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Saturday, December 11, 2010

The Women's Final

Scotland have to be content with the Silver medals at the Le Gruyere European Curling Championships. They lost at the last stone to Sweden in the final.

The trophy is hidden in here somewhere. A case of, "You can't see the trophy for the cheese!"

Stina Viktorsson was on fire in the early ends. She played an in-off double to get her team two shots in the second. Then in the third she played a runback double, and forced Eve to draw for a single, which she did perfectly.

Eve was her match though. The eighth was a key end. Ignoring the Swedish stone on the wing, the Scottish skip drew perfectly around a centre guard. Stina was just too hot in trying to follow it around and tap it back, and the Scots had the steal and were in front 6-5.

Coming down the tenth though, the Swedes had a one shot lead. The end was looking good for Scotland. Stina, with her last, wicked in to lie hidden. It seemed as if the shot for Eve was a tap up for a single, but she elected to play a match-winning triple takeout. It didn't come off, and we were second on the day. All credit to the Swedish team whose skip in particular played many key shots.

Annie delivers, with Kelly and Lorna.

The team waits as the Swedes call a timeout.

This is the sixth end. You can see the type of game it was. Eve angle-raised the yellow beside her brush head to lie shot. But the Swedish skip wicked this away, and Eve had to draw full four foot to save the end. She was inches short. The Scots went two behind, but recovered these in the next end.

Getting the shots - the hardworking WCTV cameramen.

You can find the linescores and all the stats here.

Photos © Skip Cottage