23 November 2023

Semi-final field complete at the Europeans

Semi-final places were up for grabs in the last round-robin session for both the men and the women at the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships 2023 on Thursday.

Women’s competition

Sweden were still looking to qualify for the semi-finals when they faced Türkiye, who were playing to avoid relegation.

By the seventh end, Sweden led by 5-3 and their skip Isabella Wranaa had an open hit-and-stay to score two and take her team’s lead to 7-3.

They then went on to win by 10-3. This result means that the Swedes made the semi-finals, to face Italy, while results elsewhere mean that Türkiye avoided relegation, finishing eighth and qualifying for the BKT Tires World Women’s Curling Championship 2024.

After her win, Sweden’s Wranaa said, “I’m feeling very good. That was our first goal of the week — to qualify, and it was great to have a good game before the play-offs. We’re learning the ice and getting better and better in each game. It feels like we’re on the right track and we have a good feeling.”

With a single-point steal in the tenth end, Norway beat Scotland by 9-7 to grab the last available semi-final slot, to finish fourth overall.

This result means that the Scots finished fifth on the table while Norway go on to face Switzerland—unbeaten so far—in the semi-finals.

The turning point in this game came in the fifth end, when, with Scotland leading by 5-3, Norway’s fourth player Kristin Skaslien played a draw for three and to take a 6-5 lead.

Eventually, Norway’s 9-7 win came when Scotland’s last stone of the game rolled too far, to give up a crucial steal of one.

Afterwards, Norwegian skip Marianne Roervik said, “We’re really happy. They played a really good game as well but there were a lot of nerves out there.”

So-far undefeated Switzerland faced second-placed Italy, with both teams already qualified for the semi-finals.

In the fifth end, the Swiss were leading by 2-1 when their fourth player Alina Paetz played a hit to score five points and improve her team’s lead to 7-1.

Switzerland went on to win by 7-2 in just six ends to complete their round-robin programme with a perfect record, while despite this defeat, Italy were confirmed in second place.

Estonia were up against Denmark. In the fourth end, Estonia led by 3-0 when Danish skip Madeleine Dupont played a double take-out to score three and level the game at 3-3.

In the tenth end, with the game tied at 7-7, Denmark’s Dupont came up light with her final draw to hand Estonia a steal of one point and an 8-7 victory.

This result means that Estonia finished sixth and the Danes are seventh. Both teams have now qualified for this season’s world championship.

In what was a key relegation battle, Czechia faced Germany and the game went all the way to an extra end, with the teams tied at 8-8.

In that extra end, the Czechs had last-stone advantage and when their skip Anna Kubeskova nudged her final stone into scoring position for one point, they won by 9-8.

Despite this result, and because Türkiye had beaten them both earlier, both these teams are now relegated to next season’s B-Division. The Turks–on the same won two, lost seven record–stay up in the A-Division.

Men’s competition

In a tense final men’s round-robin session, it took all the way to an extra-end win by Scotland over Finland to finally settle the semi-final line-up.

Earlier, Norway had beaten Switzerland by 6-4 to keep their semi-final hopes alive, but when Scotland skip Bruce Mouat played a hit-and-stay on a Finnish stone to score and win by 8-7, Norwegian play-off hopes were dashed.

Now unbeaten table-toppers Italy will play fourth-placed Sweden, while second-placed Scots will face third-placed Switzerland in the semi-finals.

Meanwhile Finland finished tenth and are relegated to next season’s B-Division.

Italy faced Germany, and in the third end, with the game tied at 2-2, Italy’s skip Joel Retornaz played a draw to score three and take a 5-2 lead.

Then, in the seventh end, Italy held a 7-4 lead when Retornaz produced a double take-out, to score three points for 10-4.

Germany conceded after that, but they have the consolation of finishing sixth overall to qualify for the LGT World Men’s Curling Championship 2024.

In the game between Norway and Switzerland, the score was tied at 4-4, when in the ninth end Norway skip Magnus Ramsfjell played a precision draw to score one point and take a 5-4 lead.

In the tenth, Switzerland’s fourth player Benoit Schwarz-van Berkel attempted a take-out which failed, and Norway stole one point for a 6-4 victory, to briefly keep their semi-final hopes alive.

But, with the Scottish win, they could only rank fifth, while Switzerland go onto the semi-finals.

After this game, Norway’s Ramsfjell said, “That was a very exciting game and when you play well in an exciting game, it’s always fun and we came out on top too, so that’s fantastic.”

Despite not making the semi-finals, he was positive, saying, “We’re happy because our goal was to beat all the teams around us and beat one of the four teams that are really up there. Now we’ve beaten Switzerland really well, and we’ve got six and three — now we’ve got something to build on.”

Sweden played Türkiye and, in the third end, already ahead by 4-1, their skip Niklas Edin played a hit-and-stay to score three points to extend their lead to 7-1.

The Swedes went on to win by 10-2, giving them a final ranking of fourth, and they now go on to face table-toppers Italy in the semi-finals.

Türkiye finished ninth and are relegated to next season’s B-Division.

Netherlands were up against Czechia. In the fourth end, with the Dutch already 4-1 ahead, their skip Wouter Goesgens played a tap-up to score two points and improve his team’s lead to 6-1.

The Dutch went on to win by 10-7 to finish seventh, while Czechia’s final ranking is eighth. Both teams have now qualified for the world championship.

Click here for all the results.

The women’s semi-finals will take place on Thursday 23 November at 19:00, the men’s semi-finals will be played on Friday at 9:00.

Times are GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) which is the same as Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

Watch all A-Division games live or as replays by clicking here. Geo-blocking may be in place. For further details on broadcast and streaming, click here.

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