It was a game neither team wanted to lose but in the end, defending champion Silvana Tirinzoni showed why her Zurich-based team is the class of the world women’s curling championship.
Trailing 6-4 after six, Switzerland rallied for two in the seventh followed by a stolen deuce in the eighth to propel the defending champions to an 8-0 record, defeating the Cory Christensen of the United States by an 8-7 score this afternoon (Wednesday) at CN Centre.
“We had a pretty good start and then slowed down in the middle of the game, especially me. I struggled with draw weight and not hitting it in the right place. We played a lot better after the seventh end and it made a difference at the end,” said Aline Paetz, who throws last stones for the Swiss.
Switzerland is the only undefeated team remaining while the Americans drop to 5-3.
“We needed to capitalize on some misses and we had some opportunities we couldn’t finish off,” said American lead Taylor Anderson.
“We feel good and confident, we are learning the ice better each game and thinking more precise shots and that is what we try to take into each game,” added Anderson.
In other action, Japan only needed seven ends to snap a three-game losing streak defeating Denmark 9-1.
With that result, Japan, the United States, and Denmark are all tied for fifth with identical 5-3 records.
Lastly, Germany (4-4) kept themselves in the playoff race with a 7-5 win over Italy (1-7).
Germany is now tied for eighth with Norway which is also 4-4.
Canada will move to 6-2 as they will pick up a forfeit win tonight over Scotland.
This morning Canada beat Sweden 10-8.
Scotland was forced to withdraw and returned home after two games due to a COVID-19 outbreak on the team.
Canadian skip Kerri Einarson and her Manitoba-based rink will use the ice for a practice session.
Tonight’s 7 pm draw has three games including:
- Sweden vs Korea
- Italy vs Turkey
- Japan vs Czech Republic
The top six teams make the playoffs.
Qualification games go Saturday at 1:00 p.m. with the semi-finals Saturday night at 7:00.
Medal games hit the ice Sunday at 11:00 a.m. (for bronze) and 4:00 p.m. (for gold).
The full standings can be found here.
The full schedule and results are right here.
– with files from Hartley Miller