 Alina Patz and Sven Michel (Photo: Swiss Curling) are back on top in Switzerland's mixed doubles championship for the first time since 2022. By: Cameron Sallaj In a stacked field at the 2025 Swiss Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, dating couple Alina Patz and Sven Michel outlasted all the rest to earn a trip to the 2025 World Mixed Doubles Championship in Fredericton, New Brunswick at the end of April. Taking place March 5 to 8 in Gstaad, the event featured an eight team round robin with first place earning a direct bye to the best-of-three final round. Second and third qualified for a sudden death semifinal while the five remaining teams were eliminated. It was Patz/Michel who topped the round robin, going 6-1 to earn their spot in the championship series. Laura Engler and Kevin Wunderlin (Zug) were also playoff bound at 6-1 while Stefanie Berset and Philipp Hoesli (Bern/Glarus) rounded out the top 3 at 5-2. Of note, two-time Olympians Jenny Perret and Martin Rios and reigning champions Briar and Yannick Schwaller (Solothurn) were both eliminated at 4-3 in fourth and fifth place respectively. In Friday night's semifinal, Berset/Hoesli took early control of the game with a score of four in the second end, but Engler/Wunderlin later leveled the score with three in the seventh. Tied coming home, the Bern/Glarus duo counted two for a 9-7 win, advancing to Saturday's best-of-three championship. The first game of the championship series saw Patz/Michel grab and early 2-0 edge and later extend their lead to 6-1 after four. Berset/Hoesli came back with two in five, but it would not be enough with the Aarau couple taking the 7-4 win after seven. Needing just one more win to secure their world championship berth, Patz and Michel found themselves trailing 4-3 after six ends in the second game. In the seventh, however, Alina turned the tide and secured a dominant win for the duo, making a precise tap back to count five and secure the 8-4 victory. 2025 Swiss Mixed Doubles Curling Championship - Final 2/3 - Aarau (Patz/Michel) vs Bern-Glarus (Berset/Hoesli): Now crowned national champions, Alina and Sven will head to Fredericton from April 26 to May 3 for the 2025 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship. It is Patz' third trip to the event while it will be the fourth for Michel. In their five previous combined appearances, the duo has never failed to reach the final. In 2011, they won just the fourth edition in St. Paul, Minnesota and lost to Eve Muirhead and Bobby Lammie in the final in 2022. Sven Michel also competed in 2018 with Michele Jaeggi and won the event for a second time, making the Swiss duo one of the top threats to take the title. Looking at the Olympic points heading into the event, Switzerland currently ranks fourth after Briar and Yannick Schwaller lost the bronze medal game in 2024. With only seven countries able to secure their spot through the world championships, Patz and Michel will need at least a semifinal finish to guarantee Switzerland a direct berth into Milano-Cortina 2026. In their Group B, the Aarau rink will face tough competition as they vie for one of three playoff spots out of the pool. Their competition includes world number one Estonia's Marie Kaldvee and Harri Lill, Norway's Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten, Australia's Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt, Japan's Chiaki Matsumura and Yasumasa Tanida and the United States' Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin who are among the favorites. They will also play Czechia, New Zealand, Spain and Turkiye who are also all strong teams looking to score as many Olympic points as possible. If they are able to finish in the top 3, the Swiss duo can expect to see the likes of Canada's Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant, Scotland's Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat and Sweden's Anna Hasselborg and Oskar Eriksson in the playoff round. These three frontrunners will also be challenged, however, with Asian Winter Games medalists Kim Kyeong-ae and Seong Ji-hoon of Korea and Han Yu and Wang Zhiyu of China in the mix as well. Also in the pool are Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands to complete a stacked field for this year's World Mixed Doubles Championship. Alina Patz and Sven Michel (Aarau) finished 6-1 in the qualifying round of the Swiss Mixed Doubles Curling Championship. After opening with an 8-7 extra end win over Stefanie Berset/Philipp Hoesli (Bern-Glarus), they beat Lea Hueppi/Jonas Weiss (Duebendorf) 9-3. They then suffered a 6-3 loss to Briar Schwaller-Huerlimann/Yannick Schwaller (Solothurn Regio) before rattling off wins against Selina Rychiger/Simon Gloor (Zug) 7-6 and Jenny Perret/Martin Rios (Glarus) 8-5. To close out the round robin, Patz and Michel won 9-6 over Laura Engler/Kevin Wunderlin (Zug) and then beat Corrie Huerlimann/Dean Huerlimann (Zug) 5-3 in their final qualifying game. |
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Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant (Photo: World Curling) are tied for second at the midway point of the competition.
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