Canada and Switzerland get their first victories
Defending Olympic gold and silver medalists Canada and Switzerland both won in the fourth mixed doubles session on Thursday night and those results contributed to a four-way tie in second place in the standings behind undefeated leaders Italy, who were in did not play this session .
Canada faced Norway in the second game, and in the first end Norway’s Kristen Skaslien played a soft tap-up to open the scoring with two points. Canada then made the first breakthrough of the game in the second as they built their bricks indoors to leave Rachel Homan with an easy last brick to score four points and take a 4-2 lead.
Norway scored twice in the fifth end with a tap from Skaslien to equalize 5-5. In the eighth end, where the score was now 6-6, Skaslien missed their last draw to give Canada another single point without having to play the last stone, winning 7-6.
Canada’s John Morris said: “Obviously 0 and 2 isn’t the best feeling after day one so it’s better to have a win under your belt.” “Mixed doubles is a rollercoaster ride, you never get out, you’re never safe . So we just have to be resilient.”
Switzerland were hoping for their first win as they faced unbeaten Great Britain in that session and it was the Brits who opened the scoring in the first end when Jennifer Dodds played an easy tie on the button to score a point . In the second final, however, Dodds failed with her last attempt at a front rock, clearing the way for Switzerland’s Jenny Perret to score three for an early 3-1 lead. The Swiss followed up with another three in the fourth end and went into the break with a 6:3 lead.
Britain reduced that lead to 6–5 in the fifth with a tie by Dodds for a point, and another successful tie by Dodds in the seventh gave Britain a three point score to end the game 7–7. Despite Bruce Mouat’s best efforts in game eight, he failed to pull Dodds’ last stone far enough, giving Switzerland a game-winning one-point win in an 8-7 win without Perret having to play their last stone.
After his team’s victory, Switzerland’s Martin Rios said: “In our first game today against Italy we made a lot of mistakes, we dropped a lot of points there. Our plan for tomorrow is to win our next game. We’ll play through game by game, end by end and see what comes out – if it’s enough for the semifinals. Our goal is simply to play good curling.”
The game between China and Sweden was tight throughout, with the lead changing five times.
In the third final, in which China led 2-1, a referee action gave two points for Sweden to take a 3-2 lead.
The teams were tied 3-3 when they played the fifth end. With her last rock, Sweden’s Almida de Val hit a front rock, giving China a steal of one and a 4-3 lead.
Then in the sixth end, de Val faced five Chinese counterattacks as she played her last and managed to get into all of them to score a point and level the game at 4-4.
China’s fan SuYuan played a soft tap with her last stone in the seventh end, and finally another action from the referee confirmed that China had scored two points to take a 6-4 lead.
In the eighth end, de Val knocked out a China stone to score three points and seal a 7-6 win for Sweden.
After her team’s victory, de Val looked back on the successful eighth end, saying, “We played a very good last end, managed good angles, placed a lot of good freezes and got the chance for the three at the end. We’re glad we won.”
Her partner Oskar Eriksson said: “The Chinese team played great, we didn’t make any easy mistakes when we put pressure on them. It looks like all the teams are in top form so we expect every game to be as tough as this one.”
Australia were still waiting for their first win when they met the Czech Republic in this session.
That game ended with Australia’s Tahli Gill missing in the second end as her tap-and-lie attempt was heavy and went through the house to give the Czechs a three-point steal. With this steal, the Czech Republic took a 4-0 lead.
Another Czech steal from a point in the third gave them a 5-0 lead. Despite their best efforts, the Australians couldn’t recover and suffered a defeat, with the Czechs leading 8-2 after the seventh end.
After her team’s victory, Zuzana Paulova from the Czech Republic said: “Actually, we didn’t feel bad after our previous defeat, I think we played really well. So we came out to this one with confidence. I think we did our best in this game.”
With Italy at the top of the table unbeaten with two wins, four sides – China, the Czech Republic, Great Britain and Sweden – share second place with two wins and one loss, with only Australia now awaiting their first win.
Mixed Doubles Session Four results: Norway 6-7 Canada; Switzerland – Great Britain 8:7; China 6-7 Sweden; Czech Republic 8-2 Australia
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