The famed 2006 Olympic silver medallist men's skip, Markku Uusipaavalniemi, doesn't curl much any more. Elected to the Finnish parliament a year ago, the folk hero has all but hung up his curling shoes - for now.
Date
Text credit
George Karrys / World Curling Federation
But Finland curling teams are enjoying roaring success in no less than three competitions all taking place in Vierumaki, about 90 minutes north of Helsinki. Markku's brother Jussi has teamed with Anne Malmi to make noise at the inaugural World Mixed Doubles. Veteran Senior Men's skip Mauno Nummila is in first place in his pool. And Helene Timonen's Senior Women's squad has beaten Canada.
Timonen took two in the final end Wednesday afternoon to shade Canada's Diane Foster 6-4 and claim first place in the 10-team championship with a 5-1 record. Canada dropped into a four-way tie for second at 4-2 with Switzerland, Ireland and Scotland.
"You can only imagine (winning)," said a breathless Timonen after the match.
"They are a very hard team. Yesterday we had a bad game against Scotland but today was better. There are some mistakes, but they made some mistakes too."
Foster paid tribute to the Finns.
"They're definitely a hitting team, just like Markku and his guys," smiled Foster. "And they do it well.
"I didn't have draw weight for the first five ends. (The ice) felt a full second heavier than what we've been used to."
In other sixth-round matches, Scotland beat the United States 13-2, Sweden edged New Zealand 7-6, Ireland beat Japan 6-3 and Switzerland outscored England 7-4.
In Wednesday night action, Sweden won Finland 11-2, Canada beat Japan 7-3, Scotland outscored England 11-2 and the United States edged Ireland 10-8. New Zealand had to forefeit their game against Switzerland.
The Finnish Curling Association is posting live results online of both Championships. The World Mixed Doubles results are available at: www.curling.fi/en/competitions/leagues/2688 and the World Seniors can be viewed at: www.curling.fi/en/competitions/leagues/2687
In addition, results are mirrored on the World Curling Federation website at: http://results.worldcurling.org
The host websites for the Championships are: www.wmdcc2008.com (World Mixed Doubles) and: www.wscc2008.com (World Seniors).
Kommentit