- The Swiss curlers have to accept a disappointment at the end of the Olympic tournament in Beijing.
- After the semifinals, Skip Silvana Tirinzoni’s team also lost the game for third place against Sweden 7:9.
- The sovereign winner of the round robin goes away empty-handed.
Sweden just doesn’t suit the Swiss curlers. After the only defeat in the round robin against the Scandinavians, the Swiss team also lost out in the bronze game. The reigning world champions missed their second chance at medals after the semi-final defeat against Japan (6:8).
Skip Silvana Tirinzoni, Alina Pätz, Esther Neuenschwander and Melanie Barbezat didn’t get going in Beijing’s “Ice Cube” at the beginning. Right at the start they let Pätz steal a stone after a missing stone and thus gambled away the advantage of the last stone, which they had on their side as the winner of the round robin.
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On the other side, the Swedes around Skip Anna Hasselborg had a great day. Dream takeouts, which sometimes cleared 2 or 3 Swiss stones out of the house, were the order of the day. With 2 stones in the 4th and a triple in the 6th end, the Swedish team pulled away to 6:2. Immediately afterwards, Switzerland was able to shorten the lead to 4:6, but Sweden promptly countered with a two-man house.
A Swiss trio brought some tension back to 7:8 in the 9th end. In the 10th end, however, Vice-Skip Pätz missed the last Swiss stone to force a more difficult starting position for the Swedes. They shot their last stone and won 7:9.
Switzerland must therefore continue to wait for the first Olympic medal since winning silver in Turin in 2006.