2023 World Women's Curling Championship: Silvana Tirinzoni leads Swiss to world title four-peat
Switzerland edged out Norway 6-3 in Sandviken, Sweden after Canada beat the hosts to take bronze.
Curling
Silvana Tirinzoni and Switzerland won a fourth consecutive World Women's Curling Championship in Sandviken on Sunday (26 March).
The Swiss beat Marianne Roervik's Norway rink 6-3 in a match which came down to the final stone of the final end.
Norway trailed 4-3 after nine ends, but had the hammer in the final end of regulation in a match featuring two skips throwing third.
Alina Paetz left Norway a simple draw for a single to take the match into extra ends, but Kristin Skaslien left her stone well short of the house to hand the Swiss a victory which takes their unbeaten run at the World Championships to 35 games.
Tirinzoni told World Curling afterwards, "I felt like they outplayed us today, actually. It was such a close game. It could have gone either side. It didn't look very good in the ninth or in the 10th so standing here being world champion again is unbelievable.
"We had to be patient. If the other team doesn't really want to play offensive then it's going to be a game without many rocks in play. They played a smart game, I think."
In a tight opening, Switzerland scored a single in the second end and stole one in the fourth to take a 2-0 lead.
But Norway finally got on the board in the fifth. A routine draw from Skaslien earned them a double which sent them into the break level at 2-2.
Paetz drew for a single to put Switzerland 3-2 in front after seven ends with Skaslien cancelling that out in the eight with a nerveless runback.
Then in the ninth, Paetz landed a fine hammer on the button to put the Swiss one in front going into the final end.
Then came Skaslien's miss with Tirinzoni - who is still seeking her first Olympic medal - able to celebrate yet another triumph.
Kerri Einarson and Canada took bronze for the second consecutive year by beating hosts Sweden 8-5.
In a repeat of last year's third-place match, Canada scored doubles in the first and fourth ends to take a 6-1 lead at halfway.
PyeongChang 2018 gold medallists Sweden, skipped by the heavily pregnant Anna Hasselborg, scored two in the sixth end but another double for Canada in the next put them on the way to a comfortable victory.