[ritchiebaby]

A Division
MEN
Bronze Medal Game - Norway 5 Switzerland 6 (Switzerland edged into the lead halfway through to take control of the game, but had to hold off a spirited fightback from Norway in the last 2 ends)
WOMEN
Semi-finals - Scotland 7 Switzerland 5 (Scotland bettered their opponents with Anna Sloan making the biggest difference. Eve Muirhead had an ordinary game by her high standards, but came good in the last 2 ends to score a 3 and a 1 to pressurise the home team into mistakes) and Italy 3 Sweden 7 (Italy hung on to the coat-tails of the hot favourites, until they lost a 3 in the 7th end to leave themselves too much to do)
Bronze Medal Game - Italy 7 Switzerland 6 (Once again the Italians hung in there against a more fancied team, but this time they scored a 3 in the 8th end to take a slight advantage and kept the ice clear for a last stone takeout for the win)

B Division update
MEN
Semi-finals - Czech Republic 6 Finland 9 and Spain 7 Poland 10
Gold Medal Game - Poland 3 Finland 8
Bronze Medal Game - Spain 4 Czech Republic 8
WOMEN
Semi-finals - Norway 6 Finland 7 and Latvia 10 Estonia 7
Gold Medal Game - Finland 8 Latvia 7
Bronze Medal Game - Norway 4 Estonia 5

Saturday's games
A Division
MEN - Gold Medal Game - Scotland v Sweden
WOMEN - Gold Medal Game - Scotland v Sweden

BLACK FRIDAY DEAL!!!
Spot The Difference in the B Division Games and you win my immediate respect for paying attention, but no more.

[St Charles Owl]

Only thing I can come up with Ritchie is that the eventual winners in the B division, Finland in both cases, were the 4th place qualifiers in their group?? That is after the quarter final games that they had in B Division that they don’t have in the A Division.

[ritchiebaby]

The Scotland v Sweden finals ended up with one win for each country.

In the Men's Final it was a tight game all the way through, with Sweden leading 6-5 after 9 ends. In the last end Sweden had amassed a strong position of lying 4 shots with the last stone to come from Scotland. With the centre of the ice open and the red rings and button to draw into for the game, unfortunately Kyle Smith's stone was too strong and went straight through, leaving the Swedes with a 10-5 win for their 4th consecutive European title. Smith will be distraught but he and his team have played very well throughout and will appreciate their Silver Medal.
GOLD - SWEDEN
SILVER - SCOTLAND
BRONZE - SWITZERLAND

Sweden's Niklas Edin, Rasmus Wranaa, Oskar Eriksson and Christoffer Sundgren

This time the Scots came out on top with a 6-3 win over Sweden. In a reverse of the Men's Final, Scotland narrowly led by 4-3 after 8 ends and followed this up by a single shot to lead by 2 going into the last end. The Swedish skip was slightly heavy with her last stone of the game to leave the Scots still lying 1 shot and the win.
GOLD - SCOTLAND
SILVER - SWEDEN
BRONZE - ITALY

Scotland's Lauren Gray, Vicki Adams, Anna Sloan and Eve Muirhead

And a bonus pic of Jim Cullen, RCCC (the Scottish national body) President - and also my Club Treasurer - presenting the medals


Big cheesy grins from the B Division Gold Medallists from Finland

In the final ranking table, England's Men finished in 9th place, ahead of Wales in 12th. England's Women ended their tournament in a very creditable 5th place.

PS - Good attempt SCO, but the big difference was that in Post 10, I somehow managed to predict the Gold Medal and Bronze Medal games, instead of the actual games played (I'm sure I copied the games correctly on Thursday, but obviously not). However the results are correct.

[Lord Snooty]

Looking good for the Olympics then. Apart from Canada are there any other serious contenders who weren't in this competition?

[ritchiebaby]

Definitely the USA Men and Women, Snooty. As outsiders, the Men's teams from Japan and possibly China. The Women from Korea and the Czech Republic might be worth watching too.  

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Just as an afterthought, although the Russian Women have qualified and must be considered as strong medal contenders, the WCF website reminds us that the IOC have the final word on whether or not qualified nations will be allowed to play. Why would they specify that if there was no doubt?
The Russian team are certainly not drug cheats (except for the occasional vodka!    ) and might be allowed to play under a neutral flag, following the example set by the IAAF decision to ban Russia, but allow individual athletes to compete.