1 November 2026
Scotland win the Le Gruyère AOP European men’s championship
Scotland have defeated Italy, by 6–5, to win the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championship men’s title in the RT Torax Arena in Ostrava, Czechia.
The Italians, skipped by Stefano Spiller opened the scoring with a draw to the button for two points in the first end.
Scotland levelled the game in the second end when Scotland’s Ross Whyte was left with a hit-and-stay for two points.
Italy blanked the third end, but then in the fourth, Spiller was facing two Scottish counters, when his final draw was heavy, giving up a steal of two points and extending Scotland’s lead at the break to 4–2.
Italy levelled the score once more with a hit for two by Spiller.
After Scotland drew for a single in the sixth, Spiller somehow forced a stone through a wall of Scottish counters in the seventh to score a single point and level the game for the final time.
In the eighth end, Scotland were sitting three shot stones when Spiller played an excellent triple take-out to reverse the counters leaving Italy sitting three as Scotland’s Whyte settled into the hack with his final stone.
Whyte kept his composure to draw the game’s final stone to the back of the four-foot, score the single point for the 6–5 win, and claim the European title.
Gold medal winning Scotland skip, Grant Hardie said afterwards, “I’m buzzing. That was the aim this week and to put a performance like we did in the final makes it even better.
“It’s been everything we were hoping it would be. Every game we improved and it’s really satisfying to put on a performance like that in the final.”
Italian silver medal winning skip, Stefano Spiller said, “It’s not bad [to win silver], but gold would have been better. We will try our best next year.
“We played a good game. We were trying to come back and actually managed it quite well, but they deserved the win.”
Bronze medal
Sweden defeated host nation Czechia in the bronze medal game, by 6–4.
Sweden opened the game with a double take-out by skip, Oskar Eriksson to take an early 2–0 lead.
Czechia’s Lukas Klima responded in the second end with a single following a hit-and-stay on a Swedish shot stone.
The teams traded two-point scores over the next two ends to give Sweden a 4–3 lead at the break.
Sweden blanked the fifth end and were then forced to draw to the four-foot for a single point in the sixth end following a precise hit-and-roll from Klima.
Czechia were forced to draw to the button for a single in the seventh. Then in the eighth end, with last-stone advantage, Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson played a hit-and stay for a score of one for the 6–4 victory and the European bronze medals.
Bronze winning Sweden skip, Oskar Eriksson said, “It’s both positive and negative. We didn’t play how we wanted to yesterday, but it’s nice to finish off the tournament with a win and it’s a first bronze for us.
“Overall, I think we were pretty good, we were trying to improve all week. We’re happy with our performance, but we know we’ve got to improve a few things moving forward.”
Scotland were represented by: Skip, Grant Hardie; Fourth, Ross Whyte; Second, Craig Waddell; Lead, Euan Menzies; Alternate, Duncan Menzies; and with support from Coach, Alistair Scott.
Italy were represented by: Skip, Stefano Spiller; Third, Amos Mosaner; Second, Sebastiano Arman; Lead, Cesare Spiller; and with support from Coach, Alessio Cristillo.
Sweden were represented by: Skip, Oskar Eriksson; Third, Wranaa; Second, Simon Olofsson; Lead, Christoffer Sundgren; Alternate, Alexander Lindstroem; and with support from Coach, Fredrik Lindberg.
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