Alina Pätz and Sven Michel go hunting for medals together
curling
Swiss lovers set their sights on domestic World Cup gold
The mixed doubles world championship in curling begins in Geneva on Saturday. With Alina Pätz and Sven Michel, a pair of lovers wear the Swiss colours.
It’s rare in sport for a couple to win World Cup gold together. But this is exactly what a Swiss duo is aiming for. We’re talking about curling, and we’re talking about Alina Pätz and Sven Michel.
The two top curlers prevailed against the competition at the national march in Biel at the beginning of March and qualified as Swiss champions for the title fights on home soil. Because on Saturday the mixed doubles world championship begins in Geneva.
For the most part, the two curling cracks travel with their own teams. Pätz with CC Aarau and Michel with CC Geneva. She is now a five-time world champion, has already been a European champion and most recently won the world title in mixed doubles in 2018.
As soon as the season starts, Pätz and Michel are primarily travelers. They are often separated for weeks. “If one of us didn’t curl, it would be difficult,” Pätz recently told Tamedia. Despite their international successes, Pätz and Michel cannot make a living from sport. That’s why he works as a bricklayer foreman on an hourly wage and she works as a freelancer in marketing.
The meaning of the number 11
Apparently the number 11 has a special meaning this year. In 2011, Pätz and Michel became mixed doubles world champions in Saint Paul, America. The two have been a couple for 11 years and now, 11 years later, they want to win precious metal together.
The signs are good. Why don’t you both balance your jobs and curling? Reflected, the two go through life. “We tell each other it was a gut war. But we also tell each other if something was a seich, »said Michel, not only addressing curling.
That a Swiss couple can be successful is nothing new. Jenny Perret and Martin Rios celebrated joint successes. In the meantime, their love has passed, but that did not prevent them from winning Olympic silver in mixed doubles in 2018. It remains to be seen whether Pätz and Michel will also be brilliant. The two start with the party on Saturday morning against Estonia. All of the Swiss duo’s games will be broadcast on SRF.