The round-robin stage of the World Mixed Curling Championship 2017 drew to a close yesterday (Thursday 12 October) in Champéry, Switzerland.
Group A saw Russia finish with a perfect 6-0 record, sealed with an 11-3 win over Japan in their final game this afternoon. Hungary finished second in Group A with a 6-2 win over Croatia in yesterday’s (Wednesday 11 October) final session of the day. The third team to gain a guaranteed play-off place was Estonia, who defeated Croatia 6-5 tonight, placing them above Japan due to their head-to-head record.
Sweden topped Group B with an undefeated 6-0 record. Sweden defeated China 3-1 in this morning’s first session of play to finish in first place and leave China in second place. China secured second place despite holding the same win/loss record as third placed USA due to their head-to-head record. USA took third place in the group after defeating Latvia 7-6 in a double extra-end game during this morning’s opening session.
Group C was topped by Korea, who also have a perfect 7-0 round-robin record. Korea completed their undefeated run by winning both their games today. In the first session of the day they beat New Zealand 3-1 and in the early evening session they completed their round-robin with an 11-3 win over Kazakhstan. Scotland secured second place in Group C with an 8-1 win over Kazakhstan in this morning’s opening session, while third place went to Spain, who defeated Ireland 8-0 in the early evening session to gain their place in the last 16.
Group D’s final order was set in the very last round-robin session of play. Norway finished in first place with a 5-2 record after defeating Switzerland 6-4 after an extra-end. Czech Republic defeated Slovakia 3-1 to take second place in the group. And despite losing their final round-robin game against Finland, Israel finished third in the group to secure the final guaranteed place.
Canada secured first place in Group E with a 5-2 victory over Germany in the final session of the day to finish their group with a perfect 6-0 record. Turkey claimed second place in Group E with a 5-1 record sealed with a 9-5 win over Australia in today’s afternoon game. Third place went to Poland with a 4-2 record after they lost to Turkey in yesterday evening’s late session.
The sixteenth place in the play-offs was claimed by England, who were the fourth placed side with the best Draw Shot Challenge (DSC) score after the round-robin.
The play-offs begin Today (Friday 13 October) at 09:00 CET. There will be two rounds of last 16 knockout competition, followed by a round of quarter-final games at 19:00 CET tomorrow. The play-offs continue on Saturday (14 October) at 09:00 CET and are followed by the Bronze and Gold medal finals later the same day at 14:00 CET.
They said it
Hunter Clawson; USA skip (after 7-6 double extra-end win over Latvia): “That was actually the best curling game we’ve played all week, and they played really well too. We had good strategy, good execution, but there’s a lot we can still improve on. For me it was the most comfortable curling game we’ve played. After this game, I’m feeling way more confident. It’s really nice to be playing well and having it all together. If we can just improve a few more things I’m pretty confident of our chances.”
Gergely Szabo; Hungary skip (after 6-2 win over Croatia): “It was a very important match for us. Our minimum target was to make it to the play-offs and with this match we did that. The schedule has been kind to us. Tomorrow we have the day off so we can relax, rest and prepare for the play-off game.”
Alican Karatas; Turkey skip (after 5-2 win over Poland): “We have a good team with a lot of experience. We knew that we had made the play-offs before the match so that helped us relax and we had very few mistakes tonight. We worked very hard before this tournament to prepare and everything has gone as we planned this week.”
Mariia Ermeichuk; Russia vice-skip (after 11-3 win over Japan): “We had goal to get the play-offs. We tried to do our best during the round-robin and I think we did that. We got better each game and now we’re ready for the play-offs. All these games were very good experiences for us and we’re prepared for the more difficult games coming in the play-offs.”
Jaroslav Vedral; Czech Republic skip (after 3-1 win over Slovakia): “I don’t know how to describe how I feel right now. It feels perfect. It was a really tough game. The beginning of the match was very defensive. The steal in the fifth end was really important for us. Then to steal again was perfect. We are so happy with this win. Now we’re just going to enjoy the play-offs.”
Ingvild Skaga; Norway skip (after 6-4 win over Switzerland): “I’m ecstatic. That was such a great game. Our performance has been a little up and down so I’m really happy Wilhelm made that freeze. We knew we had to win this one to go through, it was intense. To win you have to beat whoever you meet so we’re just happy to be in the play-offs and we’ll see what happens.”
RESULTS Session 26
Canada 5-2 Germany; Czech Republic 3-1 Slovakia; Austria 6-7 Hong Kong; Israel 3-9 Finland; Norway 6-4 Switzerland.
RESULTS Session 25
Spain 8-0 Ireland; Croatia 5-6 Estonia; Kazakhstan 3-11 Korea; Belarus 7-5 France; Luxembourg 1-7 New Zealand.
RESULTS Session 24
Australia 5-9 Turkey; England 7-4 Netherlands; Slovenia 3-7 Wales; Russia 11-3 Japan.
RESULTS Session 23
Scotland 8-1 Kazakhstan; Korea 3-1 New Zealand; USA 7-6 Latvia; Sweden 3-1 China; Denmark 4-6 Spain.
RESULTS Session 22
Hungary 6-2 Croatia; Norway 3-4 Hong Kong; Switzerland 7-3 Austria; Turkey 5-2 Poland; Finland 3-10 Slovakia.
RESULTS Session 21
New Zealand 2-8 Scotland; Latvia 5-6 France; Spain 14-1 Kazakhstan; Ireland 1-10 Korea; Australia 4-12 England.
(Source: WCF)