Crowded list of contenders for world curling gold
Canada not perennial favourites as European rinks improving
SWIFT CURRENT, SA SK. Depending on what criteria you choose to use, Canada either faces no threat to its place atop the international curling hierarchy, or this country has already been knocked off its pedestal.
If, for example, we’re using participation rates or depth of talent, Canada has no competition. The rest of the world has a long way to go before curling is as ingrained in the wider sporting culture as it is in Canada.
At the super-elite level, though, recent history suggests the picture isn’t quite so clear. Especially on the women’s side.
It’s been eight years since a Canadian team has stood atop the podium at a women’s world championship, and in the near-decade since Jennifer Jones won gold in Vernon, B.C., in 2008, a new power has emerged.
That power? Switzerland, a country better known for its chocolate and neutrality than its riveting sporting rivalries. Don’t expect this to get too heated.
“Their skip (Binia Feltscher), we played against each other at the Olympics in 2006 and they are such a likable and wonderful team,” said Team Canada third Amy Nixon, after her team beat the Swiss rink 7-4 on Sunday morning. “I think they played very, very well for a large part of the game and I have a ton of respect for them.”
The Swiss have emerged with gold medals at three of the last four world women’s curling championships, with different skips winning each time.
The since-retired Mirjam Ott won in 2012, with Feltscher taking gold in 2014 and Alina Paetz finishing tops last year.
It’s not as if Canada doesn’t have the talent to go on a similar run, as Rachel Homan, Jennifer Jones and Val Sweeting sit 1-2-3 on the World Curling Tour’s Order of Merit for this year, while Chelsea Carey is proving her chops this week after winning the Scotties.
Feltscher threw third stones for Ott’s Olympic silver medalwinning 2006 team, and also has five European Championship medals — including one gold — to go along with her World Championship victory in 2014.
“We’ve had not such a good season,” Feltscher said Sunday.
“We had a good Swiss championship where we qualified (for worlds), and now we’re happy to be here and we hope to be in the top six. We’re not going for a gold medal in our mind. The top six is good in our minds.”
Among the teams in Swift Current this week seeking to end Switzerland’s run of success, only Scotland’s Eve Muirhead (No. 4) and Russia’s Anna Sidorova (No. 6) are ranked higher.