Canada’s Lotts finishes fifth
Sweden’s super siblings, Isabella and Rasmus Wraana, defeated Estonia’s Marie Kaldvee and Harri Lill 8-4 to win the 2024 World Mixed Doubles curling championship at Östersund, Sweden.
The Swedes scored three deuces in the match and also stole two singles to maintain a steady lead in the scoreline from the second end onward.
Isabella Wraana skips her own women’s team and challenges the Anna Hasselborg team for top spot in the country. Her brother plays second for Niklas Edin, merely the best foursome in current men’s team circles.
It’s the second world gold for Sweden in the discipline, following the 2019 victory by Hasselborg and Edin third Oskar Eriksson.
Canada’s Kadriana and Colton Lott had their big breakthrough at nationals and put together a strong round-robin record but fell in the quarterfinals to the tough Estonians, who had never previously made it out of that playoff round before.
Kaldvee and Lill then dispatched one of the world’s strongest teams in the semifinals—Norway’s Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten, who won Olympic medals in both 2022 and 2018.
Meanwhile, the Wraanas defeated Scotland’s Sophie Jackson and Duncan McFadzean in their quarterfinal round followed by the husband and wife team from Switzerland, Yannick Schwaller and Briar Hürlimann-Schwaller, in the semis.
The Norwegians defeated the Swiss 6-5 for the bronze medals.
Sweden and Canada had topped Group B with 8-1 won/loss records, while Scotland claimed the third playoff berth at 6-3. Korea and USA finished at 5-4.
Norway was the Group A winner at 7-2, with four nations tying at 6-3—Switzerland, Estonia, Italy and Japan. The Swiss and Estonians earned the playoff nod.
Australia, Czechia, Türkiye and France won special playoff games to avoid relegation; a fate which befell New Zealand and Spain (both 1-8).
At the concurrent World Seniors championship, Canada scored double gold. Susan Froud’s Ontario crew defeated Lithuania in the women’s final, while Paul Flemming’s Halifax crew won the men’s title by edging the United States.