Norway Calling! Unpacking the European Championships 2021
The last time this championship was held was in November 2019 with Sweden winning on both the men's and women's sides. Those same Swedish teams of Niklas Edin and Anna Hasselborg will be back with the quest of defending their titles from two years ago.
Let's recap each of the teams that will by vying to become the new champion of Europe, as well as one of the seven spots at the 2022 World Championships in Prince George, BC and Las Vegas, NV. It's important to note that the 8th place team will advance to the World Qualification Event, 9th place will be relegated to the B-Division but will also qualify for the WQE, and 10th place will just be relegated.
You can also leave your predictions here which will be shared once the event has started.
Women's A-Division
I'll be covering all of my favourites to medal in Norway.
Sweden
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| Fifth Johanna Heldin, Sofia Mabergs, Agnes Knochenhauer, Sara McManus, Anna Hasselborg/ Credit: WCF/Steve Seixeiro |
Coming in as the defending champs, Team Sweden with the very familiar Team Hasselborg will be looking for their third straight gold at the Euros. They won back-to-back in '18/'19 and are in a very good position to come close. The team had a relatively shorter schedule at the beginning of the season with some mixed results. They did not make the playoffs at the GSOC Masters, but quickly and massively rebounded by capturing the Boost National, defeating Fleury two weeks ago. We know that when this team is on a roll, they are on a roll. They'll be looking to maintain that momentum going into the Olympic Games.
My Key to Success: This team makes very good front-runners. Force teams, especially the less experienced ones, to look at complex situations early in the game. Capitalise on any potential mistakes and don't look back.
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| Alina Paetz, Silvana Tirinzoni, Esther Neuenschwander, Melanie Barbezat, fifth Carole Howald/ Credit: WCF/Steve Seixeiro |
Silvana Tirinzoni will arguably be the worthiest opponent to overthrow the defending champs. The team has never won a European Championship, finishing as runner-ups to Sweden in 2018 and settling for Bronze in the next year. The reigning world champions also had a comparatively lighter season, with some mixed results as well. They have reached some success in the slams, making the quarters at the Masters and the semis at the recent National. They will also enter play with some stride and will hope to keep it up come Beijing 2022.
My Key to Success: They're notorious for being fairly consistent on tour, but spectacularly stellar when it really matters most. Experience will be key for this foursome. Attack younger teams with superior strategy and familiar foes with Alina's soft touch.
Russia
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| Fifth Maria Komorova, Ekaterina Kuzmina, Galina Arsenkina, Yulia Portunova, Alina Kovaleva/ Credit: WCF/Steve Seixeiro |
Team Kovaleva from St. Petersburg has been up and down this season. But one thing's for certain and that is that they know how pick up steam quickly after falling back early. The team was relegated to the 'C' bracket in both of the grand slams, but managed to scrape through twice, finishing with a semi and quarter result respectively. I don't expect this to happen to this year's world silver medalists.
My Key to Success: They'll have a leg up on much of the field with their full on granite assault tactics and the clutchness of Kovaleva's skip stones. Get some good draws in the house early and plug up the front with the middle of the lineup without hammer.
Scotland
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| Eve Muirhead, Vicky Wright, Jennifer Dodds, Hailey Duff, Mili Smith/Credit: British Curling |
Ladies and gentleman, Eve Muirhead is finally back with a new lineup this year. After months of trials facilitated by British Curling, a five-woman squad has been completed with their first major event being the Euros. There shouldn't be too much of an issue with cold feet thanks to the high performance program in Scotland. Don't get me wrong, Dodds, Wright, and Eve herself have played for years now, with the three losing to Hasselborg in 2019 to settle for silver. It'll be up to the other two settle in, calm the nerves, and dial in. They have won a spiel in Tallinn as a team, so that'll make things less uncertain.
My Key to Success: Eve is the most experienced skip in here with a staggering 12 prior appearances, picking up a medal on nine of those occasions. I truly think this team will excel with the soft weight, but the rookie lead(s) need to set up the ends well. Getting the first couple stones in good places is even more crucial in the women's game, the players down the lineup are more than capable of generating a good end.
Denmark
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| My Larsen, Denise Dupont (centre), Mathilde Halse, Madeleine Dupont/Credit: WCF/Steve Seixeiro |
Since the Calgary bubble, Team Dupont have tackled a much heavier schedule than normal. They were perhaps another surprise coming out of the bubble, nabbing 5th place overall at the Worlds and qualifying Denmark for the Olympics, eliminating the OQE route they took four years ago. Perhaps possessing one of the most interesting team dynamics, veterans (and sisters) Madeleine and Denise Dupont will once again play alongside two youngsters. The mesh of experience and youth proved to be a lethal force last spring, can the team from just outside Copenhagen reach the podium?
My Key to Success: The middle two need to execute to give Madeleine a chance. The team won the Women's Masters Basel earlier this season with an impressive angle runback from the skipper to pick Hasselborg's pocket and seal the win. Draws in good places will help this team who loves junking up the centre.
Germany
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| Analena Jentsch, fifth Mia Hohne, Daniela Jentsch (not pictured: Klara-Hermine Fomm, Emira Abbes)/Credit: WCF/Steve Seixeiro |
Another perennial by the name of Daniela Jentsch will represent Germany once again. As you probably knew, the bubble was not very nice to this team who had to compete short-handed for the duration of the event. They narrowly missed the playoffs, giving them the motivation they needed to pick up a heavy schedule this fall. They've spent many weeks in Canada, getting some success on the way. This team has proved to be streaky at times, but have become bronze medallists at this event in 2018. They can surely do it again.
My Key to Success: The open-style suits this team pretty well. They also have the tendency to pop big ends. Combine these by stepping over less-experienced teams and frustrating the Swedens, Switzerlands, and Scotlands, and they might just find themselves in the playoff mix.
Rest of the Field:
Czech Republic (6th in 2019): Anna Kubeskova has never medaled at this championship, although they have performed well for their standards at the world championships. Their best result was 6th place in North Bay 2018 with a QF exit. They did not resume that success earlier this year with a disappointing 12th place result. They'll be a bit of a dark horse to make the playoffs, but will certainly be in good position to finish in the top seven and qualify for the Worlds once again.
Estonia (8th in 2019): The Baltic nation made its first-ever Women's Worlds appearance in the bubble. They only won one game and finished last, but that only means that the nation is worthy of competing in another championship. The team will be skipped by Liisa Turmann, the sister of then-skip Marie Turmann (now Marie Kaldvee). It seems as if Marie is no longer part of the team and has focused on her mixed doubles career with partner Harri Lill. It'll be interesting to see how this young team will perform, but without Marie, they may have a tough time staying in the A-Division.
Italy (1st in 2019 B-Division): Since the retirement of Diana Gaspari, the Italians have been skipped by 22 year-old Stefania Constantini. This very young team (with the hope of performing well four years from now for Turin 2026) finished ahead of Estonia in Calgary. They'll only get better with more reps and Stefania is heading to the Olympics with partner Amos Mosaner for mixed doubles. She is the cornerstone of this squad, but will have to make great strides to finish in the top 7. Italy qualified by winning the B-Division is 2019.
Turkey (2nd in 2019 B-Division): Welcome to the big leagues, Turkey! Skip Dilsat Yildiz has been knocking on the door of the A-Division and finally succeeded by finishing in second at the B-Division in 2019, losing to Italy in the final. Even more remarkably, they just missed out on clinching a berth for the 2020 Worlds finishing third at the World Qualification Event (top two advanced). This will be a huge experience for Team Turkey, and will be vital in growing the sport in their country. They're sure to become fan favourites.
Men's A-Division
I'll be covering all of my favourites to medal in Norway.
Sweden
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| Niklas Edin, Oskar Eriksson, Rasmus Wrana, Christoffer Sundgren/Credit: WCF |
Guess how many times Niklas Edin has won the Euros. I'll give you one guess. If you said seven, you're somehow correct. The reigning champs from 2019 will be back in pursuit of yet another title. Alike their compatriots on the women's side, their schedule has been light with decent results. The team qualified in both slams this season, finishing in the quarterfinals at both. They'll have to pick up their play if they wish to defend, as they should have no problem medaling. Will the ice King Edin scoop up an illustrious eight victory?
My Key to Success: The team hasn't been playing bad, but Wrana needs to boost his numbers. It definitely isn't rare to see Niklas play two runbacks on both his shots, but he can only make so many of those. Get some good draws in early and rely on Oskar to either clean things up or make the final set-up shot for the deuce.
Scotland
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| Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie, Hammy McMillan/Credit: WCF |
The man, the myth, the legend Bruce Mouat has only appeared at the Euros once in 2018. That bodes well for him, because technically he has a 100% victory rate at the championship. It's been three years since that win however, but this team has not looked back since the bubble. Currently the top ranked non-Canadian team at #2 in the world, it's undeniable that they will also medal. They captured the GSOC Masters and just narrowly missed out on the 4-peat after losing the final of the Boost National. They're arguably still the hottest team on the planet (although Gushue may be contesting for that title). Interesting enough, this team has a 23-7 record this season, with two of those losses coming to Gushue two weeks ago. The other five came to Schwaller, Hostmaelingen, Retornaz, and two from De Cruz. That junks stuff up with the latter two names, but seriously; you can't be too concerned if you're Team Mouat.
My Key to Success: There isn't much to say other than keep doing more of the same. They've playing consistently top to bottom with the occasional low game. Keep blasting with Grant and as long as Bruce has some sort of draw or (barrier) weight shot, he's probably going to make it.
Switzerland
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| Peter De Cruz, Benoit Schwarz, Sven Michel, Valentin Tanner/Credit: WCF |
The last time Team De Cruz appeared at the Euros was also in 2018, without a medal though. They did pick up a bronze in 2017, but other than that, they're the best team to not have reached the final. They've had a decent season with a win at the Swiss Cup Basel. They did not qualify for the playoffs at the GSOC Masters, but did reach the semis at the Boost National, where they lost to Mouat. They have played pretty well despite not getting the best results, but could miss out on the final due to Edin's dynasty at the championship and Mouat's red hot streak. I'm sure it'll be a surprise to no one if Sweden, Scotland, and Switzerland pull off the S-attack and sweep the podium. Nevertheless, Team De Cruz will come close this year to their first European Championship win.
My Key to Success: Team De Cruz's forte seems to be the high hard ones. Scare off the less-experienced teams with fireballs and force the more experienced ones to think twice about their draw placement. Their draw game has also been spectacular as of late, so rely on third Michel to make some good freezes to set up Benoit for his last.
Norway
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| Steffen Walstad, Torger Nergard, Markus Hoiberg, Magnus Vagberg/Credit: WCF |
Can the home team make some magic in Lillehammer? Steffen Walstad has been impressive at the World Championships despite rarely appearing outside of Europe. His standards are set even higher with the addition of Torger Nergard formerly of the iconic Team Ulsrud. The Norwegians got off to a very impressive start in Calgary, but quickly lost steam with a loaded back end of their schedule, causing them to fall to 8th place and out of the playoff picture (record was tied with Italy). Walstad has never medaled at an European Championship and it'll be tough to do so here, but a playoff spot is definitely in reach. The home crowd will be on this team's side and could help propel them to a good finish, as well as some momentum heading into the OQE.
My Key to Success: We haven’t seen this team in action a whole lot, but Torger will be the deciding factor. Not just in his shot-making, but with his vice duties. He’ll be the most experienced line-caller, so look for him to lead the team in that aspect. Finally, soak up the crowd and enjoy the home atmosphere. It only comes around so often if it even does.
Italy
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| Joel Retornaz, Amos Mosaner, Sebastiano Arman (not pictured: Simone Gonin)/Credit WCF |
Veteran Joel Retornaz is back yet again! The Italians have medaled once at this event, with a bronze coming in 2018. They narrowly missed the playoffs at the Worlds in both 2019 and 2021, ending up in 7th place. This team will also be at the OQE to try and qualify their nation for the Olympics. It's my best bet that they'll be battling Norway for the final spot in the playoffs. However, this team could have an advantage: they've bested this event's opposition recently. They've won five in a row vs. De Cruz and picked up their first win vs. Mouat in September. Now that makes for an interesting finish.
My Key to Success: Amos Mosaner is already off to the Olympics and already plays a big role in the team’s success. Not only is he a powerful shot maker, he’s one heck of a sweeper. His youthfulness combined with Retornaz’s experience will catch a lot of teams off guard at times. They’ve had some recent success against most of the field; if they can leverage that momentum, they could be looking at a medal game.
Rest of the Field:
Czech Republic (1st in 2019 B-Division): Lukas Klima will skip his squad out of Prague. Although a slightly different lineup, Czech Republic almost qualified for the 2018 Olympics, losing to Denmark in the final qualification match at the OQE four years ago. This will be Klima's fifth European appearance with his best finish being 5th in 2014. This will be another attempt to qualify the nation directly to the World Championship; a top seven spot is certainly in reach for this team even with the odds stacked against them.
Denmark (4th in 2019): An identical team to the one that competed in Calgary will put on the Danish colours. Mikkel Krause has medaled at the Euros before with a silver in 2010 with Rasmus Stjerne. This team had their best result as a foursome in 2019 where they cracked the playoffs and finished in 4th place. The field is a little stronger this time around though and it'll take some work to get back into the playoff mix. Denmark has historically been an up-and-down team on the world and European stages; they placed 11th at the 2021 World Championship.
Finland (2nd in 2019 B-Division): Although unfamiliar to many fans, Finnish skip Kalle Kiiskinen has had some success, claiming an iconic silver medal at Turin 2006 with (a name I still can't pronounce) skip Uusipaavalniemi. Finland came second to the Czech Republic in 2019's B-Division and has been upgraded to the A-Division. This team has not had many reps on the world stage, but overall experience could be a factor in their final placement. The odds will also not be in favour of a top seven spot, so they'll need to be cautious not to fall back down to B.
Germany (7th in 2019): The young team from Germany skipped by junior prodigy Sixten Totzek will be looking to punch their country's spot in another World Championship. Their squad's best finish at the Euros was in 2018 with a 4th position finish. They'll need to play exceptional to reach the top four though. Totzek and Co. ended this year's Worlds in 10th position, and should have no problem qualifying Germany for next year's. These athletes just need more experience at the top level to become more successful in the future as one of, if not the youngest team in the field.
Netherlands (8th in 2019): The Dutch men picked up the final spot in the 2020 Worlds with their 8th place result in 2019. The 12th place was theirs in Calgary and will need to work hard to retain their spot for Las Vegas. I do think that they should qualify again by looking at historical results, although they have scraped by a number of times. These guys could be the upsets in Lillehammer. We'll see if the orange can blind their opposition!
B-Division
I haven't forgotten about the B-Division! 16 men's teams and 10 women's teams will be looking to finish in the top two to get promoted to the A-Division for the next edition of the Euros. The bottom three nations will be relegated to the C-Division.
Women's teams from Lithuania, Slovenia, and Austria and men's teams from Slovenia, Belgium, and Slovakia took top spots in September's re-scheduled C-Division to qualify for this championship.
Russia and England men and Norway and Latvia women were relegated to this division from 2019.
The most interesting thing is here is that 2021 World round robin runner-up and overall 4th place Sergey Glukhov from Russia will be competing in this division after finishing in the disappointing 9th spot in 2019. I'll go out on a limb to say that this team will definitely find their way back to the A club by the end of this week.
Women's B-Division: Austria (3rd in C-Division), England, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania (1st in C-Division), Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia (2nd in C-Division), Spain
Men's B-Division: Austria, Belarus, Belgium (2nd in C-Division), Bulgaria, England, Estonia, France, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Slovakia (3rd in C-Division), Slovenia (1st in C-Division), Spain, Turkey, Wales
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