New Zealand Curling

Innsbruck, Austria – New Zealand's run in the curling competition at Innsbruck ended after the remaining two Kiwis were eliminated in the second knockout round of the Mixed Doubles.

Luke Steele and his Swedish partner Johanna Heldrin were well beaten 10-3 in the first draw of the day. Later in the day, Kelsi Heath and her Canadian teammate Thomas Scoffin lost a thriller on the last shot of the game.

Draw 1 – Luke Steele (NZ) & Johanna Heldin (Sweden)

Korey Dropkin from the USA, and Russia's Marina Verenich have formed a strong partnership on the ice, which was reflected in their 10-3 win in seven ends over Sweden's Johanna Heldin and her partner Luke Steele from New Zealand.

The US / Russian pair scooped five points in the third end which helped them seal their victory. Even though they have only played two games together they have worked well together. Verenich explained: "Korey is always assured when he makes his decisions, and makes them very fast, so I think this makes our play very good. It's a fantastic experience playing with Korey and I'm learning a lot from him – he's a very good curler and is really friendly."

Draw 2 – Kelsi Heath (NZ) & Thomas Scoffin (Canada)

After a tight game, Kelsi and her teammate took the lead for the first time in the seventh end, and were ahead 5-4 coming home without hammer. They did everything right, holding a well-guarded shot and the game with just their opponent's last stone to come, and leaving him just a low-percentage option available.

This forced the shot of the day from Russian Mixed Team skip, Mikhail Vaskov, playing with partner Zuzana Hruzova from the Czech Republic. Trailing by two, Mikhail pulled off a run-back double to score two points and seal a 6-5 victory. This win ended a successful day for the Russians, who now have three chances to win a medal following victories earlier in the day for Vaskov's compatriots.

After the game, Vaskov explained his decision to try the bold shot. He said, "I was thinking about the delivery of the last stone a lot and I actually wanted to do it a little bit differently. Thankfully it worked out well for us!"

His partner Zuzana Hruzova agreed. "Initially I thought there was a fat chance that Mikhail would deliver the stone correctly," she said. "But then, when I saw it, I was totally stunned. I cannot describe my emotions – it's impossible. We both played really well together and so far so good - it has worked out well for us."

Quarter-Finals

Dropkin and Verenich were the first to secure their semifinal spot, stealing their way to a 5-0 lead by the fourth end. Their opponents, Corryn Brown from Canada and Austria’s Martin Reichel were unable to catch up and eventually the RUS/USA duo stretched their lead to 9-3 to win the game.

Their opponents in the semifinals, Muskatewitz (GER) and Brunner (SUI), faced Mikhail Vaskov from Russia and his Czech teammate Zuzana Hruzova in the quarterfinals. The Czech-Russian duo struck an early lead until Brunner and Muskatewitz stole two points in the fourth end and a further point in the fifth. The game slipped out of their hands and the German-Swiss pair won 8-3.

Japan’s Mako Tamakuma and Korea’s Minhyeon Yoo had already said they have their sights set on the Gold medal in this event and they notched up another win against Taylor Anderson (USA) and Duncan Menzies (GBR). Mako Tamakuma was very pleased with her last shot as her opponents were lying two which would have forced an extra end. She managed a delicate out-wick raise to lie shot and win the game 7-4.

In the semifinals, Tamakuma and Yoo will meet Eunbi Kim (KOR) and Norway’s Martin Sesaker who had the closest match of the quarterfinals against Anastasia Moskaleva from Russia and Tsukasa Horigome from Japan. The game went all the way to an extra end, with the Korean-Norwegian duo stealing a point for a 7-6 win.

Semi-Finals and the medal games will be played overnight Sunday NZ time.

NZ Curling YOG Blog    –    NZ Olympic Team Blog    –    Innsbruck 2012
	WCF Tournament site  –  Official Results
NZ Results:	Mixed Fours  –  Mixed Doubles
	Innsbruck2012 daily highlights
	NZ Olympic  –  WCF  –  Innsbruck2012
	NZ Olympic  –  WCF  –  Innsbruck2012