CurlingZone: Switzerland Wins World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship

Sven Michel (right) and Michele Jaeggi (photo by Richard Gray, World Curling Federation) win the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship Final 9-6 over Russia.

Oestersund, Sweden – Switzerland's mixed doubles pair Michele Jaeggi and Sven Michel have won the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2018 in the Östersund Arena in Oestersund, Sweden, retaining the title won by Switzerland last year in Lethbridge, Canada.

"We just played well," said Michel. "We got better after every game. We figured out the ice pretty well and we just had good team spirit. We were very hungry for the medal."

This is Switzerland's seventh world mixed doubles title and Sven Michel's second world mixed doubles gold medal after also winning the championship in 2011.

In the gold medal final, Switzerland faced Russia's Maria Komarova and Daniil Goriachev, and started the game with a score of three points.

The teams traded two-point scores over the next three ends giving Switzerland a 5-4 lead at the fourth end break.

In the fifth end a precise hit-and-roll by Jaeggi, tapping away a Russian shot stone, gave Switzerland a score of one point and extended their lead.

Switzerland extended their lead even further by stealing two points in the sixth end before Russia responded with a score of two points of their own to close the gap. In the eighth end, Jaeggi was left with an open hit and stay to score one point for the 9-6 win, the gold medals and the 2018 world title.

To reach the gold medal final, Switzerland had defeated Canada 7-5 and Russia had defeated Korea 6-4 earlier on Saturday afternoon in the semi-finals.

At the same time as the gold medal final, the Canadian pair of Laura Crocker and Kirk Muyres won the bronze medals after defeating Korea's Olympic team, Hyeji Jang and Kijeong Lee, by a score of 8-3.

"It feels great to bounce back after the disappointing one this morning, to kind of finish this season off with a win and a world medal," said Muyres. "Not many people can say that so it's really exciting."

The teams traded single points for the opening three ends, before Canada scored two points in the fourth end to take a 3-2 lead into the break. Canada then stole a single point in the fifth end before using their power-play to score four points in the seventh end after which Korea conceded.

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