21 February 2024

Women’s play-off field complete at World Juniors

Each win in the second half of round robin seems to count more as teams are chasing play-off spots and trying to secure a place for their Member Association in next year’s World Juniors.

Wednesday, the fifth day of round robin saw two women’s sessions and one men’s draw.

Women’s competition

So-far undefeated Switzerland (6W-0L) knew that a morning win over Sweden (3W-3L) would mean play-off qualification for them. After scoring two in the first end, Switzerland stole two in the second when Sweden skip Moa Dryburgh was slightly light with her last draw.

In the third end, the Swiss stole another four points when Dryburgh was light again with her last stone. Switzerland were leading by 8-0 after three ends. The Swiss eventually won by 9-2 in six ends and secured their spot in the play-offs.

Afterwards, Swiss skip Xenia Schwaller said, “We had hammer in the first end, so we wanted to score two, which happened after a bit of a struggle. If we have hammer, we want to keep it simple and just go for our two and that’s what we did.”

Talking about their semi-final qualification, she added, “We are very happy, that was our goal all week long to do that and we played really well, so that feels amazing.”

In their morning game, both Japan and Norway were trying to get their fifth win of the week and get one step closer to play-off qualification. Japan were leading the game by 3-2 after six ends. In the seventh, last year’s silver medallists, Japan, put the first multiple score on the board, two, for a 5-2 lead.

They eventually ran Norway out of stones and won by 6-3 to pick up their fifth win of the week. After the game, team Japan in unison said that they are very happy about the result. Their skip, Tabata Momoha added, “We focus on our games shot by shot and our goal is to reach the final. Once there, we’d like to win.”

Canada (4W-2L) were looking for their fifth victory in the morning when they played Korea (2W-4L). However, the Koreans came out firing and put multiple points on the board in both the third and fifth end. They were leading the game by 6-2 after five ends. They never let Canada score more than one and eventually won by 8-3 in eight ends.

Korea attempted to pick up their second win of the day when they met Japan in the evening. Japan, however, kept their strong form from the morning and were leading by 4-0 after four. Japan eventually won by 8-2 in seven ends, scored their sixth win of the week and qualified for the semi-finals.

Both Scotland and China went into their morning game looking for their third win of the week. After a low-scoring first half, China were leading by 3-2. In the second half, the teams exchanged threes, then twos with hammer for an 8-7 Chinese lead before the tenth.

In the tenth, Scottish skip Robyn Munro was left with a nose-hit for one to take the game to an extra end, which she executed perfectly. In the extra end, China skip Han Zhuo played a perfect double take-out to score two and win the game, 10-8.

China met Switzerland in the evening and tried to upset the table-toppers. However, Switzerland kept their great form from the morning, and put a big score of four on the board in the second. They never let go of their lead from that moment on and eventually won by 11-6.

In the morning, Germany (2W-4L) played Türkiye (1W-5L), both teams aiming at securing a spot for their Member Association in next year’s event. Germany had a great start to the game and were leading by 5-1 after four ends. After forcing Türkiye to score their single in the fifth, the Germans scored two, then stole one for an 8-2 lead after seven. At this point, Türkiye conceded the game, giving Germany their third win of the week.

Germany met Canada in the evening. The game was tied at 4-4 after five and then at 6-6 after eight. Canada scored two in the ninth before they ran Germany out of stones in the tenth. Canada’s 8-6 win means that they secured their place in the semi-finals.

After their semi-final qualification, Canada third Alyssa Nedohin said, “I’m feeling pumped! I’m so excited to celebrate with the team. We’ve definitely found some things we want to keep improving on, but we’re just super pumped and we just want to stick to our own selves and have fun out there, because we’ve never made play-offs here before.

Elsewhere in the evening session, Norway met Scotland. Both teams lost their morning game and were determined to make up for it in the evening. They were tied at 2-2 at half time. A big turning point in the game came in the eighth end, when Scottish skip Robyn Munro missed both her draw attempts and Norway stole two for 7-4. After a blank ninth, Norway ran Scotland out of stones, won the game by 7-4, and earned a spot in Friday’s semi-finals.

After their win, a very happy Norway second Ingeborg Forbregd said, “It’s amazing! It’s so fun! We’re playing really well and I think the play-offs will be exciting!”

In the fifth game of the evening, Sweden tried to bounce back from their morning loss when they met Türkiye. They came out firing, and were leading the game by 9-2 at half time. Forcing Türkiye to take their one in the sixth and scoring four in the seventh led to a ten-point Swedish lead. At this point, Türkiye conceded the game and Sweden picked up their fourth win of the week, 13-3.

Men’s competition

Last year’s silver medallists, Germany (3W-3L) were highly determined to pick up a fourth win when they played table-toppers, Italy (5W-1L).

An excellent hit-and-roll by Germany’s Benjamin Kapp, followed by a missed run-back by Italy’s Francesco De Zanna opened the floor for Germany to score three in the first end. They just did that with a draw by Kapp on his last to take an early lead, 3-0.

After forcing Italy to take a single in the second, the Germans put four points on the board in the next two ends. The teams went into the break with 7-2, Germany leading. They eventually won by 9-2 in six ends, picking up a crucial win to keep their play-off hopes alive. It was Italy’s second loss of the week, and their semi-final dreams are also very much alive.

After their win, Kapp talked about the importance of their excellent Draw Shot Challenge saying, “I think it’s very important, especially in such a tight field. We put much effort into the draw shot and just try to get the best result possible.”

Talking about the change in the level of competition at world juniors, he added, “It’s been improving so much, I think this has been the best field I’ve ever seen in junior competition.”

Co-leaders of the standings, Norway (5W-1L) met New Zealand (0W-6L), who earned their spot in this event by finishing fourth at the World Junior-B Championships last December. Norway were leading the game by 5-1 at the break. They never let go of their four-point advantage and eventually won by 7-2.

Denmark (4W-2L) wanted to pick up their fifth win of the week when they played Switzerland (2W-4L). Switzerland were leading by 5-4 after seven. In the eighth, Denmark fourth Jonathan Vilandt made a perfect double take-out for score three and take back the lead, 7-5.

In the ninth, Switzerland scored three back after a triple take-out by skip Manuel Jermann. The Swiss were leading by 8-7, playing the tenth. In that tenth end, Denmark managed to score two to win the game by 9-8 and bounce back from their two-loss day on Tuesday.

Afterwards, Vilandt said, “I feel very good. I think the three we made in the eighth end turned things around. Yesterday was not a good day, but it was a nice win today. We’ll go to sleep happy today.”

Sharing their plans for the remaining round-robin games, he said, “Go out and win!”

In the North American classic, Canada (3W-3L) met United States (3W-3L), both teams chasing a fourth win. Canada scored three in the first end, but United States responded straight away with a three of their own. After that, Canada were leading the game until the seventh. In that end, the Americans manufactured a score of three again to take the lead for the first time, 7-6.

In the eighth, Canada skip Johnson Tao had a very difficult draw for two, but he came up short and picked up only one for 7-7. After an exchange of two-point ends, the game went into an extra end, United States having hammer.

After some excellent shot-making on both sides, United States skip Wesley Wendling took out the Canadian shot stone with his last to score one and win, 10-9.

Title-defenders, China (2W-4L) played last year’s bronze medallists, Scotland (3W-3L). The teams went into the break tied at 2-2. After a single steal for China in the sixth, Scotland scored twos in both the seventh and ninth end for a 6-4 lead.

In the tenth, the Scots ran China out of stones and picked up an important win to keep their play-off dreams alive.

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

Click here for all the results and the playing schedule.

For information about streaming, click here.

Engage with the World Curling Federation during the World Junior Curling Championships 2024 on TikTok, X, Instagram, Facebook, and Weibo and by searching the hashtags #WJCC and #curling