Scotland, Switzerland Triumph in Euro Curling

Images and files by the World Curling Federation

Bruce Mouat’s Scotland won a see-saw extra-end battle with arch-rivals Sweden to capture another European Championship men’s gold on home ice in Aberdeen.

Meanwhile, Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni overcame a tough Italian challenge to gain revenge after winning Euro silver a year earlier.

In the men’s final, the two squads swapped deuces, singles and blanks up to the ninth end, where the Swedes needed another pair to win the match. Edin was forced into a tricky draw for just one point to force the extra-end.

In the extra frame, some four-foot ring manipulations left Mouat with a simple draw to bite the eight-foot rings and the youthful Scottish hero bit the four-foot for the 6-5 triumph.

Team Mouat is comprised of Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan. Edin was supported by Oskar Eriksson, Rasmus Wranaa and Christoffer Sundgren.

In the semifinals, Sweden dispatched the extremely tough Italian team skipped by Joel Retornaz by a 7-6 count while Scotland handled Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller 7-4.

Schwaller won the bronze with an 8-4 win over Italy.

The Italians, who have won three Euro bronze medals in the past five years, went undefeated in the round robin but lost their last two playoff matches to finish at 9-2. Mouat went from a 7-2 round robin record to final tally of 9-2 while Sweden and Switzerland both finished at 7-4.

Norway finished at 6-3, Germany 4-5, the Netherlands at 3-6 and Craig Savill’s Czechia at 2-7.

Turkiye and Finland, both 1-8, were relegated to next year’s B Division.

In today’s B Division action, Rob Retchless’ England stole the final two ends to defeat Austria 6-4 for gold. Latvia defeated France 12-6 for the bronze.

Meanwhile, one year after losing the final to Denmark, Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni has finally climbed to the top of the European Championship women’s podium.

Tirinzoni’s foursome, winners of the last four world championships, defeated Stefania Constantini’s Italy squad in a tight 6-5 championship final for their first ECC title.

The Italians struck first, stealing in the second end, before Tirinzoni grabbed her sole deuce of the match in the third. After swapping singles through five ends, the Swiss had a key steal in the sixth to jump to a 4-2 lead.

Equally key was a force on Italy in the seventh frame, and even a ninth-end Constantini deuce wasn’t enough to upset the result. Despite Italian pressure in the final end, Swiss fourth thrower Alina Paetz made a fine hit and roll (and bump) for the victory.

“Five minutes ago, I thought they were going to get the steal on us,” an excited Tirinzoni said moments after the final stone. “But thank goodness we had two options, and it was a tough shot.

“I’m still trying to find my feelings, I’m all over the place right now.”

Tirinzoni and Paetz were backed by the front end of Selina Witschonke and Carole Howald.

Constantini’s Italian five-player squad included Elena Mathis, Angela Romei, Giulia Zardini Lacedelli and Marta Lo Deserto.

The semifinal results weren’t particularly close, as the Swiss upended Norway’s Marianne Roervik 8-3 while Italy thumped Sweden’s debut foursome skipped by Isabella Wraana by an 11-2 count.

The Norwegians went on to defeat Sweden 10-3 for the bronze medals.

As is becoming their habit, the Swiss went undefeated at 11-0 for the week. Constantini’s rapidly-improving crew went 8-3 while Norway finished 7-4 and Sweden 6-5.

Host Scotland, skipped by Rebecca Morrison, finished 5-4 while Estonia and defending champions Denmark led the sub-.500 teams at 3-6.

Turkiye finished 2-7, tied with Czechia and Germany, but it was the latter two who drop into next year’s European B Division.

In that Euro B women’s group, Hungary defeated Lithuania 9-2 to win the gold while Poland defeated Latvia 7-4 for bronze.