Czechia beat Germany for first round robin win at Olympic Winter Games

It took longer than the team wanted but, in their seventh game so far, Czechia recorded their first win, when they beat Germany 9-7 in Tuesday morning’s ninth session of men’s round-robin play.

In the game, Germany took the early advantage, scoring two in the first end when their skip Marc Muskatewitz played a hit and stay on a Czech stone.

Benjamin Kapp and Johannes Scheuerl, Germany © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

The teams then swapped singles all the way to the fifth end break, with the Germans holding a 4-2 advantage. Germany started the second half of the game with a steal of one more point for a 5-2 lead when Czechia skip Lukas Klima’s raise was unsuccessful.

However, the tide seemed to turn in the seventh end when, after good play by his third Marek Cernovsky, Klima had an easy draw inside the eight-foot ring to score three points and tie the score at 5-5.

Marek Cernovsky, Czechia © World Curling / Celine Stucki

Then, in the eighth, the Czechs moved ahead with a steal of one point for a 6-5 lead when Germany’s Muskatewitz was unsuccessful with a tap-back.

In the ninth, Muskatewitz was able to tap-back this time, to score two points and re-take the lead at 7-6. This meant that the Czechs had last stone advantage in the tenth end, and eventually, Klima was able to clear out the only German stone in the house to score three points, and secure their 9-7 win.

Team Germany © World Curling / Celine Stucki

The Czechs only have two games left, so a place in the semi-finals is now beyond them.

When asked about the game-changing three points in the seventh end, Czechia skip Lukas Klima said, “That seventh end probably changed the momentum and since that moment we felt we are in control in this part of the game.

“But I think in the last three ends we were a good team, we were putting pressure on them and we knew the chances will come. We just tried to stay patient and finally in the seventh end, Marek made two beautiful shots and finally the opponent made a miss which created an opportunity for us to score.”

Despite results not going their way, being at these Olympic Games is a huge achievement for the Czechia team, as Klima continued, “I hope it’s huge that we got here. A lot of people at home will perhaps not know curling and are watching it and it has much more of a spotlight than during Worlds or Europeans, like the Olympics are completely different. I hope it with help Czech curling a lot. We needed to play some good, interesting games like that one, because fans must have enjoyed it.”

Lukas Klima, Czechia © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

By contrast, Switzerland beat Sweden by 9-4 in this session, a sixth win as they preserve their unbeaten record and find themselves on the cusp of qualifying for the semi-finals.

The Swiss started strongly in this game, scoring two points in the first end when their fourth player Benoit Schwarz-Van Berkel played a double take-out. They then stole two more points in the second end, for 4-0, when Sweden skip Niklas Edin’s raise attempt left two Swiss stones in scoring positions.

Benoit Schwarz-Van Berkel, Switzerland © World Curling / Celine Stucki

Sweden got onto the scoreboard in the third end with one point when Edin took out a Swiss stone.

Switzerland took even more control of the game when, after blanking the fourth end, Schwarz-Van Berkel played a draw for two points to give his team a 6-1 lead at the break.

It briefly looked like a Swedish fightback was on the cards in the sixth, when their skip Edin played a double take-out to score three points and reduce the Swiss lead to 6-4. However, in the seventh, Switzerland replied with a three of the own, thanks to a take-out by Schwarz-Van Berkel. This gave Switzerland a 9-4 lead, and Sweden conceded.

Oskar Eriksson, Sweden © World Curling / Celine Stucki

After the game, Swiss skip Yannick Schwaller said, “A very good game — we’re managing it so well right now communication wise, we’re able to adjust so fast, and I guess that just shows that we have great communication, a great working relationship on and off the ice right now and we’re able to adjust just as fast as our opponent.

Their work pre-Olympics has clearly paid off, as Yannick continued, “We have worked very hard and have had a lot of very good discussions leading up into the championship. Everything is coming together nicely, we’re playing with so much confidence right now and just enjoying each other and enjoying the moment.

And he hopes their winning ways will help to promote the sport at home in Switzerland, “I hope our success makes a good impact at home. We just want to try to show that curling is cool, maybe we can get a bit more emotion in there so the young people think it’s a cool sport too. But I hope it makes some kind of impact and people are following us and like curling.”

Yannick Schwaller, Switzerland © World Curling / Celine Stucki

The third game of the session saw People’s Republic of China face United States of America. The teams swapped blank ends and singles all the way to the eighth end when, with the score tied at 2-2, American skip Daniel Casper was too long with his final draw, giving People’s Republic of China a steal of three points and a 5-2 lead.

Casper made amends immediately, scoring three in the ninth with a take-out, to level the score at 5-5. People’s Republic of China held last stone as the teams played the tenth end and eventually skip Xu Xiaoming played a hit and roll, to score three points and win the game by 8-5.

This result leaves the Americans tied in fourth place on the rankings with Great Britain, who did not play in this session. This was a second win for People’s Republic of China.