Switzerland win World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2017

Lethbridge, Canada
Saturday 29 April 2017

Switzerland’s mixed doubles pair, Jenny Perret and Martin Rios, have won the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2017 (WMDCC) at the ATB Centre, in Lethbridge, Canada.

Switzerland who went undefeated throughout the championship, beat Canada’s Joanne Courtney and Reid Carruthers, 6-5, in a dramatic final that came down to the very last stone.

This is Switzerland’s sixth WMDCC title and the fifth time their teams have won it undefeated. Also, this is Martin Rios’ second gold medal, having won the championship in Erzurum, Turkey in 2012.

For hosts Canada, this was their first ever WMDCC final. On Saturday (29 April) afternoon China’s Rui Wang and Dexin Ba won bronze medals with a 6-2 win over Czech Republic.

After trading single points in both the first and second end, Canada forced the Swiss to difficult shot after difficult shot to earn two consecutive steals in the final. With a 4-1 lead, Canada had control of the first five ends. On a power play in the sixth end, Switzerland were forced to a single point on an open take out, and then held Canada to one point on a hit and roll in the seventh end.

Canada entered the eighth end with a three-point advantage, but it was Joanne Courtney’s final stone which changed the game. Attempting to angle the Canadian stone into the Swiss stone in the back four-foot circle, the crowd was stunned when it clipped out her own counter between two Swiss stones to leave the draw for four points available to Switzerland. On the shot for the championship title, Jenny Perret drew to the four-foot for their victory point to overcome the Canadians 6-5. This win marks the sixth gold medal for Switzerland, and the fifth undefeated Swiss run in ten years of mixed doubles curling.

Last year’s silver medallist’s Dexin Ba and Rui Wang of China won the bronze medals, over Czech Republic’s Tomas Paul and Zuzana Hajkova. China controlled the first half of the game with a steal in the fourth end to make it 4-1 China at the break. The Czechs couldn’t produce a multiple score on their seventh end power play, which led to a 6-2 win for China.

Finland’s Oona Kauste and Tomi Rantamaki, who secured their Olympic berth in Saturday morning’s first session, defeated Latvia 7-1 after seven ends to finish with a fifth-place overall ranking.

Norway, who also earned their Olympic spot, beat Korea 9-2 to settle at a fifth-place finish.

Defending champions Russia finished on a high note with their win over USA 7-5, to finish in ninth place.

Earlier on Saturday the eight National Olympic Committees to qualify for the first ever Olympic Winter Games mixed doubles event were confirmed. They are, China (22), Canada (20), Russia (18), Switzerland (14), USA (13), Norway (12), Finland (12) and hosts Korea.

World Curling Federation Member Associations collected Olympic Qualification Points at the 2016 and 2017 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championships and the seven MAs with the highest cumulative total over two years secured places at the Games to be held in the Gangneung Curling Centre, Gangneung, Republic of Korea, between 8 and 25 February 2018.