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LE GRUYERE EUROPEAN CURLING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2011, Moscow, Russia

10 DECEMBER 2011 – Gold Men – RESUME & STANDINGS

Moscow, Russia – The men’s final of the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2011 in Moscow was between defending champions Norway, led by Olympic silver medallist Thomas Ulsrud and the 2009 champions Sweden, skipped by Niklas Edin.

These two teams had produced two tight encounters earlier in the week and this time round it was Norway who had the better start.

After Sweden took one point with last stone in the first end, Ulsrud took out two Swedish stones with his last in the second end to score two and take the early lead. Norway moved further ahead in the third end with a single steal when Sweden’s final draw was wide, but Edin did not repeat the mistake in the fourth when he scored one with an excellent double take-out, to close Norway’s lead to just one point.

Norway re-established their two-point advantage in the fifth, scoring one and then an umpire’s measure in the sixth gave them a single steal and a three-point lead, at 5-2. The last thing that Sweden were going to do at this stage was give up, and Edin produced a draw for two points in the seventh to close the deficit to just one point again.

A simple draw by Ulsrud in the eighth gave Norway one point for 6-4. In the ninth, a Swedish stone had jammed at the back when Norway tried to clear out the house early in the end, and having this stone still sitting there contributed to Edin’s score of two with a hit and stay, to level the game at 6-6.

Norway held the last stone advantage in the tenth end, and, while Edin tried all he could to steal the win, Ulsrud finally delivered a perfect draw that covered the button to score the one point needed for the Norwegians to retain the title.

After the game, Swedish skip Edin said, “we had a terrible start. We couldn’t really figure out the ice and we had some bad shots early on and that ruined it for us. We played well at the end of the game but it wasn’t enough to catch up. We had a good finish but we didn’t really manage to put our rocks in the right positions” adding, “it didn’t go our way this time. I want to try to make some better set-ups next time to make him work hard for the game”.

By contrast, Ulsrud was a happy man. “It feels perfect. The best thing is this is one of the best matches we’ve played all week, and to be able to do it in the final is good. We started really bad this week and we picked it up game by game and then we ended up playing the perfect game in the final - it’s good”.

Asked why he had managed to win this game after losing the previous two encounters between the teams, he said, “in the previous two games against Sweden, the whole team hadn’t played well, but this time we had everybody playing well, so it was perfect. It’s every skip’s dream – to draw the four foot to win the European Championships, it feels really good”.

He added, “this is really big for us, because we’ve had a really bad season so far, but this makes it a really big season.”

Philippe Bardet, Director of Le Gruyère AOC the Swiss cheesemaker who has been title sponsor of the European Curling Championships since 2002, expressed his delight at the success of the championships in Moscow: “Le Gruyère AOC is delighted to have been involved with the event for 10 years and congratulates all the competitors and organisers on the success of the event in Moscow.”

Le Gruyère’s partnership with the World Curling Federation continues through to the 2012 event.

The Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2012 will take place in Karlstad, Sweden from 8-15 December.

GROUP A MEN: Standings after Bronze medal games

Results: www.ecc.curlit.com

1. Norway (GOLD)2. Sweden (SILVER)3. Denmark (BRONZE) (Qualified for WMCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)4. Czech Republic (Qualified for WMCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)5. Scotland (Qualified for WMCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)6. Switzerland (Qualified for WMCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)7. Germany (Qualified for WMCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)8. France (Qualified for WMCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)9. Latvia (relegated to ECC 2012 B Group)10. Italy (relegated to ECC 2012 B Group)

GROUP B MEN: Final Standings:1. Russia (Gold) (Promoted to ECC 2012 A Group)2. Hungary (Silver) (Promoted to ECC 2012 A Group)3. England (Bronze)4. Ireland5. Austria6. Estonia7. Finland8. Poland9. Belgium10. Spain11. Wales12. Lithuania13. Netherlands14. Slovakia15. Belarus16. Croatia

Extensive televised coverage of the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2011 can be seen by viewers in Europe on Eurosport. Additional live and on demand coverage will be available via the internet on the Eurosport Player. www.worldcurling.org/ecc2011-tv-and-web-coverage

Highlights of televised games can be seen here: www.youtube.com/user/WorldCurlingTV

Results: www.ecc.curlit.comAll results will be mirrored on the World Curling Federation (WCF) results database: http://results.worldcurling.org/default.aspx

Information about the event can be viewed here www.ecc2011.curlingrussia.com

END

http://results.worldcurling.org/default.aspx

10 DECEMBER 2011 – Gold Women – RESUME & STANDINGS

Moscow, Russia – The women’s final at the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2011 in Moscow was between unbeaten Sweden and a Scottish team that started the event poorly but kept improving as the week went on. The Scots came out on top, overwhelming Sweden to win by 8-2 in just eight ends.

The Scots started better, scoring singles in each of the first two ends for a 2-0 lead. After blanking the third, Sweden had their first real chance to get on the scoreboard in the fourth end, but their fourth player Maria Prytz was facing three Scottish counters as she played, and came up short, giving Scotland a further two points.

In the fifth end, once again the Scots had piled on the pressure and again had three stones counting. This time Prytz was heavy with her draw, giving Scotland another steal and a most unexpected 7-0 halftime lead.

The Swedes finally got on the scoreboard in the sixth end when Prytz had a good hit and stay for one, but the Scottish pressure was unrelenting, as Scottish skip Eve Muirhead scored a single in the seventh with a drive that could perhaps have yielded more.

The Swedes scored a consolation single in the eighth end before giving up what had become a completely unequal contest, with Scotland winning the nation’s first women’s European title since 1975, with a final score-line of 8-2.

Afterwards, an elated Scottish skip Eve Muirhead said, “It’s fantastic. It’s been one of the medals I’ve wanted. Last year we took silver against Sweden and this year we took gold – you couldn’t ask for any more. Sweden had such a great week, but we just piled on the pressure from the start and we got a few mistakes out of the skip, and as soon as they made any mistakes, we just pounced”.

She added, “I would say we had control in every single end. When it gets past that fifth end and you’re quite a few up, and you know you’ve not won it yet, you’ve just got to keep going and I think we did that well”.

Reviewing her entire campaign, she said, “we didn’t start the week well, but we did the right thing. Every game we got better and better and started going up the way, so I think we peaked at the right time”. Looking forward, she added, “this is a new team for me and I think we’re going to do great. This was a first major title and I’m delighted with that. We’re still young – Anna’s (third player Anna Sloan) still a junior and I’m only 21, so if we keep training hard and practising hard, who knows?”

After the game, a subdued Swedish skip Margaretha Sigfridssen said, “Of course, we’re sad that we didn’t play our best today, but we are satisfied with the week. We’ve played really well, but unfortunately not today”, adding: “we felt confident, but it was very strange today. We didn’t get into the game and that was a bit unusual for us – we didn’t make our shots. Scotland played well but we didn’t leave anything hard for them to do. I think we’re sad at the moment but we’ll be happy with silver in a week or so”.

GROUP A WOMEN: Final Standings


1. Scotland (GOLD)2. Sweden (SILVER)3. Russia (BRONZE) (Qualified for WWCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)4. Denmark (Qualified for WWCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)5. Germany (Qualified for WWCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)6. Italy (Qualified for WWCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)7. Switzerland (Qualified for WWCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)8. Czech Republic (Qualified for WWCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)

9. Latvia (relegated to ECC 2012 B Group)10. Norway (relegated to ECC 2012 B Group)

GROUP B WOMEN: Final Standings:

1. Hungary (GOLD) (Promoted to ECC 2012 A Group)2. Finland (SILVER) (Promoted to ECC 2012 A Group)3. Slovakia (BRONZE)4. Poland5. Austria6. Estonia7. England8. Spain9. Ireland10. Wales

9 DECEMBER 2011 – DAY 7 (Evening) Bronze Games – RESUME & STANDINGS

Moscow, Russia – Russia’s women won bronze on home territory when they beat Denmark by 13-7 in the bronze-medal play-off at the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2011 in Moscow, while the Danish men beat the Czech Republic by 9-6 for their bronze medals.

Denmark scored two in the opening end, but Russian skip Anna Sidorova brought her team right back, levelling the game with a score of two in the second end. In the fifth end, Danish skip Lene Nielsen was facing four Russian stones when she came to play her last shot, but she was long and couldn’t get inside all of them, to give away a steal of two. She undid some of that damage with a hit and stay in the next end for two points to cut the Russian lead back to 5-4. She moved to close the gap again in the ninth end with a hit that gave her a score of three and moved the score to 8-7 for Russia, just a one-point lead.

In the tenth end, and in front of a tense home crowd, Sidorova was, as usual, a picture of calmness as she icily delivered a precision hit to score five for a final score of 13-7 and Russia’s first European Championship curling medal since 2006.

Afterwards, a clearly elated Russian skip Anna Sidorova said, “It’s amazing, just awesome. I am so happy that we won. It’s much more nervous playing in front of a home crowd and I’m so happy that people can see curling. I think our bronze medal will help to bring more exposure...I am just so happy.”

In the men’s game, Denmark’s Rasmus Stjerne faced the Czech Republic, led by Jiri Snitil, with the Czechs attempting to win their nation’s first-ever medals at this level.

The Czechs took an early lead with a draw for two in the first end, but it could have been more. After the Czechs added a single steal in the second end, the Danes got themselves onto the scoreboard for the first time with a nice draw for two by Stjerne in the third end, but the Czechs compounded their problems when Snitil had a complete miss in the fourth end to gift Denmark a steal of two.

Although behind and feeling the effects of their long route to the bronze medal game, the Czechs kept fighting and Snitil produced a gentle hit in the seventh to score one point and reduce the Danish lead to 7-6.

In the eighth, Stjerne promoted his own front stone onto another of his own stones in the house to knock out a Czech stone and score the three points that effectively brought the Czechs brave campaign to an end. The Czechs managed another single in the ninth, and the teams shook hands with the score at 9-6 to Denmark.

After the game Danish skip Rasmus Stjerne, who now adds this year’s bronze medal to last year’s silver, said, “we didn’t have a shot at the gold this year and we had to settle for the bronze. Right now we have a really good feeling - we felt we had to win a medal here”.

Speaking about his opponents he added, “they have been on the ice for three games in a row, so we knew we would have the advantage on the physical side. I struggled in the first few ends and didn’t make my shots but it was a great team effort to bring it back after three down”.

Meanwhile, in the best-of-three challenge series for the final men’s and women’s European places in the line-up at this season’s world championships, France won in the men’s event beating Group “B” winners Russia by 10-4, while the Czech women beat the Hungarian “B” group winners by 7-4 in the women’s event.

GROUP A MEN: Standings after Bronze medal games


Sweden (play final)

Norway (play final)3. Denmark (BRONZE) (Qualified for WMCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)4. Czech Republic (Qualified for WMCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)5. Scotland (Qualified for WMCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)6. Switzerland (Qualified for WMCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)7. Germany (Qualified for WMCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)8. France (Qualified for ECC 2012 A Group. Play Russia, B Group winner for WMCC 2012 spot)9. Latvia (relegated to ECC 2012 B Group)10. Italy (relegated to ECC 2012 B Group)

GROUP A WOMEN: Standings after Bronze medal games


Sweden (play final)Scotland (play final)3. Russia (BRONZE) (Qualified for WWCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)4. Denmark (Qualified for WWCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)5. Germany (Qualified for WWCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)6. Italy (Qualified for WWCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)7. Switzerland (Qualified for WWCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)8. Czech Republic (Qualified for ECC 2012 A Group. Play Hungary, B Group winner for WWCC 2012 spot)9. Latvia (relegated to ECC 2012 B Group)10. Norway (relegated to ECC 2012 B Group)

Extensive televised coverage of the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2011 can be seen by viewers in Europe on Eurosport. Additional live and on demand coverage will be available via the internet on the Eurosport Player. www.worldcurling.org/ecc2011-tv-and-web-coverage

Highlights of televised games can be seen here: www.youtube.com/user/WorldCurlingTV



END


9 DECEMBER 2011 – DAY 7 (Mid-Day) Semi-Finals – RESUME & STANDINGS

Moscow, Russia – Norway’s men’s team kept their title defence alive when they beat the Czech Republic by 5-2 in the semi-final of the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2011 in Moscow.

Reaching the semi-final has been the best performance ever by a Czech team, but they found themselves in trouble early when their skip Jiri Snitil failed with an attempted angled take-out in the third end, handing Norway a steal of two for a 3-0 lead.

After this, Norwegian skip Thomas Ulsrud controlled the game, restricting the Czechs throughout. They took a single in the fourth and, in the eighth, Snitil had the consolation of scoring a single point with a good double take-out. However, eventually, Ulsrud had a straightforward draw-shot in the ninth to take the one point that sealed the Norwegian win.

Norway now face Sweden for gold, while the Czechs have a final chance to take their nation’s first-ever medal when they take on Denmark for bronze.

After the game, Ulsrud said, “It feels great to be back in the final. After a really troubled week, we’re there and have a shot at gold. After the first game we lost against Latvia, I didn’t think we were going to play the final this year, but the guys pulled through and I’m really happy. This whole season’s been troubled for us, so hopefully this will be it now.”

Looking specifically at the semi-final itself, he said, “our experience probably played a part – these are big games and we were lucky to get a steal of two in the third. From then on we were three up and we just controlled the game and didn’t give them a chance”.

Looking forward to the final, he said, “it feels good to get another shot at Sweden. We’ve had two close games here, and one went to an extra end - we will give them a real fight in the final. This will be big for us because this year we’ve been bad all season, so to come good in the Europeans would be great”.

The women’s semi-final between the Scots led by Eve Muirhead and the Danes, skipped by Lene Nielsen, was even more one-sided.

Scotland moved into a lead they were never to lose in the third end, when, after Nielsen’s last shot was heavy, Muirhead had a draw for three points. The Scots scored again in the fourth end when Nielsen had another draw that was too heavy. Eventually, after an umpire’s measure, the Scots put another three points onto the scoreboard for an unassailable 6-1 lead. In the eighth, Muirhead had a good double take-out to score two points for 10-2, after which Denmark conceded.

The Scots now face Sweden in the gold medal final – a repeat of last year’s final, while Denmark face Russia for bronze.

Scottish skip Muirhead said “the first three was key. We put the pressure on them and for the second three she was a bit indecisive. Really, they weren’t even close to us out there, and, once we get up, we’re a good hitting team, and we hit them off the park”.

Looking forward, she added “we’ve just been getting better as the week goes on and that’s what you’ve got to do at a Championship. If you peak too early you’ll slowly go down and down and we’re doing the opposite. Sweden are undefeated and deserve to be in the final, but we’re definitely going to give them a run for their money. I’m sure it’s going to be a good game. It’s a replay of last year’s final - Scotland/Sweden. Last year, I had a shot to win it and coming away with silver wasn’t nice - I don’t want to come away with a silver medal again”.

GROUP A MEN: Standings after Semi-Finals


Sweden 7-3 (play final)

Norway 7-4 (play final)

Czech Republic 8-5 (play bronze)

Denmark 6-4 (play bronze)

5. Scotland 6-5 (Qualified for WMCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)

6. Switzerland 5-5 (Qualified for WMCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)

7. Germany 5-5 (Qualified for WMCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)

8. France 4-5 (Qualified for ECC 2012 A Group. Play Russia, B Group winner for WMCC 2012 spot)

9. Latvia 2-7 (relegated to ECC 2012 B Group)

10. Italy 1-8 (relegated to ECC 2012 B Group)

GROUP A WOMEN: Standings after Semi-Finals

http://www.ecc.curlit.com/



Scotland 9-2 (play final)

Denmark 8-3 (play bronze)

Russia 6-5 (play bronze)

5. Germany 5-5 (Qualified for WWCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)

6. Italy 4-6 (Qualified for WWCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)

7. Switzerland 4-7 (Qualified for WWCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)

8. Czech Republic 3-7 (Qualified for ECC 2012 A Group. Play Hungary, B Group winner for WWCC 2012 spot)


10. Norway 1-8 (relegated to ECC 2012 B Group)


8 DECEMBER 2011 – DAY 6 (Evening) Play-offs – RESUME & STANDINGS

Moscow, Russia – In the Page Play-off session of the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2011 in Moscow, the Swedish men recovered from two bad ends to win by 5-4 and move directly to Saturday’s gold medal final.

Both teams were cagey in the opening ends, but, with scores in both the fourth and fifth ends, Sweden built a 3-0 halfway lead, only for Norway to cut it back to 3-2. When they reached the eighth, Swedish skip Niklas Edin produced a nice draw to score one for a 4-2 lead, but Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud wasn’t for giving up and he drew for two points in the tenth to level the game at 4-4.

In the tenth end, Edin had another fine draw under pressure to score one and take the victory, at 5-4. Under curling’s play-off system, Norway now drop into the semi-final, where they will meet the Czech Republic, who won the Page 3-4 Play-off game by 9-8 over Denmark after an extra end.

After his win, Edin said, “We were cautious to begin with and kept it simple at the beginning. But we had a terrible seventh end. We had played really good up until then but we dropped our focus, we actually had eight bad shots in that end and my final one was expensive and they got the steal”. He added, “a couple of unfortunate mistakes in the tenth made us almost lose the game, but we managed to win it and we’re really happy about it”.

Facing Denmark for a place in the semi-final, the Czechs were playing their third game of the day, and gave themselves a real boost when skip Jiri Snitil had a hit for three points and a 5-2 lead. Denmark fought back from this, and skip Rasmus Stjerne threw a double take-out in the eighth to build a recovery that took the game into an extra end, with the teams tied at 8-8 after the regulation ten ends.

In the extra end, Stjerne could not get inside a Czech counter with his last stone, handing the Czech the victory that puts them into the semi-final for the first time ever without Snitil having to play his last stone. Denmark now have to wait out the semi-final game, to play the losers of that in a bronze medal game.

After his hat-trick of wins, Snitil said, “the three for us in the fifth end was bad luck for Rasmus. He hit the wrong side of the rock but he had a hit for four and just gave it away. We were so tired – that was our third game in a row – and after the fifth end we were kind of surviving. That definitely contributed to his recovery. We were really going down and we didn’t have much more to give”. Looking forward, he added, “before, we said the worst case would be losing two games tomorrow, so we will be giving everything”.

GROUP A MEN: Standings after Play-offs



Norway 6-4 (play semi-final)

Czech Republic 8-4 (play semi-final)

Denmark 6-4 (play Bronze)

5. Scotland 6-5 (Qualified for WMCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)

6. Switzerland 5-5 (Qualified for WMCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)

7. Germany 5-5 (Qualified for WMCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)

8. France 4-5 (Qualified for ECC 2012 A Group. Face Challenge for WMCC 2012 spot)


10. Italy 1-8 (relegated to ECC 2012 B Group)

In the women’s games, Margaretha Sigfridsson’s Sweden team made short work of Lene Nielsen’s Denmark in the Page 1-2 Play-off. The Swedes opened with a three in the first end when fourth player Maria Prytz had a nice draw-shot, and she repeated the action, this time for four points, in the fifth end. Denmark had no real answer and went down by 6-12 as Sweden – still unbeaten in this event – marched into the final, leaving the Danes to fight again in the semi-final.

Afterwards, Sigfridsson said, “so far, so good - that was easier than we expected. We had a good end in the first end and I think Lene felt a little bit under pressure. We felt a little of bit of both – nervous and confident. But we should keep up this level of play now. We really, really want this next game so we will just stay focussed and calm, and we will do our best”.

By way of contrast to Sweden’s one-sided win, the women’s Page 3-4 play-off went all the way to an extra end. Scotland and Russia were close throughout the match, and after going 1-4 behind, Russian skip Anna Sidorova brought herself right back into things with a good hit for three in the fifth to level the scores at 4-4.

Scotland looked to have victory in the bag in the tenth, until skip Eve Muirhead’s last shot jammed a Russian stone at the back, to give Russia a steal of one and push the game into extra time. In the extra end, Scotland were in control and eventually Muirhead had simple tap-out for her three and her 9-6 win.

As in the men’s section, Scotland now face Denmark in the semi-final, with the winner going on to play Sweden for gold in the final, and the loser playing Russia for bronze.


Muirhead, said, “We had a great extra end and I couldn’t have asked for much better as a last end, we didn’t miss a shot. I’d definitely want to come into the semi-final off a win, because you’re still going up. I wouldn’t want to be going on after a 12-6 loss, but Denmark are going to be up for our game and fight hard. I’m sure”.

GROUP A WOMEN: Standings after Play-offs



Denmark 8-2 (play semi-final)

Scotland 8-2 (play semi-final)

Russia 6-5 (play bronze)

5. Germany 5-5 (Qualified for WWCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)

6. Italy 4-6 (Qualified for WWCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)

7. Switzerland 4-7 (Qualified for WWCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)

8. Czech Republic 3-7 (Qualified for ECC 2012 A Group. Challenge for WWCC 2012 spot)


10. Norway 1-8 (relegated to ECC 2012 B Group)


8 DECEMBER 2011 – DAY 6 (Mid-day) Tie-breakers – RESUME & STANDINGS

Moscow, Russia – Jiri Snitil and his Czech Republic team emerged victorious from the men’s tie-break sessions at the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2011 in Moscow, and now face Denmark in the Page 3-4 Play-off, with a place in the semi-final up for grabs.

At the end of the men’s round-robin four nations were tied in fourth place - the Czech Republic, Germany, Scotland and Switzerland, dictating the need for two tie-breaker sessions to decide which of them would finally rank fourth.

In the first session, Scotland demolished Switzerland by 8-2 in just six ends – considering that it was Switzerland’s final round-robin win over Germany that kept Scotland and the others in the event, this seemed like an ironic lack of gratitude. In the other game, the Czechs beat Germany by 7-4.

In the second tie-breaker session, the Czech Republic opened with a score of three in the first end, and the Scots were chasing after that.

Eventually, Snitil won the game with a solid hit and stay with the last stone of the last end, by 7-5.

Afterwards, Snitil confirmed that his team had achieved their best-ever ranking at a European or World Championships. “This is our best performance at this level” he said, “it feels new, but it feels good. Except for the steal of two in the third we were in control. We played very well, but we got lucky a couple of times too”.

The Czechs now face Denmark in the men’s Page 3-4 play-off, with the winner going to the semi-final, while the loser plays in the bronze medal game. At the same time Sweden and defending champions Norway will play the 1-2 playoff game, with the winner going to the final and the loser playing in the semi-final.

In the women’s sole tie-breaker, Russia beat Germany by 6-5 and now face Scotland in the Page 3-4 play-off, while Germany rank fifth overall. The women’s 1-2 play-off is between unbeaten Sweden and Denmark.

Italy beat Switzerland by 6-4 in the first of two women’s tie-breakers between the three teams tied in sixth place.

Italy now enjoy a final ranking of sixth position and are confirmed in their ambition of qualifying for this season’s Women’s World Championship. Switzerland will now play the Czech Republic to decide who is placed 7th and 8th, with the 8th place finisher facing a challenge from the eventual winner of the B Group for the eighth and last available European slot at the 2012 Ford World Women’s Championship.

GROUP A MEN: Standings after Tie-breakersResults: www.ecc.curlit.com1. Sweden 6-32. Norway 6-33. Denmark 6-34. Czech Republic 7-45. Scotland 6-5 (Qualified for WMCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)6. Switzerland 5-5 (Qualified for WMCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)7. Germany 5-5 (Qualified for WMCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)8. France 4-5 (Qualified for ECC 2012 A Group. Face Challenge for WMCC 2012 spot)9. Latvia 2-7 (relegated to ECC 2012 B Group)10. Italy 1-8 (relegated to ECC 2012 B Group)

GROUP A WOMEN: Standings after Tie-breakersResults: www.ecc.curlit.com1. Sweden 9-02. Denmark 8-1

3. Scotland 7-24. Russia 6-45. Germany 5-5 (Qualified for WWCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)6. Italy 4-6 (Qualified for WWCC 2012 and ECC 2012 A Group)7. Switzerland 3-7 (Tie-breaker to decide who faces Challenge for 2012 Worlds spot)7. Czech Republic 3-6 (Tie-breaker to decide who faces Challenge for 2012 Worlds spot)9. Latvia 1-8 (relegated to ECC 2012 B Group)10. Norway 1-8 (relegated to ECC 2012 B Group)

Extensive televised coverage of the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2011 can be seen by viewers in Europe on Eurosport. Additional live and on demand coverage will be available via the internet on the Eurosport Player. www.worldcurling.org/ecc2011-tv-and-web-coverageHighlights of televised games can be seen here: www.youtube.com/user/WorldCurlingTV



END


7 DECEMBER 2011 – DAY 6 (Evening/End of Round Robin) – RESUME & STANDINGS

Moscow, Russia – Although the women’s round-robin section of the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2011 in Moscow has now been concluded, the play-off set-up has yet to be finalised, with tie-breakers still needed to determine final ranking.

In the last round-robin session, table-toppers Sweden kept their unblemished record in fine style, overwhelming Latvia by 14-2 in just six ends. A hit by Swedish fourth player Maria Prytz in the third end contributed five points to the Swedish total – their second five-pointer of the game. Afterwards, Swedish skip Margaretha Sigfridsson said, “we tried to be careful tonight because we wanted to keep up our level of play from the other games. Although we were clear winners in the end it was all down to having a very good first end. Like all of our other victories, we are really happy with our performance - most importantly it gives us a lot of confidence going into the final play-off games”.

Like Sweden, Denmark already knew they were in the top play-off game before they faced Germany, who were looking for a win to force their way directly into the play-offs. However, although German skip Andrea Schöpp hit for two points in the third end to take an early lead, she was too strong with her final draw in the tenth, handing Denmark a 6-4 win and forcing her own team into a tie-breaker. Danish skip Len Nielsen echoed some of Sweden Sigfridssson’s comments when she said, “I think the girls played fine – concentration was a bit off sometimes, but we did what we had to. We just wanted to win. We lost to Andrea twice at the Europeans and the worlds last season, so we really wanted to win this one”.

Sweden and Denmark now face-off in the 1v2 Page play-off with the winner going direct to the final on Saturday and the loser having a second chance to make it to the final through the sole semi-final. Speaking about that, Nielsen said, “I think the pressure is on Sweden, not us. They’re undefeated and a really strong team, so we can just go out there, relax and have fun”.

Before their final game, Scotland knew that they were assured of third place overall and a slot in the 3v4 Page play-off, and they seemed to be well in control of their game against Switzerland when skip Eve Muirhead played a draw-shot for three in the fifth end, for a 5-3 lead. But the tables were turned in the very next end when Switzerland’s fourth player Manuela Siegrist hit for three points and a 6-5 lead. The Scots settled after this and ran out 10-7 winners.

Afterwards, Muirhead said, “we felt relaxed out there. It was one of those games that didn’t really matter, but you wanted it to matter, if you know what I mean”.

The Scots do not yet know who they will face in the Page 3-4 play-off. Having lost to Denmark, Germany go into the fourth-place tie-breaker, where they will face hosts Russia, who beat Norway by 7-4 to rank equal fourth. In this game, Russia’s skip Anna Sidorova put her team in front on the scoreboard for the first time with a draw for two points in the eighth end, and then, when Norway’s Linn Githmark messed up an attempted hit and stick in the tenth, Russia won to keep their medal campaign alive.

Afterwards, Anna Sidorova, Russian skip said, “the result depended not only on us, but also on the outcome of the Germany-Denmark game. That’s why we were looking sometimes at the other sheet. It

was nerve-wracking. I had my two last shots to play and I realised my team was happy. I didn’t let myself look at the other sheet but I knew what it meant.” (Tiebreaker Russia-Germany at 1400 local on Thursday 8th).

The Czech Republic finished their round-robin campaign with an 8-4 win over Italy, a result that saw Italy, Switzerland and the Czechs themselves tied for the sixth, seventh and eight places. These three will now play two-tie-breakers, with Italy and Switzerland facing off first and the loser of that game then playing the Czechs. Whichever team finishes eighth at the end of this process will face a challenge from the eventual B Group winners for the last available European slot at this season’s Ford World Women’s Curling Championship in Canada.

Below these three, Latvia finished ninth and Norway finished tenth and, as a result both are relegated to next year’s B Group to be replaced by this year’s “B” winners and runners-up.

GROUP A WOMEN: Standings after end of Round Robin


1. Sweden 9-0

2. Denmark 8-1

3. Scotland 7-2

4. Russia 5-4

4. Germany 5-4

6. Italy 3-6

6. Switzerland 3-6

6. Czech Republic 3-6

9. Latvia 1-8

10. Norway 1-8

It was also a tense final men’s round-robin session, with almost every game determining which teams would be medal contenders or relegation candidates.

The Czech Republic faced Italy and battled through to win by 7-6 and put themselves into the tie-breaker scenario that would keep their medal hopes alive. They won the game with a steal of two points when Italy’s attempted raised double attempt did not come off. Afterwards, Czech skip Jiri Snitil said, “we are happy with what we’ve done in the last two days. Our object was to qualify for the worlds and we’re safely there”.


The key game to determine the destiny of most of the teams ended up being the Germany – Switzerland encounter. If Germany won, three other teams would have their campaigns ended and if Switzerland won, they, along with Switzerland, would live to fight another day. Playing in his first major Championships, Swiss skip Sven Michel kept his nerve throughout. The game eventually went to an extra end in which Michel boldly produced a heavy hit to blast out a German counter and leave his own stone sitting on the wing to score the one point needed for his win.

After the game, a celebrating Michel said, “we were nervous, but we’re happy. We ha d a good first win today and that gave us the power for this game, but it’s a big compliment to my players. They played really well and they have a good self-confidence. We’re happy with our game and hope we can play well again tomorrow”.

Norway and Denmark was a top of the table battle with the winner going direct to the Page 1-2 game, and the loser having a more difficult route to the final by way of the 3-4 play-off. Norway took an early lead and Denmark were always struggling. Their cause was not helped when skip Rasmus Stjerne came up short with his draw against three Norwegian counters in the fifth end to give Norway a steal of one point. Eventually Denmark could do no more and Norway took another positive step in the defence of their title. Norwegian skip Thomas Ulsrud said, “We’re in the 1-2 play-off and that was the goal. After a rusty start we’ve started to play well, so we’re happy to be there”.

Scotland also faced a must-win situation in their game against Sweden, and came out flying. Skip David Murdoch played a delicately-judged draw in the first end to score three points, after which the Scots never looked back and the teams shook hands in the seventh, with Scotland 9-3 up. An elated skip Murdoch said, “that was an absolutely outstanding performance from the boys. I know that’s the way that we can play, and I’ve always said that if we got into that groove, we could win this thing”.

France beat Latvia by 10-6 to keep their ambition of qualifying for this season’s world championships alive with a raised take-out that scored two in the ninth end and forced Latvia to concede. This result means that France finished ranked eighth overall and they now go on to face a challenge from the eventual B Group winners for the last available European slot at the Men’s World Championship 2012 in Basel.

All this action means that seven of the ten men’s teams involved could still win the European title. (Men’s Tie-break round 1 at 0800 local time. Switzerland v Scotland and Germany v Czech Republic. Men’s Tie-break round 2 at 1400 Local – winners of morning tiebreaks).

GROUP A MEN: Standings after end of Round Robin


1. Sweden 6-3


2. Norway 6-3

3. Denmark 6-3

4. Switzerland 5-4

4. Czech Republic 5-4

4. Germany 5-4

4. Scotland 5-4

8. France 4-5

9. Latvia 2-7

10. Italy 1-8

7 DECEMBER 2011 – DAY 5 (Mid-day) – RESUME & STANDINGS

Moscow, Russia – As the round-robin section of the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2011 reaches its conclusion in Moscow, the tension grows for every team.

In the women’s eighth round-robin session, the game between Sweden and Russia was high-stakes indeed. The Swedes were trying to maintain their unblemished record, which would give them the hammer for the Play-off games, while Russia felt they had to win to keep their medal hopes alive. Sweden had a 3-1 halfway lead but, in the sixth end, Russian skip Anna Sidorova hit for two points to level the game at 3-3. However Sweden responded straightaway, with fourth player Maria Prytz hitting for two in the seventh end. Sweden eventually won by 8-4 to ensure their top-spot, while Russia must now beat Norway in the last round-robin game and hope that Denmark beat Germany.

Afterwards, a less than happy Russian coach Olga Andrianova, said: “I don’t know what happened today – two players played very bad and a third player was not so good – I want change. Usually they play a lot better, but they made so many mistakes. It was an 8 o’clock game, so maybe that affected us a little but I will be expecting more from my team when we play Norway later today.”

Meanwhile, Denmark made sure of their place in the top play-off game with a 6-5 win over Switzerland. They opened their scoring in the second end when Danish skip Lene Nielsen was looking for her stone to roll after it hit a Swiss stone to score two, but it stayed put. Despite this she scored the one point that started her journey to victory. Switzerland had to win to have any chance of reaching the play-offs, and their fourth player Manuela Siegrist bravely drew for one point against three Danish counters in the eighth end. Despite all her attempts, her team lost and, with only three wins with one round-robin game to play, the Swiss will be sitting out the medal games.

Scotland’s 6-9 victory over Latvia assured them of a third-placed ranking and a slot in the play-offs. Their win was helped by Latvian skip Ineta Maca missing a take-out in the third end, gifting Scotland a steal of three, and was wrapped up when Scottish skip scored one point with a double take-out in the tenth. Afterwards, Scottish skip Eve Muirhead said, “our first task was to qualify for the worlds, which we’ve done, and now we’ve got our second target, which is to qualify for the play-offs, so that’s both done, and we’ve played better and better as the week’s gone on”. Speaking specifically about the game against Latvia, she said, “they played a lot of nice draws, but we were in control for the whole game”.

Germany are also striving to stay in the medal hunt, and they did their play-off chances no harm at all with a 5-3 win over the Czech Republic. They now face Denmark in their concluding round-robin game and, win or lose, will qualify in fourth place if Russia do not win their match-up with Norway.

Norway have struggled all week and look destined for next year’s B Group. Despite skip Linn Githmark successfully drawing for two points in the fifth end, their fortunes did not improve when they came up against Italy, who recorded their third victory of the week with a 9-5 win, a win that ensures Italy will be playing in this season’s world championship.

Afterwards, a delighted Diana Gaspari spoke about ensuring worlds qualification. “that was our first goal. We’re a new team, and winning more games is our next step. We are not one of the top teams, and the main goal is the Olympic Games, but we know that we start from here. The ice here is perfect, and this feels more like a worlds than a European Championships”.

GROUP A WOMEN: Standings after 8 sessions:

Sweden 8-0

Denmark 7-1

Scotland 6-2

Germany 5-3

Russia 4-4

Italy 3-5

Switzerland 3-5

Czech Republic 2-6

Latvia 1-7

Norway 1-7

Later, the results of the men’s second-last session – with both table-toppers losing unexpectedly – showed clearly how the pressure builds on the teams as the medal stages approach.

High-flying Sweden were brought back to earth with a bump by the battling Czechs, who grabbed a lifeline with a 6-4 win over. Czech skip Jiri Snitil lay down the gauntlet early, drawing for three points in the second end. But Swedish skip Niklas Edin is a fighter too, and he levelled the game in the ninth with a brave raised take-out for one, only to later see the Czechs score the one point needed for victory in the tenth.

Afterwards, Snitil said, “if we can keep that level we hope still to be in. If there is a team at a good level playing well against us, then we rise to that, but if not, we drop down, and that’s our team’s problem. Italy are down in “B”, so that might be to our advantage when we play them tonight...or our disadvantage. We just need to play good”.

The match between table-toppers Denmark and Switzerland also was tense, and went to an extra end. Swiss skip Sven Michel gave himself a confidence boost with a good take-out in the third end, and with his shooter hanging on in the rings, he scored two. He produced another raised take-out in the sixth end, with the same result – two points. After this, the Swiss kept their nerve and ran out 7-6

winners. After their triumph, Swiss skip Michel said, “it was a very important win for us because it means that we still have a chance of playing in the play-offs. This win gives us a lot of self-confidence for the match tonight, which we have to win. We kept our best performance for our game against one of the best teams here so we are very happy with the win”.

Early tournament leaders Germany have struggled to stay in a qualifying position and were given a tough game by Latvia, but their fourth player Felix Schulze kept his nerve to draw for a single point in the sixth end. Later, in the ninth, Schulze delivered again to score the two points that would seal the German victory, a 6-4 win that keeps their hopes alive. Afterwards German Skip John Jahr, said, “two days ago was our last win, so it’s good to get this one under our belt. I think we are definitely in the play-offs and for us it’s special because when we reach the play-offs we automatically qualify for the worlds, which was one of our key goals at the start of this competition”.

Defending champions Norway also remain in the mix, following their 9-4 win over Italy. Their skip Thomas Ulsrud set up this win early in the game with a draw for two points in the third end, and this result means the worst that can happen to Norway after the round-robin is that they become involved in tie-breakers. Asked afterwards how important this win was, Ulsrud, said, “They’re all important wins at the end of the week. We still have a shot at the play-offs, so, after a bad start, I’m happier with the level we’re playing at”. He added, “I’m not afraid when the guys have to play the big shots, they’ve been there before and they know what it’s all about. But the most important thing is – don’t feel the pressure, feel the fun of playing curling. This is why we play – to be able to play in a big arena like this on really good ice”.

In yet another tense encounter, Scotland clawed their way back against France in the regulation ten ends after giving up a score of four in the eighth to push the game into an extra end. But eventually, with the last stone of the game, French fourth player Tony Angiboust got round a front guard to knock out a Scottish counter, and score two for a 6-4 win. Afterwards, French skip Thomas Dufour said “we are looking for the spots at the World’s and with this win it helps a little. I believe that we still have a chance but there’s still a long way to go. Latvia are playing good curling, it’s a five million dollar game, so we need to be ready for them tonight.”

At this stage, only Denmark and Sweden are assured of play-off qualification, with, depending on last round-robin session results, up to five teams possible involved in tie-breakers.

GROUP A MEN: Standings after 8 sessions:

Denmark 6-2

Sweden 6-2

Germany 5-3

Norway 5-3

Czech Republic 4-4

Scotland 4-4

Switzerland 4-4

France 3-5

Latvia 2-6

Italy 1-7

6 DECEMBER 2011 – DAY 4 (Evening) – RESUME & STANDINGS

Moscow, Russia – The Swedish women became the first team to qualify for the medal stages of the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2011 in Moscow when they won their seventh round-robin game, comfortably beating Italy by 8-3, retaining their unbeaten record in the process.

The sixth end was the turning point in this game when the Swedes still counted three points despite a missed tap-up by their fourth player Maria Prytz. And Prytz made up for that earlier error in the ninth end when she hit to score three and seal her team’s qualification win.

Afterwards, Swedish skip Margaretha Sigfridsson said, “We’re in the play-offs and we’re really happy about that. That was our first target, and we now want to play really well in the play-offs. We had a really good feeling on the track today, it’s fairly consistent, but there’s always a little room for improvement and I think we will find that”.

Second-placed Denmark are hot on the Swedes’ heels and they chalked up their sixth win with an easy six-end 11-1 defeat of the Czech Republic who have been forced to bring alternate Pavla Prokšíková into the team because of illness. Danish skip Lene Nielsen hit and rolled for three in the third end and her team never looked back after that. With two round-robin games left to play, the Danes are one win away from joining the Swedes in the medal play-offs. Afterwards, a delighted Nielsen said, “That was a nice game. We got a good feel for the ice quickly and we put a lot of pressure on her and she couldn’t finish it off. It’s getting closer now, we still have two more games against tough opponents - especially Germany.”

This loss was in contrast to the Czech Republic’s opening day win against the hosts. Since then, they have not had their troubles to seek, as a reflective Czech skip Linda Klimova explained, “this is the first time for this line-up in the Europeans, it’s the first for me. Our first game against Russia was exciting and the win was just amazing. After our win against Latvia yesterday our second fell ill. Our alternate is great but it is different to play with her and it was a frustrating morning. With our second being ill, our minds were elsewhere and the result reflects that”.

Meanwhile, Switzerland recorded what was just their third win of the week so far, with an 11-4 victory over Latvia. In the sixth end, Swiss fourth player Manuela Siegrist had a gentle tap-back to score three and break the deadlock between the teams. This score broke the Latvian resistance as they failed to score again in the game, while the Swiss amassed a further seven points.

Russia and Scotland produced a high-standard competitive encounter. The Scots took the early lead but the Russians fought back to lead going into the ninth end. That’s when Scottish skip Eve Muirhead drew nicely around some front stones to score two and re-take the lead at 5-4, and she extended that lead in the tenth, to win by 7-4. Afterwards, Eve Muirhead, Scotland’s four-time world junior champion skip, said, “I’m delighted with that, it was a pretty solid performance. We had a couple of errors when we lost those steals, but, all in all, it was a pretty good performance. I think we’re definitely on the way up and that’s great to know”.

Germany’s Andrea Schöpp - making an incredible 25th appearance in this event - returned to winning ways in the seventh round after two successive losses on Monday. She drew for two points in the fifth end for a 4-2 lead, and then, in the eighth, counted four with a good raised take-out. After Norway could only muster a single in the ninth, they conceded the game with the score at 8-4 against them.

Speaking afterwards, Schöpp seemed to be resigned to not qualifying for the medal stages. “Yes, we’ve hopefully at least avoided eighth to tenth place. We were much more confident than yesterday when we had such a bad start. Of course we still have a chance for the semi-final, but we have to win both games tomorrow otherwise it will be done, so we’ll see how it goes”.




Sweden 7-0 (qualified for play-offs)

Denmark 6-1

Scotland 5-2

Germany 4-3

Russia 4-3

Switzerland 3-4

Czech Republic 2-5

Italy 2-5

Latvia 1-6

Norway 1-6

It took all the way to an extra end, but Sweden’s Niklas Edin eventually overcame defending champion Thomas Ulsrud by 8-7 in the seventh session of round-robin play at the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2011 in Moscow.

Afterwards, Swedish skip Edin said, “Every time we play them, it’s one point for them or one point for us, so it was our turn this time! We played good all game, but the key was that we got a couple of easy deuces early on so they had to try for difficult shots. When we got a lead they fought back, but I think we were up the whole game with hammer, just controlling it”.

Asked to explain his run of good form, Edin added, “I think we’re performing at this level because of all the tournaments we’ve played in Canada against really good opponents. So we’ve just increased our lowest level from a year ago. We’ve had the same top level for the last two years, but we don’t do any real bad tournaments any more”.

Denmark joined Sweden in top spot on the rankings, on six wins and just one loss, with a tightly-fought 8-6 win over Germany This game went down to the last stone, and Danish skip Rasmus Stjerne was up to the task, hitting and staying for two and the win.

Afterwards, Stjerne said, “that was a lot tighter than we expected. To be honest, the sheet was playing tricky so even though we were four up we still knew we had to focus, but kudos to the Germans , they kept it really tight all the way to the end”.

Like Edin, Stjerne has also been a lot of work into his performance. “I’ve done some changes to my technique and we have a really good team spirit, so it’s paying off for us now, I feel I can beat anyone. I’m probably playing my best Championships ever, at European or world junior level, so I’m pretty confident. But there’s still a lot of good teams out here”.

These wins assure both Denmark and Sweden of at least places in tie-breakers, Scotland’s David Murdoch is fighting hard to join them there.

After a couple of earlier disappointments for the Scots, a win against Latvia was essential. But the Latvians proved to be stubborn opponents, matching Scotland score for score all the way to the eighth end, when Murdoch had a hit and stay for three and a 7-4 lead. The Latvian resolve seemed to evaporate after this, as they gave up a steal of one in the ninth, and conceded the game by 4-8.

Afterwards, Murdoch said, “That was a big win in many ways - it keeps us in it and also it pushes the bottom end of the field down. That was a great performance from the guys, they were patient early on. Those Latvian boys didn’t do a lot wrong early on and we had to play some really good curling to get ahead”.

At the seventh time of asking, Italy’s Joel Retornaz finally posted a win, coming from behind at halfway to dominate the second half of the game against Switzerland for a 9-4 victory to savour. Italy worked hard for their win, and, after Retornaz gave up a steal of one in the sixth, he made sure that Italy scored in each of the last three ends played, sealing his win after nine ends. Afterwards, he said, “first win – it’s quite late, but what can we do? We’ve tried all week to play good curling, we struggled a little bit but we kept fighting. This win gives us some energy and we’ll play the rest of our games not thinking about rankings or results and we’ll see what happens.”

France also fought hard to beat the Czech Republic, only their second win of the week. In the eighth end, the Czechs missed an attempted double take-out for two and instead handed three points to France, who then went on to celebrate a win by 7-2. A pleased French skip Thomas Dufour said, “we went into the game with no fear, we played quite aggressively and it worked out for us. The Czech team played some really good stones, especially their skip. We know we are not as good as some of the stronger teams in the championships but we have the belief that we can beat some of them”.



Denmark 6-1

Sweden 6-1


Germany 4-3

Norway 4-3

Scotland 4-3

Czech Republic 3-4

Switzerland 3-4

France 2-5

Latvia 2-5

Italy 1-6


Moscow, Russia – With the medal stages approaching fast, the action is hotting up at the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2011 in Moscow.

In a tense sixth session of men’s round-robin play Denmark – last year’s silver medallists faced Scotland. This was tight all the way and the Danish break-through started in the seventh end when Danish skip Rasmus Stjerne promoted his own stone into the house, knocking out a Scottish stone for a break-through score of two points. The Scots tried to build something again in the eighth, but skip David Murdoch was too strong with his final tap-back, and rolled beyond two Danish stones around the button to give Denmark a game-winning steal of two. After failing to build a promising situation in the ninth, Murdoch drew to an empty house for a forlorn single, and eventually shook hands in the tenth, with Denmark winning 5-2.

Danish skip Rasmus Stjerne commented afterwards, saying “that was very important. First of all, it’s a big thing to beat Scotland and we know we needed this one to stay in contention for the first two spots. But even though the scoreboard was really tight, we played with lots of pressure, and I thought we were ahead all the way”. A frustrated Murdoch added, “that puts us right down in the mix now and we certainly need a win tonight. We just need to create a bit more with the hammer and take our chances, really”.

After a couple of stumbles earlier in the week, defending champions Norway are starting to build a good defence of their title. They opened their game against France with a two and, In the seventh end, skip Thomas Ulsrud played a good hit and stick to score two on his way to an eventual 5-2 win. Skip Ulsrud said, “Another win – that was a good one because it’s really tight out there, everybody’s beating everybody. Every game is important and we pretty much have to win every one now. It’s going to be tough”.

Switzerland looked in control of their game against Sweden when, in the third end, their skip Sven Michel scored a big four points with a good hit and stay shot. But, fighting back in the seventh, Sweden’s Niklas Edin scored two with a classy double take-out shot, and then, after Sweden levelled the game in the ninth with a three, Switzerland’s Michel was heavy with his final draw in the tenth, to hand the Swedes an 8-7 victory.

After setting the pace at the start of the week, Germany are gradually slipping down the table. They played the Czech Republic in this session, and the Czech skip Jiri Snitil set up his team’s victory in the seventh end when he had a successful hit to score three. However, Germany did not go down without a fight. In the eighth their fourth player Felix Schulze had a nice draw against three Czech counters to score one, but it was too little too late as the Czechs ran out 7-4 winners.

A pleased Snitil commented after the game, “that was definitely a big win. We seem to start slow in every championship and finish strong. Hopefully we can finish strong this year as well. Right now we are happy with our game.”

Italy came onto the ice to face Latvia still looking for their first win of the week. They started well and were as much as 4-2 up after seven ends. But the Latvians stayed tough and scored singles in each of the closing three ends to carve out what had earlier looked like an unlikely 5-4 win. Italy are anchored on six losses now and look most likely among the bottom teams to drop down to next year’s B group.

After the game, a clearly devastated Italian skip Joel Retornaz said, “we tried our best. We started the week under pressure and we were never able to turn things around. We have fought very hard in all our games until the end but it never seems to happen for us. This game was very disappointing. We were controlling it until near the end. It seems like we have a blackout always at the last two ends. We need to work harder and see what we can do in the last three games of the championship.”


Denmark 5-1

Sweden 5-1

Germany 4-2

Norway 4-2

Czech Republic 3-3

Scotland 3-3

Switzerland 3-3

Latvia 2-4

France 1-5

Italy 0-6


Moscow, Russia – After five sessions of men’s round-robin play in the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2011 in Moscow, three teams share the lead, each on four wins – Denmark, Germany and Sweden.

Denmark had a solid 8-3 win over Italy, which now means that the Italians are still looking for their first victory of the week. After Italy held a 3-2 halfway lead, the Danes piled on the pressure to score in the last three ends – two, a single steal and then a steal of three – for their win.

Germany lost their undefeated record in this session of play, going down by 3-10 in just six ends to defending champions Norway, who seemed really fired up for this game after suffering a sore loss to Scotland earlier. German fourth player Felix Schulze had the consolation of playing a nice draw for one point in the sixth end, but the damage had been done earlier in the game by Thomas Ulsrud and his Norwegian team, and Germany conceded.

Commenting on his campaign so far, Ulsrud said, “it’s a roller-coaster. This morning we had a really tough loss against Scotland - that was annoying. But I’m proud of the guys, they came back in this match and showed how they can play so hopefully we can keep it up. It’s been a long time since we’ve been cruising like last year, but hopefully this will be the kick-start. That first loss against Latvia is going to come back and bite us – we’d love to have that game back but ...that’s curling”.

Sweden is the third team sharing the lead, and they had a tough game against Latvia, who put up a good fight before going down 5-6. In the seventh end, Swedish skip Niklas Edin relieved a lot of the pressure on his team with a hit for a crucial single point that Latvia could not counter in the closing ends. Afterwards, he said, “it certainly was a tight game. They kept it close and it could have gone either way. But the key was when they drew in the house in the ninth end and we could blank that one. From there on we felt the game was pretty safe”.

Latvian skip Ritvars Gulba agreed with Edin’s view on the game’s turning point. “We gave them the last rock in the last end. It was a huge strategic mistake to allow them to blank in the ninth end. We didn’t leave ourselves any chance after that. It’s wrong to play like that, but we did!”.

Switzerland kept themselves in real contention for the medal games with an 8-3 win over France. To seal the win, skip Sven Michel produced a delicate draw for two, and another for three in the tenth, for what was his team’s third win of the week. Afterwards, he said, “we had a good start and we felt we were in charge. Our feeling was good and we played good and that made us comfortable. That was a very important win today. We have a tough game against Sweden tomorrow but we’re still in”.

The Czech Republic skip Jiri Snitil makes a habit of beating Scotland’s David Murdoch in big championships, and this one is no exception. After playing what Murdoch described as his “best game of the week” so far, Snitil finished off his triumph with a simple draw for three in the tenth end and an 8-4 win.

Afterwards, Snitil said, “that was very important we hope that keeps us in the competition. That was the best I’ve played this week, and the boys too. We had a good game against Denmark this morning but lost a big end and it was gone. We hope we can stay at this level”.

Murdoch was brutal in his self-appraisal – “there was one skip that was making everything and another skip – me - that just couldn’t finish it off. That was the tale of the game”.


Denmark 4-1

Germany 4-1

Sweden 4-1

Norway 3-2

Scotland 3-2

Switzerland 3-2

Czech Republic 2-3

France 1-4

Latvia 1-4

Italy 0-5

In the women’s sixth round-robin session there were two basement battles among the four teams sharing bottom place on the rankings.

In these, the Czech Republic had a one-sided six-end 10-1 win over Latvia to lift themselves off the bottom place on the ranking and leave Latvia there, while Switzerland, with scores of two in the fifth, three in the sixth and another two in the seventh, beat Norway by 8-3 in eight ends, leaving the Norwegians anchored alongside Latvia, with three games left to play to claw their way back to World Championship qualification, or, at least avoid relegation or “B” Group challenge.

At the other end of the table, Sweden’s Margaretha Sigfridsson was pushed all the way by Germany’s veteran skip Andrea Schöpp who played a nice hit and roll in the opening end to open the scoring with a single point. However, eventually, the Swedes made an open hit for four in the tenth end to run out 9-6 winners and maintain their unbeaten record so far.

Afterwards, Sigfridsson said, “we played really well but there were a couple of bad calls in the middle. At the start we played better than them, and we played better in the last end too, and our fourth player Maria Prytz is marvellous”. Reflecting on their unbeaten top-of-the-table position, she said, “we need a few more wins. It’s fine to be a favourite, but there’s a lot of good teams here”.

The game between Italy and Scotland went all the way to the last stone of the last end, when Scottish skip Eve Muirhead made a hit and stay for the one point that gave her a 5-4 win. Afterwards, a delighted Muirhead said, “it’s good for us to go right down to the last stone of the last end, because it could happen in any of the games. I think we couldn’t have asked for more today. We came looking for two wins. We need more days like this”.

The fifth game of the session, between Denmark and Russia, went all the way to an extra end. Russia moved into a 5-3 lead in the sixth end when skip Anna Sidorova scored two points with a nice draw, but in the extra end, Danish skip Lene Nielsen kept her nerve and resolve to draw against three Russian counters already sitting in the rings for the one point needed for her 8-7 win. This result puts Denmark in a clear second place with just one loss. Danish skip Nielsen realised just how important his game had been to her medal hopes, saying, “that was very tense and I’m all shaky right now. Russia was the team I feared most. I think they’re playing really well and have the crowd, so that’s a big scalp”.

In the wake of only her second defeat of the week, Russian skip Anna Sidorova said, “Of course we are upset with our performance. The game was equal but we lost momentum a little and were unlucky with some of our shots. But we will pick ourselves up like we always do as we’ve got an important game against Scotland tomorrow. It will certainly be another hard game so we will need to be at our best. Scotland are a team who play classic curling and the only way to beat them is to perform better than they do from start to finish”.


Sweden 6-0

Denmark 5-1

Russia 4-2

Scotland 4-2

Germany 3-3

Czech |republic 2-4

Italy 2-4

Latvia 1-5

Norway 1-5.


Moscow, Russia – After the third men’s round-robin session in the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships in Moscow, Germany now are the only unbeaten side.

They were facing Scotland, who took the early lead, but the tide started to turn in the fifth end when Germany’s fourth player Felix Schulze played a well-judged draw-shot to score three and take the lead for the first time in the game. Eventually, after a brief Scottish fight-back, in the tenth end, Schulze hit out the only Scottish stone in the house to score three and win the game.

This handed Scotland their first defeat of the week so far, and afterwards skip David Murdoch said, “We were controlling the game for the first four ends and were really sharp, and in the fifth end, we got caught out a little bit and slipped a three. This is always an up and down week, so we just need to re-group for tomorrow”.

Meanwhile, France recorded their first win of the event in their game against Italy. In the sixth end, Tony Angiboust, who plays fourth stones for France, played a good hit to score one and the French followed this with two successive single steals to eventually gain their 7-4 win. This result leaves Italy as the only men’s team yet to win a game. Afterwards, French skip Thomas Dufour said, “it was important for us to win a game today, because we got off to a difficult start with two strong teams – Sweden and Denmark. When you don’t get a win, your morale takes a knock. So with this win, we gave ourselves a boost. The Italian team is much stronger since we met them in the Challenge games last year.”

Sweden handed Denmark their first defeat of the week so far with an 8-3 win in just seven ends. Denmark had the poorest possible start when their skip Rasmus Stjerne was short with his final draw in the opening end to hand Sweden’s Niklas Edin a steal of two points. A three in the third end and a further two in the seventh were crucial in this Swedish victory.

The Czech Republic also had their first win in this round. No doubt Czech skip could not believe his luck when he had a simple hit to score a massive five in the fourth end. After this, the teams swapped scores of four in the seventh and eighth ends before the Czechs ran Latvia out of stones in the tenth for their 11-8 win. Czech skip Jiri Snitil said, “the game was crazy. We prepared our big end and we were ok then we forced them to take one. Then we lost our concentration and they took four back! We said to ourselves that we could not lose this game and got concentrating again and took another four”.

Following their surprise opening round defeat, defending champions Norway continued their winning ways with a 9-5 win over Switzerland. Norwegian skip Thomas Ulsrud delivered a nice draw to score three in the ninth to set up his victory, before following that up with a steal of two in the tenth and final end.


MEN: Standings after 3 sessions:Germany 3-0Denmark 2-1Norway 2-1Scotland 2-1Sweden 2-1Czech Republic 1-2France 1-2Latvia 1-2Switzerland 1-2Italy 0-3

In the fourth session of women’s round-robin play at the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships in Moscow, Sweden continued their unbeaten run with another one-sided win, this time beating

Norway by 8-2 in just six ends - a game they concluded with an open draw by fourth player Maria Prytz to score four points and force Norway to shake hands. Afterwards, skip Margaretha Sigfridsson said, “it wasn’t that easy, and the last end was really good. We had the advantage in the other ends too, but they stood up and played well. I think there are some bits that we can still improve, but if we play at this level or a little bit better, it’ll go well”.

Meanwhile, Denmark kept themselves in the medal hunt when they came from behind to beat Latvia by 6-5. Danish skip Lene Nielsen sealed the win for her struggling team with a draw to score two in the tenth end. Afterwards, she said, “the fact that we are now have three wins is about the most positive thing I can say about that game. We played below average and she [Ineta Mača, Latvia’s skip] had a really good game. She made a lot out of all her stones and we missed out on a few key shots during the game”.

Russia are playing their role as the host team well – keeping their home crowd excited and entertained while scoring freely throughout their game to beat Switzerland by 11-5. The hosts grabbed this win when Swiss skip Binia Feltscher came up short with her final play of the ninth end, handing a steal of two points and the game to Russia. After this third win for Russia, coach Olga Andrianova said, “we played really well tonight. Switzerland have a strong team so the win has given us a lot of confidence going into tomorrow’s game. But we’ve got a lot of tough games ahead of us and anything can happen in women’s curling”.

Scotland got back onto winning ways with a 10-6 victory over the Czech Republic. The turning point in this game came when the Czech skip Linda Kimlova was short with her final draw-shot in the sixth end, allowing Scotland to steal three points, after this the Scots controlled the game to eventually run the Czechs out of stones in the tenth end. A relieved Scottish skip Eve Muirhead said afterwards, “I feel better about that. We were solid in the second half and stepped up. We’ve got a big day tomorrow...and no-one’s a write-off yet, so we’ve got to play strong, and we’re getting there”.

In a tense encounter with Italy, Germany only took the lead with the last stone of the last end when skip Andrea Schöpp kept her nerve to tap up delicately for the two points she needed for her 7-6 win. Commenting afterwards Schöpp said, “that was a tense game, and a lucky game for us especially after we had a bad game earlier today. We were struggling a little bit in the beginning, and we all felt a little anxiety as it didn’t work out too well for us but we fought back and that’s really important for the team. Of course it feels like we’re back on course, but it’s still a long, long way to go and it’s only three wins. We have a lot of strong opponents still to play”.


WOMEN: Standings after 4 sessions:Sweden 4-0Denmark 3-1Germany 3-1Russia 3-1Italy 2-2Scotland 2-2Czech Republic 1-3Latvia 1-3Switzerland 1-3Norway 0-4


Moscow, Russia – Denmark, Germany and Scotland share the lead, each unbeaten, after the first two rounds of men’s round-robin play in the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2011 in Moscow.

On Sunday morning, Denmark defeated newcomers Latvia by 7-3. The Danes are last year’s silver medal team and skip Rasmus Stjerne sent his team on the road to victory early, scoring two in the second end with a well-judged double take-out of two Latvian stones. After that, the teams swapped singles until Denmark killed the game with a score of three in the ninth.

Scotland recorded their second win with a 6-5 victory over Switzerland. The Scots were more in charge than the tight score suggests. Scottish skip David Murdoch – a three-times winner of this title - opened his team’s account with a good double take-out to score three in the very first end and then, having kept the house clear throughout the last end, eventually had an easy draw for one to seal his victory. Afterwards, he said, “I thought we had a really good performance, and we’ve really stepped up from yesterday. That was solid – those guys (Sven Michel’s Switzerland) have been winning tour events all season, so I’m really pleased with that”.

Germany sit alongside the Scots and the Danes as undefeated, thanks to their extra end 7-4 win over Italy. In a tense eighth end, German fourth player Felix Schulze was under real pressure when he came to play his final stone, with three Italians stones already in the house and counting. However he managed to draw inside them all to count three and take his team one step closer to their eventual win, which they sealed in an extra end with a steal of three when Italian skip Joel Retornaz was light with his final draw.

Sweden beat France by 8-2 in just seven ends, with skip Niklas Edin in top form. He had the best success rate of all the skips in this session, drawing for two points in the fourth end and hitting for three in the seventh to seal his team’s win.

On Saturday, defending champions Norway suffered a surprise loss at the hands of Latvia in the opening round, but got themselves back on track with a comfortable 6-3 win over the Czech Republic. The Norwegians were three up after two ends, stealing two in the second and finished the game with another score of two in the ninth.

Afterwards, Norwegian skip Thomas Ulsrud said, “A win! This is much better than yesterday when we had trouble reading the ice. We got off to a better start today, and I’m quite happy at the way the guys played today”.

He added, “to be honest, I wasn’t happy at losing to Latvia yesterday, who have just come up from the “B” group, but these things happen in curling, so I hope we’re up for a good roll now”.

After the women’s third round-robin session, Sweden stand alone at the top on three wins and no losses.

Their win on Sunday afternoon was handed to them when their opponents Scotland, skipped by Eve Muirhead, ran out of their allotted 73 minutes of playing-time in the middle of the tenth end. They were three up at that time, on 8-5, thanks largely to a score of three in the fifth end and twos in the third and seventh ends.

After the game, Sweden skip Margaretha Sigffridsson, who plays lead stones, said, “Eve’s one of the top teams, so it’s really good that we played well this game and got to win. We struggled a little bit in the first three ends, but the fourth and the fifth were really well played by us. We got to put the stones exactly where we wanted them”. Regarding the Scots’ timing issue that handed her the win, she said, “one player in our team just focuses on the clock and checks it after each end.”

The game between Linda Klimova of the Czech Republic and Switzerland’s Binia Feltscher went all the way to an extra end before Switzerland won by 9-7 to record their first win of the week. The lead changed hands three teams in this game until a score of two in the extra end sealed things for Switzerland.

Spurred on by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable home-crowd, Russia carved out their second win when Germany’s veteran skip Andrea Schöpp mis-judged her last shot in the ninth to give Russia a steal of one point and an impressive 8-3 win. Afterwards, Russian skip Anna Sidorova said, “I think we played very well today against a good German team. Andrea is very strong with a lot of experience, which can make all the difference - so we had to be on top form. We knew we were bound to make mistakes sooner or later but we had to be patient and stick to our game plan – not to give them a two stone advantage”.

She added, “the ice was a lot better today and the crowd also played their part - they all seemed to have a good knowledge of curling and cheered for us at the right moments, which helped spur us on”.

Although she is supported by a new team this year, Italy’s Diana Gaspari used all her experience to beat Latvia by 11-4, helped by a steal of four in the eighth end when Latvian skip Ineta Maca was heavy and went through the house with her draw shot. The Latvians conceded after this. After the game, Gaspari said, “that was well done and I’m very pleased. This is a new team, so we didn’t know what we’d do. That’s our second win, so already we’re satisfied. We really like the ice. It’s perfect weight and stable on both hands”.

Norway are now the only women’s team yet to score a win. They lost by 2-11 to Denmark with a single steal in the fourth end when Norwegian skip Linn Githmark went wrong with a raised take-out attempt. The Danes sealed their victory with a big score of six in the eighth end, when Norway conceded. Afterwards, Danish skip Lene Nielsen said, “that was a good game and we all had draw weight today, so it was just great. We’re playing better and better and the ice is much better. The first game [against Sweden] was a bit hairy, but it’s improving”.



MEN: Standings after 2 sessions:

Denmark 2-0

Germany 2-0

Scotland 2-0

Latvia 1-1

Norway 1-1

Switzerland 1-1

Sweden 1-1

Czech Republic 0-2

France 0-2

Italy -0-2

WOMEN: Standings after 3 sessions:

Sweden 3-0

Denmark 2-1

Germany 2-1

Italy 2-1

Russia 2-1

Czech Republic 1-2

Latvia 1-2

Scotland 1-2

Switzerland 1-2

Norway 0-3.

3 DECEMBER 2011 – DAY 1 – RESUME & STANDINGS

Moscow, Russia – Latvia, making their A Group debut at this year’s Le Gruyère European Curling Championships in Moscow’s Megasport Arena, produced the shock result of the opening round-robin men’s games when they beat defending champions Norway, led by Olympic silver medallist Thomas Ulsrud, by 8-5.

Latvia opened with a score of two and followed that up with a single steal for a 3-0 lead. In the fifth end, Ulsrud was heavy with his draw to let Latvia steal two points and move onto a 5-2 lead. The Latvians had another single steal for 6-2 in the sixth end, but Norway then showed their fighting qualities to claw back to just 5-7 down. However the Latvians held their nerve to score one in the tenth end for an 8-5 win – the dream start to their campaign.

Afterwards elated Latvian skip Ritvars Gulbis said, “on the ice, we don’t think about who they are, because then we would be destroyed mentally. We were going on the ice to win the game. We didn’t feel those guys were unbeatable. We started well and they didn’t get the ice to begin with their draw weight and line. I had a feeling we were going to win this game”.

By contrast, Norwegian skip Ulsrud said, “we didn’t look like European Champions out there. We got off to a bad start and the only good thing I can say is that in the last couple of ends we played the way I think we should play. A real bad start, but hopefully things will be better tomorrow”.

In their opening game against the Czech Republic, Switzerland took an early lead with a good hit and stay shot by skip Sven Michel in the second end to score three and never looked back. They built on this lead with a further two points in the fourth end to move 5-1 up, thanks to a nice draw shot by Michel. Another two in the sixth completed the Swiss scoring and the Czech conceded after eight ends, with a final score of 7-3 to Switzerland. Afterwards, Michel said, “we are very happy about that first game. It was important for us to get a good start, we needed that. We’re very impressed by the arena and the ice is very good.”

The Sweden–Germany match-up was a close affair with Sweden’s Niklas Edin taking an early lead, only for Germany to recover in the middle section of the game to claw their way to a 5-3 lead after the eighth end. Sweden’s Edin hit for two in the ninth end to level the score but, in the final end, Germany’s fourth player Felix Schulze held his nerve to hit for two and win the game 7-5.

The game between France and Denmark was close for the first five ends until Denmark’s bold tactics built up their stones in the sixth end to let skip Rasmus Stjerne score four. It was all one-way traffic after this break-through, and a further score of four in the eighth end gave Denmark an 11-3 lead, after which France conceded. Afterwards Stjerne, who won silver at this event last year, said, “I was a bit nervous at the beginning, but came out pretty strong after the break – that was a good win for us. I didn’t see the second four (in the eighth end) but we played a pretty good end in the first one, took a gamble and it paid off”.

Although the final score was tight, Scotland, skipped by three-times European champion David Murdoch, always controlled the game against Italy, and finally Murdoch had a precision hit on an Italian counter in the tenth end to win by 6-5. Afterwards, Murdoch said,“I’m always a slow starter at Championships so the fact we’ve got a win already is good. The Italians are a good team and they’ll take some scalps this week.”

In the women’s event, Sweden had two wins. In their opener, they came out on top by 9-6 in a battle against Denmark, but things were much more straightforward for them in their evening game, beating the Czech Republic by 12-0. With new skip Margaretha Sigfridsson onboard, the defending champions are pleased with their start. After the six-end win over the Czechs, a pleased Sigfridsson said, “It’s really good that we had two wins today, we struggled a little bit in our first game in the first five ends. In this game we played very well and they struggled.”

Joining Sweden on two wins out of two are Germany, who followed up an opening 7-5 over Latvia with

an extra end 7-5 over Switzerland, who have lost both of their opening games, having gone down to Italy by 4-8. German skip Andrea Schöpp is making a record 25th appearance in these Championships, and she said, “these games have been really close, but at least it’s two wins to keep us out of 8th to 10th places, that’s the first goal”.

Denmark’s win over Scotland in their second game was almost as one-sided as the second Swedish victory. The Danes bounced back from their opening loss to Sweden with a 12-2 six-end demolition of Scotland. Danish skip Lene Nielsen was happy with her team’s recovery, saying, “we lost a really tight game against Sweden this morning, so this was a good win. I didn’t expect that – usually we play close games. We had a better feeling for the ice this evening and they struggled a bit, so that was the difference”.

Scottish skip Eve Muirhead, who earlier had come from behind to beat Norway’s Linn Githmark by 8-6 with a steal of three in the tenth end, was at a loss to explain what had happened. “That was a nightmare” she said, “I didn’t have a clue where to put the brush and none of us had our weight, it was just all over the place. We’re just going to have to forget about that”.

After suffering an extra end 10-12 loss to the Czech Republic’s Linda Klimova in her opening game, Russia’s Anna Sidorova controlled her evening game against Italy to win by 10-5 in front of an enthusiastic home crowd. Sidorova appreciates the support her team is receiving, saying, “we are a little nervous playing in front of our home crowd but they help spur us on, cheering us throughout the games and I hope they come back to support us throughout the week. I think once we concentrate we will play well and I have no doubt that we will finish one of the top four teams”.

Earlier, Italy’s Diana Gaspari had beaten Switzerland by 8-4, and this means that the Swiss and Norway, who lost to Latvia by 6-8 in their second game, have yet to record a win.


STANDINGSMEN (after 1 session):Denmark, won 1, lost 0Germany 1-0Latvia 1-0Scotland 1-0Switzerland 1-0Czech Republic 0-1France 0-1Italy 0-1Norway 0-1Sweden 0-1

WOMEN (after 2 sessions):Germany won 2, lost 0Sweden 2-0Czech Republic 1-1Denmark 1-1Italy 1-1Latvia 1-1Russia 1-1Scotland 1-1Norway 0-2Switzerland 0-2.

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