New Spinner Curling Attempts at Olympics

Norway was trailing against Canada and needed points. There was no realistic way to score an additional point with regular draw shots, so with their fourth and fifth stones, Norway attempted spinners, the shot made famous by Niklas Edin a few years ago. 

Here was the situation facing Norway’s Magnus Nedregotten:

Magnus’ attempt touched the guard, and the second, by Kristin Skaslien, came up slightly short. 

I missed a similar spinner attempt against Norway (the same team as in Cortina at the 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang, for the same reason. The ice required was more than I had anticipated at the time. 

With around 50 rotations, the stone will curl significantly anyway, so on championship ice the proper line is usually one meter or more outside the house. This applies to shots that need to finish on the centre line. 

Naturally, each championship ice surface is different, but this is what I have learned through trial and error.

For many teams, the spinner is still something special, and experience with it remains limited. As a result, there are not many successful attempts. 

During 2016–2017, when I practiced spinners almost daily, my success rate in hitting the four-foot was actually higher than with normal four-rotation shots. It’s not magic – the travel time is longer, which allows more room for sweeping adjustments.

I checked the hog-to-hog times for the Norwegian spinners, and both were under 14 seconds. That suggests that the ice is slower along the sides. This makes spinner shots more difficult to control.

In a few days, I will prepare a spinner tutorial. Stay tuned!