Canada’s Keri Aynarson suffered a third consecutive loss after the opening weekend of Robin’s match at the LGT World Women’s Curling Championship.
It’s very early on, but the podium seemed like a long shot after the team’s recent loss, a 7-6 decision against the United States in a match in which Einarsson threw 54 percent heartbroken.
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“I’m a little disappointed in myself,” said Einarson. “I wasn’t very spicy there. I had a couple of opportunities that I missed. My girls played well and only missed a few big hits. “
Canada is usually a force at major curling events, and Canada has struggled to achieve a 1-4 record for Markin McPhail. Einarson, who was absent from the draw that evening, was in a three-way game and finished 11th in a field of 14 teams, just one ahead of Curling Estonia.
A major turnaround will only be needed to shorten the first six qualifiers. The same border line will be used to mark the nation’s pillars for the Beijing 2022 Olympics.
Einarson said she tries to stay positive and learn as she goes on, but her confidence seemed to be lost during a video conference with reporters after the game. The emotional loss was evident and her voice cracked at times.
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“It’s a mental burden,” she said. “It’s been a long week.”
Upbeat coach Heather Nidohin was quick to add, “I want to say we have eight more players ahead of us and we will build on that.”
Canada has little room for maneuver as it looks ahead and tough confrontations await.
Olympic silver medalist Eunjung Kim starts on Monday and former world champion Eve Muirhead is from Scotland.
Einarson, Fall Sweeting III, the second Shannon Berchard and Captain Brian Millor are already approaching a must-win zone.
“This is our first time on the world stage and we have been put in that position,” said Enarson. “I know we are a great team and we will fight to the bitter end.
“We will continue to do this while we carry the maple leaf with pride.”
The Americans fought too, but were in control late in the game. Ainarson threw a rock on the ground on the fourth end and fell on a fifth goalkeeper to miss several points.
The American Tabitha Peterson overtook a good choice to equalize at the eighth end and take a 7-3 lead. Ainarson bounced back from a pair in game nine, but the United States took the win by taking out the second shot stone at the end of the tenth.
“Girls give everything,” said Nidohin. “Sometimes the way they play with passion doesn’t show up on the scoreboard.”
The rescue package for Sweeting almost expired a few times, and the Canadian front end was also stable. Like Einarson, Peterson fought – she only shot herself 55 percent – but Aynaarson only made half of her draw and couldn’t find a steady pace.
Next up is a morning game against a stoic German team that Daniela Gensch skipped. The final for South Korea will take place in the afternoon.
“They’ll win the next game and then keep climbing,” said Nidohin. “I want to know that you believe that you can and will.”
The Sunday morning draw was postponed and the competition later resumed without television coverage after members of the broadcast crew for the event tested positive for COVID-19.
No broadcast on Tuesday at the earliest
In an email to the Canadian press, Christopher Hamilton, head of media for the World Curling Federation, confirmed that there were four positive cases. No additional names or details were given.
In its statement, the WCF said people have been isolated at their hotel while additional testing and contact tracing are in progress. The staff will stay in a different hotel than the athletes and competition officials.
The WCF said all scheduled tests for athletes and competition officials have returned negative results. The place was cleaned thoroughly and the start times for the lunch and evening places were postponed by half an hour.
In other afternoon games, Russian Alina Kovaleva remained unbeaten 5-0 and won 8-6 against Estonian Mari Turman. South Korea beat Scotland 8-4 and the Italian Stefania Constantini beat Germany 10-6.
The Swiss defending champion Silvana Terenzoni and the Swede Anna Hasselberg were unbeaten 3-0. Scotland were alone in fourth place 3-1, while the Americans improved to 3-2.
TV shows will not resume until Tuesday noon. The competition is part of TSN’s coverage of the Season of Champions and is broadcast internationally by World Curling TV.
“Thank you for the good wishes,” said the TSN broadcaster Vik Router on Twitter. “We are in quarantine, testing, taking care of ourselves and hope to come back on Tuesday and take care of ourselves and each other.”
Earlier this week, organizers canceled their first training sessions after two members of the German team tested positive for COVID-19 during the pre-tournament screening when they arrived in Calgary.
The training sessions finally took place on Thursday, the evening before the quarter-finals. The German team received an exemption for participation as a three-man team, while the players who tested positive remained isolated.
This year’s women’s championship, which has been postponed from Switzerland due to the pandemic, is the seventh and final curling event that will take place in a spectator-free environment.
The Canadian Championships for women, men and mixed doubles were followed by the Men’s World Championships and two Grand Slam tournaments.
Qualification for the men’s world championship will be stopped by four participants who tested positive for the coronavirus. The tournament closed on April 11th and the WCF announced that the cases were “false positives”.
Those affected were tested negative in subsequent examinations.
Teams are limited to the arena and the tournament hotel on the other side of the Trans-Canada Highway. You drive back and forth yourself and masks are mandatory once the athletes are off the field.
The organizers have not yet decided when the postponed draw will take place. The playoffs begin on Friday evening and the medal games begin on May 9th.
Jennifer Jones was the last Canadian to win the event, taking the gold medal in North Bay, ON in 2018. Chelsea Curry skipped Canadian participation in Silkeborg, Denmark in 2019 but did not qualify.
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