22 February 2024

Semi-finals set at World Juniors

Emotions were running high on the last day of round-robin play at the World Juniors 2024.

All four women’s play-off teams were confirmed on Wednesday, however, there was still plenty to play for in the sole women’s session on Thursday.

In the men’s competition, all four semi-final places were vacant before the morning session, and all were taken by the end of it.

Men’s competition

Ahead of Thursday’s last two sessions of round-robin games, the competition was very tight with many possible scenarios.

Table-toppers Norway (6W-1L) met title-defenders China (2W-5L) in the morning, knowing that a win would mean play-off qualification for them.

Norway were leading the game by 3-0 after four ends. In the fifth, Norway skip Lukas Hoestmaelingen missed his double take-out attempt and as a result, China had the opportunity to score two. They did just that for 2-3 at the break.

Norway scored two in the sixth, and China were only able to take their one in the seventh for a 5-3 Norwegian lead. In the eighth end, after some great stone-placement, Norway were lying four before Hoestmaelingen’s last stone. At that point, China conceded defeat and handed Norway their seventh win.

This win also means play-off qualification for Norway. Knowing this, Hoestmaelingen said, “It feels amazing! I think we are top seed now which is even better, so it’s brilliant, actually.”

Talking about the last end, he added, “My third did a very good shot so we could lie three and they were just chasing the rest of the end, so I didn’t even need to throw my last stone and we still got a four. It was great!”

In the morning, Denmark (5W-2L) played last year’s bronze medallists, Scotland (4W-3L), both teams aiming to secure a spot in the play-offs by the end of the day.

In the second end, Denmark fourth Jonathan Vilandt needed to draw to the button to score a single. He just did that and tied the game at 1-1. In the third end, Scotland skip Orrin Carson needed to navigate this last stone through a port to take two. Aided by some sweeping, he executed the task for a 3-1 lead.

In the fourth, Orrin Carson’s roll wasn’t perfect on his last take-out, which opened the floor for Denmark to score three. They took the opportunity and took the lead for the first time, 4-3.

By the ninth end, Denmark were leading by 8-5. In that end, Scotland scored two to narrow the gap to a single point. However, in the tenth, a slightly missed stone by Orrin Carson on his last meant that Denmark didn’t need to throw their last. They won by 9-7, and as results elsewhere were favourable for them, they qualified for the play-offs.

Afterwards, Denmark skip Jacob Schmidt said, “We feel great right now, we’re playing some good games and just excited to be playing tomorrow.”

Italy (5W-2L) played Switzerland (2W-5L) in the morning session, hoping for a two-win day and play-off qualification. Italy fourth Francesco De Zanna played a delicate tap with his last in the second end to score three for a 3-1 lead.

In the fifth end, De Zanna came up light with his last and Italy gave up a steal of one. The teams were tied again at the break, 3-3.

After two blanked ends, De Zanna’s last take-out resulted in two points for Italy for 5-3. In the ninth, Italy stole a single for 6-3.

In the last end, Switzerland had a chance to at least tie the game, but Manuel Jermann was unlucky with his difficult angle run attempt, and Switzerland scored only two. Italy 6, Switzerland 5 is the final result. After the session drew to a close, Italy were confirmed to have made it to the play-offs.

Last year’s silver medallists, Germany (4W-3L) played Canada (3W-4L) in the morning. The Germans still had good chances for semi-final qualification if they won both of their games of the day.

Germany were leading the game by 3-1 after three ends. In the fourth, Canada skip Johnson Tao attempted to tap out a German shot stone to score two, but wrecked on a guard and Germany stole one, 4-1. In the fifth, Germany forced Tao to make a precise draw for one, he executed it, and narrowed the gap to two points. Germany 4, Canada 2 after five.

Canada scored a big three in the seventh for 5-5. The teams were tied at 7-7, playing the tenth. Germany skip Benjamin Kapp’s last draw for the win was slightly overswept and ended up a bit heavy. Canada stole the win, 8-7.

In the fifth game of the morning session, United States (4W-3L) were trying to get a step closer to semi-final qualification when they met New Zealand (0-7).

United States were leading by 3-1 after three. In the fourth, New Zealand were lying shot stone on the four-foot, guarded. United States’ skip Wesley Wendling attempted to tap it out, wrecked on a corner guard, but his redirected shot stone tapped the Kiwi stone out anyway. With a bit of luck, United States scored five for an 8-1 lead.

The Americans eventually won by 10-3 after eight ends. After all games came to a conclusion, United States was confirmed as the fourth team to make it to the semi-finals.

After their second-last round-robin game, New Zealand skip Sam Flanagan summed up his experience at the event. He said, “It’s been a little bit of a frustrating experience, being at the bottom of the table. It certainly wasn’t what we planned to achieve after qualifying for this tournament, but we’re taking it as a learning experience and starting to build some momentum. Hopefully, we can go home happy with ourselves.”

In the men’s last round-robin session in the evening, already qualified United States beat Switzerland by 11-8. Italy, who also had also secured their spot in the semi-finals, were 9-1 winners over China.

Norway, another play-off team, played Scotland on Thursday night. The Scots won the encounter by 7-5. Denmark, who also had made it to the play-offs, won over Canada by 7-6 in an extra end.

In the fifth game of the evening session Germany defeated New Zealand by 9-1.

Norway finished on top of the round-robin rankings and will play fourth-placed United States in the semi-finals. Second-placed Italy will meet third-ranked Denmark in the other semi-final. The men’s semi-finals will take place on Friday 23 February at 19:00.

Women’s competition

As all play-off spots were taken on Wednesday, the last round-robin session was to confirm the final round-robin standings.

Table-toppers Switzerland (8W-0L) met Canada (5W-3L), both teams already having secured their place in the play-offs. The teams were tied at 4-4 at the break, and then at 6-6 after nine. Canada had hammer in the last end, but their skip Myla Plett couldn’t get enough movement on the Swiss stones in the house with her last take-out, and Switzerland stole two, 8-6.

The Swiss win means that they finished the round robin undefeated and on top of the rankings.

Already qualified Norway (5W-3L) met Germany (3W-5L). The teams put only single scores on the board in the first eight ends and were tied at 3-3, playing the ninth. In the ninth, Germany scored two for 5-3. In the tenth, Norway skip Torild Bjoernstad came up short with her last draw for two, scored only a single and handed Germany a 5-4 win.

This victory for Germany means that they finished sixth overall and secured a spot in next year’s world championship.

After their win, a happy Germany skip Sara Messenzehl said, “We knew we had to win, we wanted to keep it a bit more open. The Norwegian team is really strong and already qualified for the play-offs. We wanted to keep it open, simple and I think we did a pretty good job.”

Last year’s silver medallists, Japan (6W-2L) have already earned a spot in the semi-finals before they met Türkiye (1W-7L) on Thursday afternoon.

Japan were leading the game by 5-1 at the break. In the sixth, they put four on the board, after which Türkiye conceded the game. Japan 9, Türkiye 1 is the final result.

Last year’s world champions, Scotland (2W-6L) didn’t make it to the play-offs this year, but wanted to finish this year’s campaign on a positive note, when they played Korea (3W-5L).

Korea were leading the game by 4-3 at the break. With a big score of three in the seventh, Scotland took back the lead, 6-4. The Scottish eventually won by 7-5 and scored their third win of the week.

In the final women’s session of the day, Sweden (4W-4L) met China (3W-5L). The Swedish team really wanted to end their campaign with a win, and put some pressure on China. Sweden were leading by 3-2 at half time. In the second half, they put five points on the board in three ends to lead by 8-2 after eight. At this point, China conceded the game and handed Sweden their fifth win of the week.

Switzerland finished on top of the round-robin rankings and will meet fourth-placed Canada in the semi-finals. Second-placed Japan will meet third-ranked Norway in the other semi-final. The women’s semi-finals will take place on Friday 23 February at 14:00.

Click here for the women’s and men’s final round-robin standings.

Click here for all the results and the playing schedule.

For information about streaming, click here.

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