Sunday, March 27, 2011

Rock Stars: Swedish World Domination

I just turned to My Wife and said, "You'll be delighted to know that Sweden has won the Women's World Curling Championship."

She replied, "I am sure that their minimalist furniture aesthetic carried over into their curling prowess."

I sure married the right woman.


Photo via Associated Press

The Swedes were the class of the field in Esbjerg all week, grabbing the front-runner mantle early and never looking back. This is skip Anette Norberg's third world title, a nice complement to her two Olympic gold medals. Norberg (pictured above) has a new team with her this season: Liselotta Lennartsson, Sara Carlsson, Cecilia Östlund and alternate Karin Rudström. Östlund was the skip of last year's Sweden representative and Lennartsson and Carlsson were on her rink. This year, Norberg recruited them all to join her.

Canada, skipped by Amber Holland, had a slow start to the week but finished strong, taking home the silver. China, led by 2009 world champion Wang Bingyu, took the bronze medal match over host Denmark. The hosts did well, apparently drawing respectable and enthusiastic crowds for their games. The Danes were led by Lene Nielsen, a first-time Danish national champion as a skip. Team USA turned in a perfectly respectable performance, going 6-5 on the week and finishing 7th.

As Mock noted in my previous curling post, we briefly considered a late-season curling venture. It was for a local charity event but it was $125 per person to enter, well beyond our price range. I'm not giving up on the idea entirely, though. I just think we should get an earlier jump on the season next year and seek out cheaper beginners' opitions. This is not to say that I'm not willing to give broomball a try.

The men's World Championship gets started on Saturday in Regina, Saskatchewan. I'm planning a preview post for Friday. As far as I can tell, neither dates nor location have been set for next year's championships, for either men or women.

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