24 February 2024

Switzerland women crowned world junior champions

Saturday morning the women played for medals at the World Junior Curling Championships 2024 in the Kisakallio Sports Institute in Lohja.

Gold medal game

Switzerland – who had beaten Canada by 5-4 in the semi-final – took on Japan for the gold medals and the world title. Japan won their semi-final on Friday by 8-5 against Norway.

Japan took silver last year and gold in 2022, while Switzerland came fourth after an undefeated round-robin run last year in Fuessen, Germany.

In the first end, Switzerland skip Xenia Schwaller attempted to blank the end, but her shooter stuck around and the Swiss took a single. In the second Japan skip Tabata Momoha had a nose hit for two, which she executed perfectly. Switzerland 1, Japan 2 after two.

Two half-made take-outs by Japan third Nihira Miku opened the opportunity for Switzerland to take two in the second. They took the chance and scored two for a 3-2 lead after three.

In the fourth, Tabata attempted to score two by a hit, but her shooter rolled out and could only take one. Schwaller drew for one in the fifth to take a 4-3 lead going into the break.

In the sixth, Schwaller made a perfect hit-and-roll with her last, which left Tabata with a very difficult take-out for a blank. Her stone passed by the Swiss stone, and Japan gave up a steal of one. Switzerland 5, Japan 3 after six.

In the seventh, Tabata had another opportunity to blank the end, but her stone missed its target and Japan gave up another single.

In the eighth, Tabata needed to make a perfect draw, however, was light and tapped one more Swiss stone into scoring position to give up a steal of four. At this point, Japan conceded the game and Switzerland became world champions.

Final result: Switzerland 10-3 Japan

After the game, a very happy Xenia Schwaller said, “Unreal, it’s so good! We were just playing good in the sixth end, and there was a weird miss from her for the blank, we didn’t expect that of course.”

Summing up their week, she added, “My team played amazing all week long, I’m so proud of them. We did a great job all week and it feels so good!”

Bronze medal game

In the bronze medal game, Canada took on Norway. Canada qualified for this event by winning silver at the World Junior-B Championships in December 2023. Norway won world junior bronze last year.

Norway scored one in the first end. In the second, Canada took their two.

In the third, Norway skip Torild Bjoernstad made a hit for one to tie the game at 2-2. In the fourth, Canada skip Myla Plett had a nose hit for a single and to take back the lead, 3-2.

After a blanked fifth end, Norway had a chance to score three. Bjoernstad executed the tap that was needed for it, to go up, 5-3.

In the seventh, Plett had a difficult angle tap to score two. Her stone was slightly heavy and Canada scored only a single. Norway 5, Canada 4 after seven.

In the eighth, Norway scored a single for a two-point lead. In the ninth, Plett was left with a run-back to score a single, but missed it and Norway stole a single for 7-4.

In the tenth, Norway ran Canada out of stones to win bronze medals.

Afterwards, Norway second Ingeborg Forbregd shared her feelings, “It’s amazing, I’m so happy! We started off a little bit rough, but the second half of the game was good. It ended well!”

Final result: Norway 7-5 Canada

The gold medallist Swiss team are skip Xenia Schwaller, third Selina Gafner, second Fabienne Rieder and lead Selina Rychiger, supported by alternate Zoe Schwaller and coach Andreas Schwaller.

The silver medallist Japanese team are skip Tabata Momoha, third Nihira Miku, second Miura Yuina and lead Nakajima Mikoto, supported by alternate Ueno Yui and coach Sato Hiroshi.

The bronze medallist Norwegian team are skip Torild Bjoernstad, third Nora Oestgaard, second Ingeborg Forbregd and lead Eilin Kjaerland, supported by coach Ingebrigt Bjoernstad.

The men’s teams will play for medals on Saturday at 15:00 (EET).

Click here for all the results from the competition.

For information about streaming, click here.

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