Lillehammer, Norway
Wednesday 17 February 2016
Canada have won the Mixed curling Gold medals at the 2nd Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway today (Wednesday 17 February).
The Silver medals went to USA, while Switzerland collected Bronze in the Curling Hall at the Stampsletta Ice Venues.
The Canadians – skipped by Mary Fay, along with third Tyler Tardi, second Karlee Burgess and lead Sterling Middleton – won the final 10-4, against USA, while Switzerland were victorious over Russia, 11-3.
Coming into the Gold medal game with a 100% record at these Games, Canada made their ambitions clear from the outset, scoring five points in the opening end. This proved too difficult a lead to come back from for skip Luc Violette’s USA team – third Cora Farrell, second Ben Richardson and lead Cait Flannery.
Canada scored two points in each of the third and fifth ends and a single point in the seventh end, at which point USA conceded the game. USA took a two in the second end and single points in the fourth and sixth ends.
Switzerland – skipped by Selina Witschonke, along with third Henwy Lochmann, second Laura Engler and lead Philipp Hoesli – also had a strong start in the Bronze medal game. They scored three points in the first end and were able to maintain a comfortable lead, with steals of one and three points in the fourth and seventh ends, respectively.
Russia – made up of skip Nadezhda Karelina, fourth German Doronin, second Sergei Maksimov and lead Mariia Arkhipova – scored a point in the second end and two points in the fifth end.
Curling will return to the Youth Olympic Games programme on Friday (19 February) with an innovative Mixed Doubles Curling competition that will take place from 09:00 (Central European Time).
This event sees one male and one female athlete, from different countries, playing together. The teams are determined by the athletes’ position within their team and their nations overall position following the Mixed competition. The finals will be played on Sunday 21 February at 13.00.
They Said It:
Mary Fay; skip Canada (after winning Gold): “It's just hard to believe, it's hard to wrap your head around the idea that you brought the Gold medal home for your country. I feel so lucky to live in Canada, it's an amazing place, so many amazing people. It's so amazing, I can't really put it into words.”
Ben Richardson; second USA (after winning Silver): “The first end was tough, I mean some things didn't go our way. If the first end had gone better I think it wouldn't have been the same. I think we played to our potential. It was a good game and I am really proud of the team.”
Laura Engler; second Switzerland (after winning Bronze): “I think we all played very well, we had great communication the whole game, and I think we played very well. The medal ceremony was very emotional, there were some tears in my eyes, it was great.”
RESULTS, finals:
GOLD: USA 4-10 Canada; BRONZE: Russia 3-11 Switzerland
MERGED STANDINGS after the finals (W - L):
G Canada 10-0
S USA 8-2
B Switzerland 8-2
Russia 7-3
Great Britain 6-2
Sweden 5-4
Norway 4-4
Turkey 4-5
Italy 3-5
Korea 3-4
China 2-5
Czech Republic 2-5
New Zealand 1-6
Estonia 1-6
Japan 1-6
Brazil 0-7
Curling fans can follow all the action from Lillehammer 2016 on social media using the following channels:
Twitter/Instagram: www.twitter.com/worldcurling ;
Facebook: www.facebook.com//WorldCurlingFederation ;
YouTube: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_Fr_yXnOHvi0qIibzUEUi0EQf4orufXQ ;
Hashtags: #YOGcurling #iLoveYOG #Lillehammer2016