Austria record historic victory on day five

When Austria played Korea in the fourteenth round-robin session on Wednesday evening, neither team had yet managed to win a game at this championship. So, something had to give.

Ultimately, it was the Austrians who emerged on top, beating Korea by 11-4 in eight ends, to record a first win for Austria at this level since 1983. The breakthrough came as early as the second end when the Austrians had a four-point steal for a 5-0 lead, and they stayed in control of the game after that.

After his team’s historic achievement, a delighted Austrian skip Mathias Genner said, “It’s been a long week for us. We’ve had a couple of close games but no wins so far, so we’re very happy to take that win.”

Earlier in the day, Austria had lost to Italy, by 2-8, while Japan had beaten Korea by 7-4.

By the eighth end of the game between Austria and Italy, the Italians led by 5-2 when their skip Joel Retornaz played a runback take-out to score three points and move onto an 8-2 lead. Austria then conceded.

After his team’s win over Korea, Japan skip Yamaguchi Tsuyoshi said, “We still have a chance at the play-offs, so we’re going to keep playing. We want to win more, so we should just focus.”

Team Japan’s Koizumi Satoshi and Usui Shingo © World Curling / Jeffrey Au

Canada jump to top of table

This win for Austria leaves Korea alone at the foot of the table, while, by contrast, two wins for Canada — by 8-3 over Norway in their morning game and then by the same score (8-3) against Czechia in their evening game — leaves them sitting at the top of the rankings, on seven wins and one loss.

Against Norway, Canada had built a 6-3 lead by the eighth end. Norway skip Magnus Ramsfjell then missed on a double take-out attempt to let the Canadians steal two more points. Norway then conceded, with a final score of 8-3.

After this game, Canada skip Brad Jacobs said, “We played pretty good, and that was a big win.”

Against Czechia, Canada opened with a score of two and never looked back. They scored twos again in the sixth and eighth ends to complete their seventh win (8-3).

Team Canada’s Ben Hebert and Brett Gallant © World Curling / Jeffrey Au

Behind leaders Canada, China, Scotland and Switzerland share second spot.

The Scots lost by 7-11 to Switzerland in their morning game. In the ninth end, with the Swiss already leading by 9-7, their fourth player Benoit Schwarz-Van Berkel played a raise double take-out to score two more points and win the game by 11-7. Later, the Scots bounced back against Norway in the tenth end when their skip Bruce Mouat had a nose-hit on a Norway stone to score three points and win by 8-4.

Meanwhile, in their only game of the day in the afternoon session, China lost to Czechia. In the ninth end, Czechia led by 7-3 when China skip Xu Xiaoming attempted a run-back double take-out. But he got it wrong to give up a steal of three to the Czechs for a 10-3 scoreline. China then conceded to give Czechia a 10-3 win.

With two wins in Wednesday’s play, Switzerland now join China and Scotland in joint second place on the rankings. They followed up their morning 11-7 win over Scotland by beating Germany by 7-3 in their evening game.

Team Switzerland’s Benoit Schwarz-Van Berkel © World Curling / Jeffrey Au

Play-off hopes still alive

Behind the joint second-placed teams, defending champions Sweden sit in fifth place, with five wins and three losses.

Sweden beat the United States 7-1 in their morning game, but lost 5-8 to Germany in the afternoon. In the eighth end of this game, with the score tied at 4-4, Germany’s skip Marc Muskatewitz played a draw to score three points and take a 7-4 lead. After this, Germany went on to win, keeping their play-off hopes alive.

Speaking later, Muskatewitz said, “We’re growing from game to game. We know we’re a tournament team, so we’ll be getting better and better.”

Behind Sweden, Czechia — who beat China by 10-3 before losing to Canada (8-3) — occupy the crucial sixth play-off slot, on five wins and four losses. The Czechs have played one game more than Norway and the United States, who each have four wins and four losses.

Germany, Italy and Japan sit behind Norway and United States, and it is still mathematically possible for any of these three teams to qualify.