Switzerland win third gold in a row at women's world curling championships

The Swiss dominance of the women's world curling championships continued on Sunday 27 March as they were crowned champions with a close-fought 7-6 victory over Republic of Korea.

The gold medal was Switzerland's third-consecutive triumph in the competition as skip Silvana Tirinzoni led her team to victory in Canada.

After recording a perfect record in the round robin stages, Switzerland entered the final as favourites. However, recent form at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, where they finished in fourth place after losing to Sweden in the bronze medal match, left question marks over their ability to once again return to the top of the podium.

All doubts were dispelled in the final as the Swiss team, who have now won seven of the last 10 world championships, secured their narrow victory and with it a historic gold.

"To win it once is hard enough, but to win it three times in a row is crazy," said Tirinzoni after claiming victory. "All three of them were tough and so special."

Swiss make history as Canada win bronze

The final was an exciting affair with the two teams level six apiece going into the final end. However, Switzerland, who had the final rock, held their nerve displacing two of Republic of Korea's with the last throw to claim a memorable victory.

"I don't have any words. I'm so proud of the team," said Tirinzoni, as she reflected on the efforts of a Swiss team that won 14 matches in a row en route to victory.

"After the Olympics and then the nationals [where they were required to win the Swiss title to progress to the worlds] I thought we might be feeling tired but they performed just amazingly, so I didn't expect that to be honest."

Republic of Korea skip Kim EunJung spoke about the pride she felt about the performance of her teammates, saying through a translator: "We played catch-up the entire game but we scored two points each and we did catch up. It was a pretty close game and I'm so proud of what we did today."

And on the silver medal - the first won by the Republic of Korea in the history of the women's game - Kim said: "I'm very proud to be a silver medallist and very proud to play at such a high level at this international level."

In the bronze medal match, Canada were named victors after an extra end win over Sweden. Skip Kerri Einarson led the team to an 8-7 victory on home ice, with Sweden's Anna Hasselborg finishing the tournament in fourth.