Lithuania’s climb to top-tier curling

Sitting at rock bottom of the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships standings just 18 years ago, Lithuania has had a rollercoaster journey to the A-Division.

Both men’s and women’s teams failed to pick up a victory on their debut at the 2006 event in Basel, Switzerland. These early stages typically lay down the marker to beat for the next generation of athletes.

However, Virginija Paulauskaite has experienced all the highs and the lows.

Now 52, Paulauskaite is the only remaining member of that 2006 rink to date. In 2007, Lithuania recorded two victories, showing some promising progression. Yet, the team would not return to the B-Division of the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships the following year.

“That year we did not have the conditions to properly train and prepare for participation in the Championship,” said Paulauskaite.

“We had no funding, no ice, not even hockey ice.

“For these reason, the team broke up.

“Since 2014, there have been opportunities to practise regularly in Vilnius and Kaunas, funding has become available, so new people have started to be recruited and there has been an opportunity to form a team.”

Paulauskaite at the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2016 © World Curling / Richard Gray

Skip starts to see success

The women’s rink came back in 2016, after a near-decade of Lithuania just fielding a men’s team who often survived relegation from the B-Division, but also had a great promotion playoff push in 2015.

That comeback season saw Paulauskaite return as skip for the national team – first gaining promotion from the C-Division with playoff wins over Spain and Austria – before consolidating their spot in the B-Division for the following year with two victories in the round-robin stage.

It was a far different experience to what occurred a decade before in that debut season.

“At that time, we just started playing curling, we had very little experience, so we could not show good results,” she said.

“But the passion and desire to play was great, so I am still curling to this day.

“These were our first games on professional curling ice, as we trained only on hockey ice in preparation in 2006.

“We felt that in the curling arena the ice is completely different and it is a completely different game.”

Paulauskaite with her team at the B-Division European Curling Championships 2017 © World Curling / Céline Stucki

Determination was crucial

Despite Vilnius enduring harsh winters, Lithuania is not considered a winter sport nation. While neighbours Latvia are considered amongst the world’s best in ice hockey and sliding sports, Lithuania’s national pride is basketball.

The small Baltic nation has stood on the Olympic podium three times and has three men’s EuroBasket titles. If you were to use the jargon “rock” in Lithuania, they would imagine a hoop, not a house.

With the men’s curling team fading, it was the slow rise of the women’s team that was noticeable. In 2018, the rink came close to A-Division promotion, but squandered a 6-2 lead against an experienced Norway, losing 10-8. A narrow defeat to Türkiye saw them miss the bronze medal – but on the positive it was a giant step forward. Progress stalled in 2019 when Lithuania was relegated after Asta Vaicekonyte’s rink beat Paulauskaite’s to the selection.

Paulauskaite would return in 2021 with promotion from the C-Division and narrowly miss the B-Division playoffs with regional rivals Latvia. She would claim B-Division bronze in 2022 and in 2023 would finally achieve the goal of promotion to the top tier of women’s continental curling, by defeating top seeds Poland 10-6 in the playoffs and securing the silver medal. Determination was crucial after so many near misses.

“This has been an aspiration for many years,” she said.

“Today we are very proud and happy because we will have the opportunity to compete with the strongest teams in Europe.

“We are happy with our achievements in curling, because Lithuania is not a winter sports country.

“We are one of the few countries without a curling arena, but thanks to great efforts we managed to get into the top division.”

Paulauskaite and her team with their Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships 2023 B-Division silver medals © World Curling / Richard Gray

Promising future ahead

These improvements have been attributed to more off-ice training where the team has more opportunity to analyse their performances and their opponents, while having a consistent, stable development plan.

And it has not just benefitted the team at the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships, Paulauskaite also skipped the national side at the World Senior Curling Championships earlier this year in Oestersund, Sweden, being invited to join a different rink to improve on their previous results. In one of the country’s great sporting moments, Lithuania claimed the silver medal.

“When we arrived, we did not expect such a good result, but after playing a few matches, we realised that our team is perfectly prepared for this championship, and we can get into the top four.

“It was both happy and emotional for us, because it was the result of a lot of effort and the passion of the senior team.

“It is important to mention that many of the team members started curling when they were over 50 years old.

“For me, it was also a reward for many years of effort put into curling.

“We joke among ourselves that the possibilities of a curling career are just beginning, and we are grateful to this sport that there is no age limit.”

While the goal is to stay in the European A-Division and secure a berth at the LGT Women’s World Curling Championship – calling it “an aspiration of every European country” – to reach this stage after those years in the wilderness is incredibly promising. And through all of it, Virginija Paulauskaite has been core to the Lithuania story.