 The Swiss Olympic rink (Photo: Anil Mungal/GSOC) are off and running as they aim to top the podium in Cortina. By: Cameron Sallaj After rising to number two in the world last season, Yannick Schwaller and his rink of Benoit Schwarz-van Berkel, Sven Michel and Pablo Lachat-Couchepin were selected as the Swiss representatives for the 2026 Olympics. This came after a silver medal finish at the 2025 World Men's Championship and a runner-up performance at the AMJ Players' Championship to end the season. Back on the ice for the first time this weekend in Baden, the Geneva squad showed no signs of rust as they took the top seed through the round robin with a 4-0 record. Beginning action on Thursday, the team opened against Solothurn's Jan Iseli. After leading 5-2 after six, the team unexpectedly gave up three points in the seventh to sit tied coming home. This did not affect the final outcome, however, as Team Schwaller scored one in the eighth for the 6-5 win. In game 2, the team found themselves down 5-3 to Niklas Edin's Swedish side after six. They then scored four in the seventh end to go ahead by two, holding on for a 7-5 win. They also had a tight third match, though managed to steal one in the eighth end to clip Scotland's Kyle Waddell 5-3. With one game left in the round robin, Team Schwaller made quick work of Scotland's Orrin Carson, scoring three deuces and a single for a dominant 7-2 win. This gave them their fourth win of the round robin, and with a favorable last stone draw total, the top seed in the playoff round. Draw 4 - Niklas Edin vs Yannick Schwaller: In Saturday night's quarterfinals, Team Schwaller will take on number eight seed Yves Stocker (3-1; Zug, SUI). The winner will advance the semifinals against the winner of fourth seed Joel Retornaz (3-1; Trentino, ITA) and fifth seed Ross Whyte (3-1; Stirling, SCO) in the top half of the bracket. In the bottom half of the bracket, #2 Bruce Mouat (4-0; Edinburgh, SCO) takes on #7 Xiaoming Xu (3-1; Beijing, CHN) while #3 Marco Hoesli (4-0; Glarus, SUI) plays #6 Marc Muskatewitz (3-1; Fuessen, GER). The semifinals will run Sunday morning at 9:00 AM European Time with the final set for 1:30 PM. |
The Swiss Olympic rink (Photo: Anil Mungal/GSOC) are off and running as they aim to top the podium in Cortina.
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