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A stellar season has made Italy’s Joel Retornaz the candidate for the upcoming European Curling Championships in Scotland.
Retornaz has guided his team to back-to-back Grand Slam titles and the top spot in the men’s curling world rankings since the beginning of the year.
“The team is seeing what they are capable of and as confidence in them grows, there is no limit to what this team can achieve,” the team said. Team coach Ryan Fry.
Retornaz, Amos Mosaner, Sebastiano Arman and Mattia Giovanella lead a 10-man field at the Curl Aberdeen facility that includes protective champion Bruce Mouat of Scotland and reigning Olympic champion Niklas Edin of Sweden.
Retornaz, who is making his 15th European Championship appearance, won bronze last season. He opened the 2023-24 Grand Slam crusade by winning the HearingLife Tour Challenge in Niagara Falls, Ontario, and won the Kioti National last weekend in Pictou County. Nova Scotia.
His rink enters Saturday’s Robin with a 36-4 record this season.
“They’re changing the way the game is going to be played going forward,” veteran curling commentator Mike Harris said. “If you look at the length of those guys that are sweeping now, they’re betting unbelievably well. “
Mosaner, who is six-foot-six, won Olympic gold in the medley doubles last year. The team’s brute force with the broom gave the team a “bigger window to get through,” Harris said.
“They can miss the guards more and still get it right,” he explained. “When they invest, they can bring in a little bit more or keep it a little straighter. . . It’s just a great feeling for them as athletes, knowing that the game is less difficult when you’re able to move the rock more. “
The entry list is completed by Norway’s Magnus Ramsfjell, the Netherlands’ Wouter Goesgens, Germany’s Sixten Totzek, Finland’s Kalle Kiiskinen, the Czech Republic’s Lukas Klima, Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller and Turkey’s Ugurcan Karagoz.
Veteran runner-up Mathilde Halse will lead defending champions Denmark in a women’s draw that includes reigning world champion Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland, Sweden’s Isabella Wrana and Italy’s Stefania Constantini.
Anna Kubeskova of the Czech Republic, Marie Kaldvee of Estonia, Emira Abbes of Germany, Kristin Skaslien of Norway, Rebecca Morrison of Scotland and Dilsat Yildiz of Turkey are in the field.
Round-robin play continues until November 23rd. The finals are scheduled for November 25.
The European Championships also serve as qualification for the World Championships. Eight women will earn a spot for their respective countries at the world qualifiers in Sydney, Nova Scotia, in March.
The host country, Switzerland, and seven other Europeans will earn national berths for the Men’s World Curling Championships in April in Schaffhausen.
The European Championships are also held in Department B of the Dewars Centre in Perth, Scotland.
The 16 male entrants in this draw come from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, Estonia, France, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Ukraine and Wales.
The 10 female entries come from Austria, Belgium, England, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
CUBE LIST
Captain Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N. L. , will be off his wish list when he plays in Japan at the Karuizawa International Curling Championships next month.
Gushue has played in Asia several times (he won bronze at last year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing, China), but has never competed in the Land of the Rising Sun.
“We’ve heard a lot of smart things about this in the past,” Gushue said. “The way they treat the athletes and the experience of the game in Japan – the food, the culture, everything in between – (deserves to be) a wonderful experience. I’m looking forward to it. I’ve never been so lucky.
“I think to be able to do that at this level of our careers is going to be exciting. It’s (an event) that we’re definitely changing on our calendar this fall. “
The Winnipeg-based teams, skipped by Jennifer Jones and Kaitlyn Lawes, will compete in the women’s category Dec. 1-3 at Karuizawa Ice Park.
CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Barrie Curling Club will host the 2024 Canadian Club Curling Championships.
The occasion features women’s and men’s groups from Curling Canada’s 14 member associations. The festival is scheduled for November 17-23, 2024.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on November 16, 2023.
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Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press
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