Swiss take silver at European curling championships

Andreas Schwaller concentrating hard on the match against the Swedish team Keystone

Switzerland narrowly missed out on a gold medal at the European curling championships in Finland on Saturday after losing out to Sweden in the finals.

In a tense final match, which Switzerland lost by just a single stone, Sweden claimed the European championship title after defeating Andreas Schwaller’s men 5-4.

Even though the Swiss did not manage to get all the way to the top, Schwaller is pleased with his team’s performance.

“I am happy. Out of the ten teams only three can win a medal and we won the second medal. We played eleven games and we played really well in ten games ,” he told swissinfo.

Schwaller thinks the team is more or less prepared to perform well at the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.

“We only made a few mistakes and we will work very hard on them, so I’m sure we will be ready in 55 days,” he said.

Second win

Saturday’s victory was the Swedish team’s second win over Switzerland in a final this year.

In April, Sweden also beat Switzerland to take the World Championship crown in the Swiss city of Lausanne.

“The Swedes are one of the best teams in the world. It helps to play them, it helps to beat them and we are getting closer and closer and next time we’ll beat them,” Schwaller commented on the success of the Swedish team.

Defeat at the finals in Finland means the Swiss men’s curling team, Biel-Touring, will now have to be content with adding another piece of silver to their collection of championship trophies.

Women take bronze

On Friday, Switzerland’s women’s curling team narrowly failed to make it through to the final of the European Championships.

Luzia Ebnöther’s team lost out by just a single stone to the unbeaten Sweden side in Friday’s semi-final, going out 8-7.

However, there was some consolation for the side from Bern on Saturday, after the Swiss saw off multiple European champions Germany in the battle for third place.

In a hard-fought third-place playoff, Switzerland defeated Germany 8-7 to take bronze.

In Saturday’s final, Sweden took gold after defeating Denmark 6-3.

swissinfo with agencies