Lillehammer, Norway
Tuesday 16 February 2016

Canada, Russia, Switzerland and USA have all made it into the Mixed curling semi-finals at the the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway.

The semi-finals will take place in the Curling Hall at the Stampsletta Ice Venues at 18.00 (Central European Time), this evening. Canada and Switzerland will meet, while Russia and USA are drawn together.

In their quarter-final Canada beat Turkey, 10-2 in just six ends. Canada continue their unbeaten run at this event having won all eight of their games. Turkey reached the quarter-finals on their Youth Olympic Games debut after winning a tiebreaker, 6-5, against Italy this morning.

Switzerland were the next team to come off the ice, beating Sweden 7-3, in seven ends. The Swiss had control of the game from the outset, scoring two points in the first end and subsequently in the fifth and sixth ends. Sweden concluded the game with two points in the seventh end, but conceded it at this stage.

Russia were victorious over Great Britain, 9-5. After going 3-1 ahead after the second end, Russia held the lead for the remainder of the game. Great Britain fought hard to bring the score back to within one point at the end of the seventh end, 5-6. However, the Russian vice-skip German Doronin executed a well delivered takeout to score three points and secure the win, 9-5, in the final end.

Finally, USA and Norway were locked into a close game that saw the scores level at the end of the regulation eight ends, 4-4. In the extra end USA scored the single point needed to win the game, after the Norwegian fourth, Michael Mellemseter, played his last stone slightly heavy, leaving the USA with their stone closest to the button and a stone still to play. That point gave USA the win, 5-4. 

They Said It:

Mary Fay; skip Canada (after 10-2 win over Turkey): "We didn’t have too much pressure going into the game. It’s a different feeling going into a sudden-death game, but at the same time we just focussed on one step at a time. We know the other team will bring their A-game, but my team-mates set up some great shots and we were able to get the win. Turkey play with so much spirit and they are in every shot, sweeping their hearts out. They are new to this event and have been fantastic.”

Selina Witschonke; skip Switzerland (after 7-3 win over Sweden): "I am very happy now, and the whole team is happy. But, I'm a bit nervous too, because now we are close to winning a medal. I think we had a better start, we played well, and they had some mistakes. I am very happy!"

Nadezhda Karelina; skip Russia (after 9-5 win over Great Britain): “I’m extremely happy and full of emotions. We had to concentrate, we had to think about the victory and nothing else and each one of us had to do our tasks.”

Luc Violette; skip USA (after 5-4 win over Norway): "I feel pretty good, this is the spot that we wanted to be in. Honestly, they outplayed us at the start of the game, but we just kept grinding all game long and just took one shot at a time. We just believed that we were the better team and we just kept trying as hard as we could."

RESULTS, quarter-finals:

Sweden 3-7 Switzerland; Canada 10-2 Turkey; USA 5-4 Norway: Russia 9-5 Great Britain

DRAW, semi-finals:

Switzerland v Canada; USA v Russia

MERGED STANDINGS after quarter-finals (W - L):

Q Canada 8-0
Q USA 7-1
Q Switzerland 7-1
Q Russia 7-1
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