2007 World Championships
Sollefteå. Sweden Feb 17 - 24

Norway win Gold, beat Switzerland 5-4
Scotland  beat Canada 7-4 for Bronze

February 23rd Medal Games Norway won gold on a measurement of the last rock thrown in the championship, beating Switzerland in the final 5-4.

In a match of two halves, Switzerland opened with 1 with the hammer, and then took early control with a steal of 2 in the 2nd and another in the 3rd, to go into the midway break up 4-0. The second half belonged to Norway, as they took 2 in the 4th, and then stole 2 more in the 5th. Tied up coming home, Norway needed another steal to win their first World Championship and they achieved it after that measurement. Norway 5 Switzerland 4.

In the consolation game, Canada opened with the hammer and got off to a rare early lead with 2 in the 1st. In the 2nd, Scotland failed to keep the front open, allowing Canada to steal their third point. Scotland rebounded with a deserved and decisive 4 in the 3rd with Canada skip Daw struggling. The Scots put the game away with a steal of 2 in the 4th when Canada wrecked on a guard attempting a save, and the teams swapped singles to finish the game Scotland 7 Canada 4.

February 23rd Semi-finals  Scotland were never in the game against mercurial Switzerland, losing 6-2. Though they opened with a steal of 1 in the 1st, they were unable to challenge the Swiss and skip Michael McCreadie was constantly attempting saves with his final stones. The Swiss stole in the 3rd, 4th and 5th ends, and quickly ran Scotland out of rocks coming home for a comfortable victory. The Swiss had beaten each of the other teams in the medal round, though they needed a tie-break win for the chance at a medal.

In the other semi-final. Paralympics champions Canada got off to a familiar slow start against Norway, giving up two steals. Canada relies on its hitting game, and skip Daw was unable to draw to the 8 foot to save either of the first two ends. Canada stormed back though, taking 4 in the 3rd. Norway's skip, facing 4 with his final stone, could only draw to the edge of the 12 foot. Canada wisely avoided the temptation to hit for 5, fearing they might tap up the Norway stone. A rare draw restored their 4 spot.

After the break, Norway took 2 with the hammer. In the 5th a double takeout left Canada facing 3 with their final stone. The draw came up short and Norway were back in control 7-4. In the final end. Norway failed to clear the front, leaving Canada the chance to put stones in the top of the house under cover. Norway's last rock was thrown through the break, flashing to allow Canada a draw into the rings to force an extra end.

In the 7th, Canada put up a center line guard, had a stone perfectly hidden on the button, yet chose not to place a second guard. Norway left it late to clear it, but when they did, the Canadian skip's only option was a pressure tap-back that had to sit shot. He made it, but Canada were again relying on their opponents missing an open hit in a vital game. This time Rune Lorentsen made no mistake, scoring one for Norway to earn their place in Saturday's final against Switzerland.

February 23rd Tie-breaks  In the morning tie-breakers, Norway beat Japan 9-4 on big ends in the 2nd and 3rd. Switzerland beat USA 5-4 on a steal of 2 in the 5th. Scotland plays Switzerland and Norway plays Canada in the afternoon semis. In the first half of the tie-break to decide who claims the 8th and final automatic qualifying place for next year's Worlds. Denmark crushed Sweden 9-1 to earn an afternoon tie-break against Russia.

February 22nd Draw 12 In the final round robin draw, the championship favourites Canada and Scotland faced off for 1st place. The game began promisingly for Scotland, looking to avenge their Torino final defeat, when they stole 3 in the 1st. Canada were unable to deal with two early Scots rocks in the house and skip Daw was unable to save the end with his draws.

Though up 3, Scots skip McCreadie told his side to start with a rock at the top of the house then draw, draw, draw rather than challenging Canada by trying to keep things clean. It didn't work. Canada took 2 in the second on 2 skip misses by Scotland, and another 2 in the 3rd when McCreadie was unable to save the end with 3 Canada stones as a pocket back 4, failing to convert two short tap-up attempts.

A last stone Scotland draw against 4 in the 4th held Canada to a steal of 1, but then a great raise behind cover from Daw stole another for Canada in the 5th. A discouraged Scotland gave up another steal in the 6th to lose 7-3 on 4 straight steals.

With Norway losing to Sweden 8-3, USA and Korea knew that the winner would have a tie-break for a semi-final spot. USA were down 4-3 coming home without the hammer, but stole 1 in the 6th and another single in the extra end when Korea's draw, on line, came up a couple of feet short. USA 5 Korea 4.

Inconsistent Switzerland broke open a tight game with 5 in the 5th in a 9-4 win to gain a tie-break spot, joining Norway, USA and Japan for the final two places in the medal round.

February 22nd Draw 11 Scotland cruised past Korea 7-1 in 5 ends to assure themselves of a place in the semi-finals. Norway, Canada and Japan won the other 3 games to assure themselves at least a tie-break. Norway beat Denmark 4-3 in an extra end. Japan had a big enough margin coming home not to worry about giving up 3 in the 6th, beating Russia 6-4. Canada stole singles in the first 2 ends, and 2 coming home. beating bottom place Sweden 5-3 in a tight game.

Scotland and Canada play for 1st place in the final round robin draw. If Canada win, they take 1st by virtue of having beaten both Scotland and Norway.

February 21st  Draw 10 USA missed chances to win with last stone hits in the 6th and in an extra end, losing to Paralympics champions Canada 4-3.

In the first end USA, facing an empty house, chose to take one with their last rock. In the second Canada tried a draw for 1 rather than a hit for a blank, and gave up a steal when their stone came up short of the rings. Canadian skip Chris Daw did make a draw for 1 in the 3rd, and USA drew for a single in the 4th. In the 5th Canada looked likely to score a big end, sitting 2 with skip stones to come, but Daw's rocks both came up short and Canada had to settle for 1.

That set up an exciting 6th end. USA up 1 with the hammer, chose to throw their lead stones through. Canada put up guards and the play was at the front of the house until Daw put his final stone near the 4 foot. Internet commentator Frank Duffy, having faced a similar situation in the Torino final, can only have sympathised with 4th stone thrower "Goose" Perez as USA missed the hit for the win, and had to settle for the hammer in the extra end.

During the short break, Canada coach Joe Rea told his team not to come in the house until they had two centre line guards in place. USA cooperated by again throwing through rather than attempting to come to the center first. The match came down to another hit, and this time USA only managed to tick Canada's final stone across the rings giving up a second consecutive steal. For Duffy it was deja vu all over again as Daw took his team to another vital if unlikely victory.

In the other matches, Korea kept pace with the leaders, beating Russia 7-3 on 3 consecutive steals. Japan beat Denmark, their 3 spot in the 2nd winning a game of singles. Erratic Switzerland held onto hopes of a playoff place, beating in form Norway 8-3. Switzerland have now beaten all the leading contenders - Canada, Scotland and Norway - yet need help in tomorrow's final round robin matches to qualify for a tie-break spot.

February 21st  Draw 9 Scotland rebounded from their pounding by USA, avoiding big ends against Japan. Though they gave up a steal of 2 after the break to go level at 3, they took 3 in the 5th and stole 1 coming home for a comfortable 7-3 win and a return to the top of the table.

USA built on their upset win over the defending champions  in Draw 8 to beat inconsistent Switzerland 8-5. They got off to a good start with a steal of 2 in the 1st, but then gave up 4, only to recoup with 3 of their own in the 3rd. 3 more in the 5th sealed their 8-5 victory.

Newcomers Russia continue to impress, getting off to an early start with 4 in the 1st en route to a 8-6 win over last place Sweden.

Denmark gave up steals in each of the first 3 ends against Japan to go into the break down 4. They then proceeded to steal their win, taking 3 without the hammer coming home.  [standings  results]

February 20th  Draw 8  Scotland became the first team to fail to complete 6 ends when they gave up a second 4-ender in the 5th to USA on their way to a 10-2 defeat. Steals of 1 in the 3rd and 4th had pulled Scotland back into the game after a disastrous start, but the 5th end saw their hopes of a comeback vanish.

Canada had the chance to top the standings when they played Japan, but another slow start had them giving up steals in the 1st and 2nd. Down 4-3 without the hammer coming home and Japan sitting, Canadian skip Chris Daw was unable to find the house with his final stone.

The Internet TV broadcast featured two teams that have struggled in the early going. A very entertaining and competitive contest was settled only after an extra end.

The ice was extremely fast - 24 seconds hog to T-line, with 3 feet of curl. Sweden made a line-up change, with alternate Kristina Ulander playing at lead. Both teams had lots of rocks in play. Sweden should have won in the 6th when the Danish skip flashed with his final stone with Sweden sitting 2 with the hammer. An open draw into the rings would have won the game but rather than throw an out-turn to the open side, Roger Westergren threw an in-turn that wrecked on a guard. The extra end saw the Danish skip's last rock come up short when he needed a piece of the 4 foot to win. The final score, 11-7 to Sweden, did not reflect the closeness of the game.

Sweden fell foul to an obscure hog-line violation that may have cost them a chance to put the game away early. Their skip was called for releasing and then reclaiming the stone before it touched the near hogline. Though not explicitly stated in the rules of wheelchair curling, the general rules of curling, which also apply to wheelchair curling, do not allow for a stone to be pulled back once released. The stone was removed from play.

February 20th  Draw 7 Canada hammered Korea 8-5, scoring 2 in the 1st and 3 in the 3rd and 5th. Norway continued their good form, scoring 3 coming home to edge Russia 7-6.

Switzerland rebounded from their struggles against the stragglers yesterday, beating Japan 6-2 with steals of singles in the 1st, 4th, 5th and 6th. This match marked the the debut of live Internet television coverage, which will now extend through the end of the championship.

The evening draw between Sweden and Denmark will be televised at 7.30 local time.

February 19th  Draw 6 Scotland and Norway went into Draw 6 with identical 3-1 records, but Scotland prevailed in a 5-3 win that puts them alone the top of the standings. Scotland are the lowest average scorers but give up the fewest points of the 10 teams.

Sweden had 4 steals on their way to their first win, beating Switzerland 8-2. The Swiss, who had beaten favourites Scotland and Canada, lost to winless Denmark earlier in the day. Denmark made it two in a row stealing 2 coming home to beat USA 4-3.

February 19th  Draw 5 In an afternoon of upsets. Korea gave up 6 points to Norway on steals to lose their unbeaten record. Norway opened with 3 in the 1st and stole 4 in the 5th and 2 in the 6th to move into a tie with Korea and idle Scotland.

Canada for the third time in four matches got off to a very slow start against newcomers Russia, giving up steals of 4 in the 2nd and 1 in the 3rd to go into the break down 7. This time there was to be no fight back as they lost 9-2

Switzerland, victors over both Canada and Scotland, let their match against winless Denmark slip away. Down 6-5 with the hammer coming home, they gave up a steal of 2, enough to lift Denmark off the bottom of the table.

Japan stole one coming home against USA, and then stole 3 more in an extra end to win 7-4.

February 18th  Draw 4 In a match reminiscent of their opening win over Denmark, Canada faced Switzerland and again found themselves down at the break, giving up a steal of 4 in the 1st. Again they came roaring back with a 4 ender in the 4 and a steal in the 5th. This time, though, whatever was said at the break didn't quite last, as the Swiss scored 3 coming home to win 8-7.

Defending champions Scotland (3-1) moved into 2nd place in the standings when their steal of 1 in the 1st gave them the hammer in an extra end of a 3 hour game of traded singles. Final score Scotland 4, Sweden 3.

Russia posted their first victory, beating the winless Danes 9-5 with a steal of 4 after the break. Norway bounced back from their afternoon loss to Canada, beating Japan 6-2.

February 18th  Draw 3 Canada cruised to 2-0, stealing in each of the first 3 ends in a 6-2 win over Norway, erasing the memory of a painful defeat in their last game of the 2005 Worlds.

Scotland, off to  shaky start and giving up a steal in the 1st, quickly got back on track beating Denmark 7-4 with a steal of 3 in the3rd.

USA scored 3 in the final end to edge past Russia 6-5. Korea continue to impress, crushing home team Sweden 9-2 and guaranteeing that they will be top of the table after Day 2.

February 17th  Draw 2 Canada fell behind 4-1 at the break in their opener against Denmark in Draw 2 of the World Championships in Sollefteå. Sweden, but came storming back with 4 in the 4th and steals in the last 2 ends to win 7-4.

Scotland lost to Switzerland 5-2, giving up two steals that were the margin of victory. USA posted their first win in another high scoring game. beating Sweden 6-5, while Korea brought newcomers Japan back to earth, winning 8-4.

February 17th   Draw 1  Scotland, winners of the last two World Championships, had all they could handle in a 4-3 win over newcomers Russia. Scotland took 2 in the 1st but gave up a steal in the 3rd to go into the break tied. A steal of their own in the 5th saw the defending champions eke out a 4-3 victory.

The other nation to appear through the Qualifying Competition was Japan, who stole 1 in the extra end to beat Sweden 6-5.

Team USA showed little defence, losing 8-6 despite scoring 3 in 1st and the 4th ends. Norway scored 3 of their own in the 2nd, and won with steals of 2 in both the 3rd and 6th ends.

Korea and Switzerland rounded out the action. Korea scored 3 in the 5th to go ahead 6-2, and held on to win 6-5 as Switzerland came up one short in the final end. Canada and Denmark had 1st Draw byes and meet in Draw 2.

Standings after Round Robin and tie-breaks
(click on team for team members)

Results and draws
(times are local - for PST subtract 9 hours)
CLICK HERE for individual draw line scores

Some statistics behind the results
(round robin games)