The Swiss women's curling team led by skip Silvana Tirinzoni will be defending their title at the European Curling Championships in Lohja in the south of Finland, which begin on Saturday. The form is right.
16.11.2024, 04:01
SDA
November 25, 2023, European Championship final in Aberdeen, last end, last stone, the score is 5:5 between Switzerland and Italy. Alina Pätz from Zurich faces a more than tricky task: two of the Italians' stones are closer to the center and are well protected. But she withstands the maximum pressure and succeeds via a stone lying sideways in her own house. Team CC Aarau are European champions for the first time.
It is one of many examples in which Pätz has shown her strength of nerve. Does she have this ability? "To a certain extent, yes," said the 34-year-old in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency. However, various factors play a role. She has done mental training throughout her career and experience also helps.
Pätz is a six-time world champion, but she was a substitute for the first title in 2012 and only played once. In 2015, she won World Championship gold for the second time, but missed out on qualification for the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang in the internal elimination against Silvana Tirinzoni. There, Tirinzoni and her team finished in 7th place, meaning she came away empty-handed once again at a major event - she had previously only won bronze at the 2014 European Mixed Championships for adults.
Legendary success story after the merger
In May 2018, it was announced that Pätz and Tirinzoni were joining forces. As both had previously been the skips of their teams, a solution had to be found in which Tirinzoni would be the skip of the team and Pätz would play in the fourth position, which is predominantly held by the skip. "We started like that and it worked," says Tirinzoni.
The partnership marked the start of a fabulous success story. In addition to the European Championship title, the two won four World Championship gold medals and made it onto the podium four more times at international championships. The only thing missing from their palmarès is an Olympic medal; despite their best record in the round robin in Beijing in 2022, they only managed 4th place.
"Silvana is very strong strategically and I'm good at the last stone. They complement each other perfectly," says Pätz. However, she emphasizes: "It always takes four in a team. We were lucky to always have two very good teammates next to us." The 45-year-old Tirinzoni adds: "It's not a matter of course to find four players who are prepared to make the same sacrifice. That's the biggest hurdle. You can't make a good living from curling, traveling a lot and so on. The importance of the stones of the players in positions 1 and 2 is sometimes underestimated. They are less spectacular, but no less important."
Selina Witschonke currently plays the lead and Carole Howald the second position. The two have swapped roles compared to last season, which should make the team even stronger. Do you have to be four friends? "Of course, it makes it easier to get on well," says Tirinzoni. "But it totally tolerates differences. It makes it more exciting when not everyone is the same." It is clear that the four will stay together until after the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. What happens after that remains to be seen.
Tactically and physically strong
What do the Swiss women do better than most of their opponents? "We are very strong at wiping, and we are superior to many teams in terms of tactics," says Tirinzoni. Alina Pätz adds that they also work very hard - even off the ice. Regular sessions in the gym and for endurance are on the program. Being physically strong is extremely important, says Pätz. "Mistakes can be corrected by wiping."
The fact that the Swiss women are less successful at the European Championships than at the World Championships also has to do with the timing in the middle of the season. This time, they only returned from one of the five Grand Slam tournaments in Canada with the 16 best teams in the world on Tuesday evening. The trip to Finland was already scheduled for Thursday morning. There was therefore no time for specific training for the European Championships.
"That won't affect us," Pätz is convinced. All the more so as the Swiss women's self-confidence is high after they only lost to the Canadian world champion team led by skip Rachel Homan in the final in Canada. So is only gold good enough at the European Championships? "For us, every medal is worth something. They usually have to be hard-earned, and we're tackling the whole thing with this attitude," says Tirinzoni. Pätz says: "A medal is certainly the goal, but other teams have the same expectations as we do. It's not as if we'd be disappointed with silver or bronze." Whatever the game, Pätz is ready for another magic stone.
