Women’s Curling World Championships 2023: Switzerland off to winning start in title defence

Swiss skip Silvana Tirinzoni says her team are loving life on the Swedish ice after getting their Women’s Curling World Championship title defence off to a winning start on Saturday.

Switzerland beat the USA 7-5 in the afternoon session as the annual showpiece got underway in Sandviken.

The Swiss were far from their usual fluent best but experienced Tirinzoni, who steered her rink to glory in Canada last year, insists they’re now firmly up to speed with the Scandinavian conditions.

“The ice is wonderful,” said Tirinzoni. “It’s some of the best we’ve ever had for a first game – and it usually gets better throughout the week but today is was brilliant.

“It was a typical first game of a championship. We made mistakes we usually don’t make but we needed to adjust to the ice.

“The first win is very important. We expect the United States to be in the mix so to beat them is great.”

Elsewhere, Danish skip Madeleine Dupont believes her rink’s team spirit hauled them over the line in a hard-fought 7-6 victory over Japan.

The Danes were never ahead until the very closing stages as the resilient Japanese pushed them all the way on Sheet D.

“We never thought we would do it,” Dupont said. “We played extremely well in the first few ends, but the scoreboard didn’t reflect that.

“I think it shows, being down the whole game until the end, great team spirit and our willingness to keep going. I’m happy.

“We were just building up suspense – it was the plan all along!”

Sweden thumped New Zealand 14-2, while Norway shocked 2022 silver medallists Korea 8-6 in the other two clashes on Saturday afternoon.

The action continues into the evening as Rebecca Morrison’s Scottish rink face Germany and last year’s bronze medallists Canada take on hosts Sweden.

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