FÜSSEN – Scotland's Kelly Wood defeated Switzerland's Mirjam Ott 6-4 to grab the fourth and final playoff berth in women's play at the 2007 Le Gruyère European Curling Championships.

"I'm happier now that I've got a playoff spot," said the diminuative Wood. "it would be nice to get just one more (win) and guarantee a medal." 

Wood earned her highest-ever Euro result – a place in the top four – in a see-saw battle which saw Ott miss a 10th-end takeout to force an extra end. The Scots, who finished 6-3, will battle Switzerland (7-2) once again in the three versus four "Page" playoff game on Thursday night.

The one versus two playoff, in which the winner heads directly to Saturday's Championship final, will see Denmark's Lene Nielsen battle six-time European champion Anette Norberg of Sweden. Both teams won their final matches to finish at 8-1, with Nielsen given top spot after she handed Norberg her only loss earlier in the week.

"We're playing better and better as we go," said the confident Nielsen, who is only in her second year at skip position. "We'll see what happens in the playoffs." 

Russia's Ludmila Privivkova defeated Italy 7-5, but it wasn't enough to make the playoffs. Her 5-4 record was good enough for fifth place, and a spot at the 2008 Ford World Women's Championships in Canada next March. 

"All the teams here are good," said the defending champion. "The more important thing is to qualify for the Worlds to get the Olympic points."

The top seven nations all qualify for Worlds. In addition to the top five finishers, Germany's Andrea Schöpp and Italy's Diana Gaspari both qualified their countries at 3-6, and there will be a Thursday afternoon tiebreaker between Austria's Claudia Toth and the Czech Republic's Katerina Urbanova to decide eighth place. The winner of that match will be challenged by the winner of the European Championship B Division for the last spot in the Worlds, and also the right to stay in next year's A Division.

Austria crushed the Czechs 11-5 in the final round-robin match.

Thursday morning's men's draw features the possibility, however remote, that five teams will be tied for the fourth playoff spot. Action gets underway at 6:45 GMT on Eurosport between Norway and Switzerland, while Eurosport.com and CurlTV.com will feature Germany versus the Czech Republic.

FÜSSEN – It's the last chance to for teams to perform as the playoffs are poised to begin at the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships.

The women's final Wednesday began with Scotland's Kelly Wood desperate for two victories to have any chance of qualifying for the four-team "Page" playoff system. She got the first win by pounding Austria 12-2, and faces Switzerland's Mirjam Ott tonight.

The Swiss are 7-1, tied with Denmark's Lene Nielsen and Sweden's Anette Norberg. Nielsen plays Finland (1-7) tonight while Norberg meets Germany's Andrea Schöpp, who at 3-5 is on the outside looking in.

Russia's Ludmila Privivkova has a slim chance at a tiebreaker; she takes her 4-4 record up against Italy's 3-5 mark tonight.

In the sole men's draw of the day, the results left three teams clear into the playoffs and many others with a chance of a tiebreaker berth for the fourth spot.

Norway's Thomas Ulsrud defeated Scotland's David Murdoch 7-6 when Murdoch's draw to a near-open house came up short. it was a sudden and devastating setback for the Scots, who dropped to 4-4 and a third-place tie with Sweden (6-5 winners over the Czech Republic) and Germany (7-3 victors over France).

Switzerland, who defeated Finland 7-1, and Denmark, 6-5 winners over Italy, are both at 6-2 and are assured  of the playoffs. Norway has locked up the first playoff berth with a spotless 8-0 record.

With Thursday morning's final men's draw still to play, the playoff scene could be very simple... or very crowded, with no less than five teams in possible, albeit unlikely, contention.

"It's always fun to talk about mass tiebreakers," said Keith Wendorf, Director of Competitions for the World Curling Federation.

"Of course, when you do talk about it, it never seems to actually happen."

Competition continues through to the Championship Finals on December 8, with live television and webstreamed coverage on Eurosport, NRK (Norway), Eurosport.com and CurlTV.com.

FÜSSEN – It was upsets galore in men's night action at the 2007 Le Gruyère European Curling Championships.

In one sweep of the brush, two gold-medal favourites had been defeated by tournament minnows, and only a last-gasp rally prevented another two front-runners from similar disaster.

Scotland's David Murdoch, a former European and World Champion, was defeated 6-4 by a rampaging Czech Republic squad skipped by Jiri Snitil. New to the Euro A Division this year, the Czechs have now won three games in a row after dropping their first four matches.

One sheet of ice away, France's Thomas Dufour overwhelmed three-time World Champion Peja Lindholm of Sweden 7-3. Dufour is also 3-4 after a poor start.

Front-runners Norway had to steal three consecutive ends to subdue Italy's Joel Retornaz, who held a shocking 4-1 lead after three ends of play. Retornaz missed a last-rock draw to force an extra end.

Denmark also got a scare, blowing a 4-1 lead to fall behind 5-4 to Finland's Kalle Kiiskinen after six ends. Danish skip Johnny Frederiksen eventually made a nervous draw to the four-foot rings to earn the win.

"What a crazy night," said Czech skip Snitil. "Every big team struggled and some of us little guys won."

The gleeful Czechs won last year's B Division to qualify for the 2007 A Division, but lost a challenge match against Denmark for the right to go to the Worlds.

"It feels great, but we're still fighting to stay in the A Division," said Snitil. "We don't want to go back to the B, we've been down there for seven years. 

"We weren't ready for Worlds last year," Snitil added. "Now we should be ready, if we get the chance. We're close."

In the other evening match, Switzerland's Toni Müller took out Germany's Andy Kapp 6-4 to share second place with Denmark at 5-2, two games back of Norway's Thomas Ulsrud, who is now 7-0.

Scotland ranks third at 4-3 while four teams are logjammed at 3-4: Czech Republic, France, Germany and Sweden.

Competition continues through to the Championship Finals on December 8, with live television and webstreamed coverage on Eurosport, NRK (Norway), Eurosport.com and CurlTV.com.

FÜSSEN – What a difference a year makes.

Last year in Basel, Switzerland's Mirjam Ott began the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships with three consecutive losses. She made a lineup change and won seven games in a row, some of them by the skin of her teeth, before losing the semi-final and taking home the bronze medal.

One year later at the 2007 Euro shootout in Füssen, Ott is handily racking up wins, owns a 6-1 record and is breathing a lot easier. And she credits a number of factors.

"We've had very good preparation," Ott said.

"We've had good results in spiels in the fall, and the Swiss Association wanted us to go to a training camp before Füssen, so we spent two days in Bern, that was good.

"And the player change of the new team is good, everything is very comfortable."

Former World Junior champion Carmen Schäfer is the new third on the team, which thrashed Finland's Anne Malmi 9-2 in the seventh draw. Second Valeria Spälty is the sole remaning teammate from Ott's 2006 Olympic silver medal-winning squad, while Janine Greiner is in her second term at lead position.

Sweden and Denmark are both tied with Switzerland for first place at 6-1. Anette Norberg's six-time European Champions beat Austria's Claudia Toth 11-2 while Denmark's young Lene Nielsen dumped Germany's Andrea Schöpp 7-4.

In other matches, Russia overcame an early four-point deficit and scored nine unanswered points to shock Scotland's Kelly Wood 9-6. This pulled Scotland back into a second-place tie, with Russia, at 4-3. Italy's Diana Gaspari was upset 7-6 by the Czech Republic on an extra end steal, which puts the Italians at 3-3. Germany is at 2-5 and Finland, Austria and the Czech Republic have 1-6 records.

Competition continues through to the Championship Finals on December 8, with live television and webstreamed coverage on Eurosport, NRK (Norway), Eurosport.com and CurlTV.com.

FÜSSEN – David Murdoch wore a smile or two during his Scottish team's 8-5 win over Switzerland at the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships.

"I always enjoy the Championships," acknowledged the former European and World Champion, who also lost last year's final in Basel.

"I like to play in arenas. Yeah, of course I'm enjoying myself."

Tied 2-2 in the fourth end against Toni Müller's team from Adelboden, Murdoch stole a pair to take a 4-2 lead. Two ends later his Lockerbie foursome scored a three-ender, and even a German deuce in the eighth couldn't undo the damage.

"We played a really good end to pick up the three," said Murdoch.

"We feel we're coming through and playing well. It's our target to finish one or two (in the round-robin), absolutely, and it's still there." 

The Scots have recovered from a 1-2 start to sit tied for second with the Swiss and Denmark with a 4-2 win/loss record. The Danes lost 8-3 to a determined Peja Lindholm who is tied with Germany at 3-3.

The hosts from Füssen, skipped by Andy Kapp, lost 8-5 to the best team on the ice so far this week: Norway's Thomas Ulsrud. The Norwegians took three in the second, a deuce in the eighth and stole the sixth and ninth ends, too.

In other matches, Jiri Snitil of the Czech Republic stole a key 5-4 win from Finland on the last shot of the game. Finnish skip Kelle Kiiskinen rolled an inch too far on a takeout attempt, and after a measurement, the Czechs exploded with joy.

The major target for most teams in the A Division of the European Championships is to finish in the top seven, which guarantees a spot into the 2008 World Championships. The eighth-place finishers must play a challenge match against the B Division champions for the last berth into the Worlds.

Last year, Snitil won the B Division and graduated into the A pool, although he lost the challenge match to Denmark.

In Tuesday night action, the Czechs meet Scotland in a match which Murdoch labelled "a must win." 

The Czechs, Finns and France are all at 2-4, and in danger of missing the Worlds. Italy's Joel Retornaz, who lost 6-5 to the French in an extra end, is winless with six losses and is in grave danger of finishing last, which would drop the squad into next year's Euro B Division.

In women's play, Denmark's Lene Nielsen played giant killer by defeating Sweden's Anette Norberg 7-5 in the sixth round of play. Both squads lead the field at 5-1 along with Switzerland's Mirjam Ott, who punted Russia 9-3. Scotland's Kelly Wood crushed the Czech Republic 8-1 to stay close at 4-2, while Russia and Italy, last year's finalists, are both at 3-3.

Competition continues through to the Championship Finals on December 8, with live television and webstreamed coverage on Eurosport, NRK (Norway), Eurosport.com and CurlTV.com.