CurlingZone: Norway Clinches Olympic Curling Berth

Leeuwarden, NL - Team Norway (Photo: Steve Seixeiro/WCF) have clinched the first of three men's qualification spots at the 2022 Beijing Games. The Japanese women are now one win away from punching their tickets to the Games.

By: Cameron Sallaj

In an action-packed day at the Olympic Qualification Event with the playoffs looming, play resumed Wednesday morning with key matchups in the women's draws. This session saw Germany, Japan, Great Britain, and Italy all pick up wins in Leeuwarden.

Germany's Daniela Jentsch kept their playoff hopes alive with a vital 8-7 win over Latvia's Santa Blumberga-Berzina. The Germans took an early 3-1 lead after three and led 5-2 at the break before the Latvians scored three to tie the match. Germany then took two consecutive steals, but Latvia drew even once again with a deuce in the ninth to tie the game 7-7. In the final end, Jentsch would ultimately not have to throw her final stone after Latvian fourth rock thrower Evelina Barone wrecked on a guard with her final stone of the end. The win moved Germany to 2-4, keeping their chances alive at the OQE while Latvia fell to 4-3, still in a good spot to qualify for the top four.

Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa also picked up an important win Wednesday morning, doubling up on Pacific-Asian rivals South Korea's Kim Eun-jung 8-4 in a game that could potentially determine the number one seed overall. Japan opened with hammer and made the most of it, taking a three spot which, they followed with a steal to take an early 4-0 lead. The Koreans cut down on the Japanese lead in the fifth end, taking two to trail 5-3. Japan was forced to one in the sixth, but with pivotal steals in the seventh and eighth ends they took an 8-3 lead, a deficit proven to be too difficult for the Koreans to come back from. Kim drew for one in the ninth, but shook hands following the draw, earning Japan their fifth win of the competition, and moving them to first place in the group. Japan advanced to 5-1 in the standings while the Koreans fell one game back to 5-2.

Great Britain's Eve Muirhead and Italy's Stefania Constantini both picked up wins in this session to take major steps towards reaching the playoffs. The Brits downed Estonia's Liisa Turmann 9-2 in their meeting while the Italians took five multiple points ends en route to a 12-4 win over Turkey's Dilsat Yildiz. The win qualified Muirhead's British side for the playoffs, moving to 4-2 while Italy moved up to a 3-3 record. Estonia and Turkey both fell to 2-4 with their chances of qualifying dwindling. Czech Republic's Anna Kubeskova of Prague (1-5) had the bye.

In the sole men's session on this fifth day of competition, the Norwegian men earned direct qualification to the 2022 Beijing Games while Italy, Japan, and South Korea all picked up wins as well.

Norway's Steffen Walstad clinched the first berth to Beijing following a 7-4 win over Finland's Kalle Kiiskinen in a game heavily controlled by the Norwegian side. Norway took two in the opening end and traded singles with the Finns for the next three ends until they grabbed two more in the fifth to pull away with a 5-2 lead. Finland came back with two in the seventh, but it was not enough as Norway then took a single in the ninth followed by a steal in the final end to ensure their Olympic spot. Norway is now 7-0 with the result of their final game against the Netherlands tomorrow only affecting the Dutch side. Finland is now eliminated with a 1-5 record.

Norway now joins the already tough field of China, Sweden, Great Britain, Switzerland, ROC (Russian Olympic Committee), the United States and Canada in the men's event with teams looking for gold in Beijing. For Norwegian third Torger Nergard, this will be his sixth trip to the Olympic games.

In other Wednesday afternoon action at the Elfstedenhal, Italy's Joel Retornaz locked up a playoff spot, defeating Czech Republic's Lukas Klima 7-2. The game only went eight ends with Italy taking an early 3-0 lead and never looking back through the eight ends of play. Italy is now 5-1 while Czech Republic are now 4-3 with one round robin game remaining tomorrow.

Both Pacific-Asian sides competing in the men's field, Japan, and South Korea, also picked up key wins to improve their records and avoid elimination at the OQE. For Japan, it was an 11-5 final over Netherlands Wouter Gosgens while for the Koreans it was a 10-1 triumph over Germany's Sixten Totzek. Japan's Yuta Matsumura now improve their record to 3-3 while the Koreans avoid elimination and are now 2-4 after losing their opening four games. Netherlands is also now on the brink of elimination with a 2-4 record while Germany have now officially been eliminated at 1-5. Denmark's Mikkel Krause (3-3) had the day off as there was only one men's session Wednesday.

In the final draw of the day in Leeuwarden, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Italy, and Japan all picked up wins in the women's competition. This session also set the scene for the final women's round robin draw Thursday afternoon, with playoff spots on the line.

In the most pivotal matchup of the draw and potentially the competition to date, Italy's Stefania Constantini put an end to Germany's Daniela Jentsch's Olympic dreams with a narrow 7-6 win in an extra end. Italy opened the scoring with a steal of one in the first end, however, found themselves down 3-1 at the break following three consecutive German singles in ends three, four, and five. Italy got within one in the sixth end with a single point, which they followed with a critical steal of two to lead 4-3 after seven. The Germans drew even in the eighth, but Italy would pull ahead by two after nine following a nose-hit by Constantini to take the lead heading into the final frame. In the tenth end, with the Italians sitting two, Germany's Jentsch made a crucial cross-house double to tie the game and force an extra end, a shot with a very thin margin of error. In the extra, the Germans were sitting well with two stones buried behind an Italian center guard before Constantini's first rock landed directly on the button between the two red German counters. The shot forced Jentsch to a difficult in-off double to keep her Olympic dreams alive, but she caught the rock to thin and did not roll her shooter far enough, resulting in the Italian win. Coming in as the fourth seeds, Germany is now eliminated from the competition with a 2-5 record while the Italians move into the fourth spot, now with a 4-3 record. Italy closes out their round robin against Great Britain's Eve Muirhead while Germany will finish against Estonia's Liisa Turmann.

Speaking of Great Britain, Muirhead and her British side secured another win in the competition Wednesday night, dispatching Latvia's Santa Blumberga-Berzina 9-5 in a game that could have secured the Latvian's a spot in the playoff round. Muirhead opened with hammer and blanked the opening end before taking a deuce in the second and stealing one in the third to go up 3-0. The teams exchanged deuces and singles the following four ends, with Latvia taking two in the eight to draw the came back to a tight 6-5 battle. In the ninth, however, Muirhead secured a British victory with a takeout shot to count three. Great Britain are now 5-2 in the group, tied for second with Korea while Latvia falls to 4-4. The Brits will close out their round robin against the Italians in Thursday's action while Latvia are now finished their preliminary round and will have to wait for the result of the Italy-GB game to see whether or not they will earn the fourth and final playoff spot. If the Italians manage to pick up the win, then they will get the fourth spot, but if the Brits win then the fourth spot will go to Latvia based on their head-to-head victory over Italy.

Czech Republic's Anna Kubeskova played spoiler to Turkey's Dilsat Yildiz in this draw, taking a decisive 7-2 win to officially eliminate the Turks from the competition. Both the Czech and Turkish rinks are now 2-5 and will face top seeds Korea and Japan respectively to wrap up their round robin.

The Japanese secured another win to move to 6-1 in the group with a 9-2 win over Estonia's Liisa Turmann in a game the Japanese had full control over. If the Japanese can beat Turkey in their final draw tomorrow, they will punch their tickets to Beijing while a loss could bring a three-way tie into play with the Koreans and Brits just one game back. Estonia close against Germany's Daniela Jentsch. Korea's Kim Eun-jung (5-2) had the bye in this draw as they prepare to face the Czechs in Thursday's action.

The Olympic Qualification Event continues through Saturday, December 18 at the Elfstedenhal where the three remaining qualifiers for the Beijing Games will be selected.

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