[ritchiebaby]

SCO, I can only assume that it was a late withdrawal, as they appeared in each day's draw. As they had not started the competition, the organisers had to award each of their opponents a walkover.

Today's results in the Seniors.
Men - Wales 5 v 9 Scotland; Japan 6 v 7 Ireland (after an extra end); Denmark 10 v 4 England (England lost a 5 and a 4 in this game):
Because of losing to Denmark, England finish 4th in their Group, the qualifying teams being New Zealand, Norway and Denmark. In Group B, Ireland's win sees them comfortably through in 3rd place qualifying along with Canada and Sweden. In the other Group, USA have already qualified, with Scotland currently in second place on 6 wins. Germany, Latvia and Switzerland have 5 wins and definitely either Germany or Latvia and possibly Switzerland will join Scotland on 6 wins.

Women - USA 5 v 6 Scotland; England 12 v 3 Sweden (after a quiet start England scored 3,3,0,5 in the last 4 ends):
Both England and Scotland finish with perfect records in the Groups and qualify directly for the Semi-finals. Germany and USA will play in a tie-breaker tomorrow to decide which of them plays against Canada in a play-off for a Semi-final place. The remaining place will be for the winner of Sweden v Switzerland in the other play-off game.

Today's results in the Mixed Doubles.
England 8 v 2 Turkey; Brazil 2 v 12 Scotland; Ireland 2 v 13 China:
The upshot of those results is that England qualified directly in 2nd place in their Group, while Scotland and Ireland had to play tie-breaker games to qualify.
Results - Scotland 6 v 5 Czech Republic (after an extra end) and Italy 7 v Ireland 8 (Italy had scored a 5 in the 2nd end):
After that game Ireland had to play again, this time against Turkey, in a play-off game between the worst of the remaining teams to decide the final available place. They won again after an extra end, which means the last 16 draw for tomorrow is as follows:-
Canada v New Zealand; Russia v Slovakia; USA v Austria; Norway v Estonia; Hungary v Scotland; Finland v Ireland; China v Denmark; Korea v England:

Friday's games in the Seniors.
Men - Switzerland v Scotland; Latvia v Germany:

[ritchiebaby]

There was plenty of drama in the first three of the Men's quarter-finals, where each game was won with the last stone.

Today's results in the Senior Men's competition
Qualification game - Germany 3 v 4 Ireland:
Quarter-finals - Canada 4 v 3 Scotland; USA 4 v 5 Denmark; New Zealand 5 v 6 Ireland; Norway 4 v 10 Sweden: 
Tomorrow's Semi-finals - Ireland v Canada; Sweden v Denmark:

Today's results in the Senior Women's competition
Tie-breaker - USA 6 v 7 Germany:
Qualification games - Canada 4 v 6 Germany; Sweden 8 v2 Switzerland:
Tomorrow's Semi-finals - England v Germany; Scotland v Sweden:

Both Seniors' Semi-finals take place tomorrow morning with the Medal Games being held in the early afternoon and the three remaining home countries all have a great chance of winning medals.

There was also loads of excitement and tension in the Mixed Doubles today.

Last 16 results - Canada 12 v 2 New Zealand; Russia 10 v 2 Slovakia; USA 7 v 2 Austria; Norway 7 v 8 Estonia; Hungary 5 v 6 Scotland; Finland 10 v 5 Ireland; China 12 v 1 Denmark; Korea 5 v 7 England:
Quarter-final results - Estonia 5 v 8 China; Scotland 6 v 5 Canada; England 6 v 12 USA; Finland 7 v 8 Russia:

Scotland have made it through to tomorrow's Semi-finals where they will play China, with Russia playing USA in the other game. There are numerous play-off games and the most important one sees England playing against Estonia in the second group to decide 5th to 8th positions. Ireland are also still involved, meeting Slovakia in the third group to decide 9th to 12th places. Considering that Scotland are ranked 13th in the world, England are 23rd and Ireland 31st, each of the home countries have done extremely well in this competition. The Medal Games and the various play-off finals are due to take place late tomorrow afternoon.

[ritchiebaby]

Senior Men

Semi-finals - Ireland 3 v 7 Canada; Sweden 7 v 1 Denmark:
Gold Medal Game - Canada 4 v 7 Sweden
Bronze Medal Game - Ireland 7 v 2 Denmark - Ireland won the last 4 ends for the win and will leave Sweden very happy with their medals. Well done.

Final Standings
GOLD - Sweden
SILVER - Canada
BRONZE - Ireland

Senior Women

Semi-finals - Germany 11 v 4 England; Sweden 6 v 8 Scotland (after an extra end):
After leading 4-2 at the third end, England lost 5,3,1 to concede to the Germans.
Gold Medal Game - Germany 4 v 5 Scotland (after another extra end, the Scots had already beaten the Germans after an extra end in the round robin section). The women have gone through the whole competition undefeated. A brilliant result.
Bronze Medal Game - Sweden 10 v 5 England - disappointing finish to the competition for England, but they far exceeded their own expectations to reach the last four. Well done to the ladies! 

Final Standings
GOLD - Scotland
SILVER - Germany
BRONZE - Sweden

Mixed Doubles

Semi-finals - USA 6 v 8 Russia; Scotland 5 v 7 China (Scotland lost 5 consecutive ends in the middle of the game):
Olympic Qualifiers - England 8-10 Estonia (too little too late as England had been 3-9 down after 5 ends); Canada 10-5 Finland; Ireland 2-12 Slovakia; Norway 8-3 Austria:
Since these games, Ireland have lost to Austria, who scored 5 shots in the 7th end, by 6 shots to 9 to finish in 12th position.

Still to come
Gold Medal Game - Russia v China
Bronze Medal Game - USA v Scotland
5th/6th - Estonia v Canada
7th/8th - England v Finland
9th/10th - Slovakia v Norway

[St Charles Owl]

One gold already for Scotland and a chance of a bronze. On the whole seems to have been a good tournament for the home countries.

[ritchiebaby]

Mixed Doubles Results
Gold Medal Game - Russia 7 v 5 China
Bronze Medal Game - USA 9 v 7 Scotland
5th/6th - Estonia 2 v 8 Canada
7th/8th - England 3 v 6 Finland
9th/10th - Slovakia 2 v 8 Norway

Final Standings
GOLD - Russia (Alexander Krushelnitskiy and Anastasia Bryzgalova)
SILVER - China (Dexin Ba and Rui Wang)
BRONZE - USA (Joe Polo and Tabitha Peterson)
Scotland finished in 4th place, with England 8th and Ireland 12th. As previously stated, this was considerably better for each nation than the rankings indicated.

The podium  for the Mixed Doubles, complete with the coaches


The winning Scotland team for the Senior Women


The winning Swedish Men's Team

[ritchiebaby]

I was down at Kelso Ice Rink tonight for a meeting and had a chance to speak to and congratulate a Scottish Gold Medallist, Margaret Robertson, and two of the English Ladies, Helen Forbes and Judith Dixon. All were delighted with their achievements and hopefully they will continue at the same high level for years to come.

[Lord Snooty]

How long's this curling season going on, Richie. Seems to be longer than usual. Or does it always last until summer?

[ritchiebaby]

Our club curling lasts from the last week in September until the last week in March, Snooty, but generally the World and European Championship seasons run about a month behind those dates.

PS - it depends on your understanding of summer. The cricket season seems to start in Spring!