lead for Norway after seven. Norway eventually won by 7-4 and kept their record perfect.

In the evening, the two undefeated teams, Norway and Switzerland played against each other. The teams were tied at 1-1 at half time. In the sixth, Switzerland had perfect stone-placement which resulted in a big score of five. The Swiss kept their lead and eventually won by 8-3 after nine ends.

A traditional curling encounter took place in the morning when Canada played title-defenders, Scotland.

Scotland were up 3-1 after three ends. In the fourth, Canada’s Myla Plett missed her difficult double take-out attempt and handed Scotland a stolen point. In the fifth, Plett made a double with her last to score a single for 2-4.

A nearly perfect end by Canada and some half-shots by Scotland resulted in a big score of three for the Canadians in the seventh for 5-5. Afterwards, the teams traded single points with hammer for a 7-6 Scottish win.

Elsewhere in the morning session, China were looking to get into the win column as they were playing Germany. The teams went into the break with a 4-1 score, China leading. In the sixth, China has great stone-placement and put four on the board for 8-1. The Chinese eventually won by 9-1, picking up their first win of the event.

China kept their solid form in the evening session when they met Türkiye who were still looking for their first win. China controlled the game throughout and won by 5-1.

At the end of their two-win day, China skip Han Zhuo said, “I’m very happy. I really like being here. I like the ice too. Our goal is to finish in the top six, and our big dream is to finish in the top four.”

In the fifth game of the morning, Sweden tried to pick up their first win against Korea. Sweden brought a strong form into this game, which resulted in a steal of two in the third and a score of three in the fifth for a 6-2 lead at half time. Eventually, Sweden won by 9-3 after nine ends.

After picking up their first win, Sweden skip Moa Dryburgh said, “It’s a relief for sure. It’s been a tough start for us, really annoying start as well, so it’s really nice to get that win. Our game was just so much better today, everything was better, the communication, everything. That made the difference today.”

Sweden met Scotland in the evening in an attempt to pick up their second win in Lohja. From the second end on, Sweden were leading the game until the ninth, when Scotland levelled the score, 6-6.

In the last end, Sweden had hammer, and they capitalised on it putting a big score of four on the board. 10-6 is the final result, Sweden winning and keeping their play-off hopes alive.

In the evening, Japan met Canada, both teams trying to improve their record for the day. The game was tied at 2-2 after six ends, then at 4-4 after eight, and at 5-5 after ten.

In the extra end, Japan came up short with their last stone, which meant a steal of two for Canada and a win.

In the last evening game, Germany played Korea, both teams looking for their second win of the week. Germany were leading by 7-6 after eight ends.

In the ninth, two perfect stones by Germany fourth Kim Sutor and a missed last draw by Korea skip Park Hanbyul resulted in a steal of two for the Germans. In the tenth, they ran Korea out of stones, making 9-6 the final result and picking up their second win of the week.

After the game, Germany skip Sara Messenzehl said, “I think we had that big score of four in the sixth end and we just didn’t let them come back at us. That made the difference.”

Talking about their good mood during the games, she added, “We love playing together, we are really close friends, it’s just a pleasure to stay on the ice together with them. We always have fun together, and that’s what makes our team special.”

Men’s competition

In the only men’s session of the day, so-far undefeated Denmark played United States (2W-1L). The Danish controlled the game throughout, and put three-point scores on the board in the fourth and eighth end for an 8-3 lead after eight. In the ninth, the Danish stole three, after which, United States conceded the game with an 11-3 end result.

After the game, Denmark skip Jacob Schmidt commented on their unbeaten record, saying, “It feels amazing, we’re playing well right now. I think we have to keep the focus and try to win some more games.

Talking about their game against United States, he added, “We were strong on our draws today, so I think we were good at coming first and getting them in the four-foot. I think we just played a really good game.”

Looking ahead, he said, “We were coming from the B group, so it’s a very good performance so far, being undefeated. We just need to focus on the next game.”

Switzerland and Norway were both looking for their third win of the event when they played each other in this session. After two blanked ends, Norway put a big three on the board in the third. They forced the Swiss to take their one in the fifth before scoring another two for a 5-1 lead at the break.

Norway had great stone-placement in the sixth and forced Swiss skip Manuel Jermann to play a difficult angle run for two. He was close, but missed it, giving up a steal of one, 1-6. The Norwegians had a more solid game throughout and eventually won by 7-4.

Title-defenders, China were looking to pick up their first win of the week against Canada (2W-1L). The teams were tied at 1-1 after four ends. In the fifth, Canada skip Johnson Tao had a difficult raise attempt for one, he slightly missed it and gave up one.

In the sixth, a half-made double take-out by China skip Liqiunan opened the floor for Tao Johnson to draw for two. Aided by some heavy sweeping, he made the draw and Canada scored two to take back the lead, 3-2. They never let go of it, and eventually won by 6-3.

After the game, Johnson Tao said, “It was definitely a shaky start for us, China outplayed us in the first half. So we were just happy to have a tight game at that point and still be in it. So we wanted to have a really good second half to rebound and hopefully build some more good ends together. I think we did that and we’re very happy with how it turned out.”

Last year’s silver medallists, Germany, met last year’s bronze medallists, Scotland. Both teams were looking for their second win of the week.

The Germans were leading the game by 6-3 at half time, but the Scots put two on the board in the sixth to narrow the gap to a single point.

Germany then blanked the following three ends to carry their hammer into the tenth. In that end, German skip Benjamin Kapp made a perfect take-out to score one and win the game, 7-5.

In the final game of the session, Italy (2W-1L) were playing New Zealand (0W-3L). The Italians put a big score of four on the board in the fifth for a 6-1 lead at the break. The Italians never let the Kiwis score more than one, and eventually won by 8-3 in eight ends.

Click here for the women’s and men’s standings after day three.

Click here for all the results and the playing schedule.

For information about streaming, click here.

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