The mixed doubles stage of the World Curling Tour (PKT) “WCT Gefle Mixed Doubles Cup 2023” took place in Jevle, Sweden from January 26 to 29. The Latvian team Daina Barone/Arnis Veidemanis reached the quarter-finals with three victories in four games of the main tournament, where they conceded to the hosts and ended their participation in the competition, but the Norwegians – Krīstīna Skasliena/Magnuss Nedregotens won the entire tournament.
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A total of 18 teams from countries such as Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Finland and the Czech Republic competed in the PKT stage in Sweden.
Our team played the first game against the favorites of the subgroup and the tournament, the silver and bronze medalists of the Olympic Games from Norway – Skaslien/Nedregoten. The Norwegians dominated from the beginning of the game, forcing ours to admit defeat in six ends with 2:7. Four points scored in the seventh end of the second match gave them an 8-5 advantage against the Danish pair, who eventually won 8-6.
The third match, in which one of the home teams faced off, also turned out to be intense. Before the eighth end, the scoreboard was tied at 7:7, but thanks to the right of the last shot, the winning point was won 8:7, and Baronei/Weidemans won an important victory. In the last game of the subgroup, Estonians got closer to -2 after the fifth end, however, our couple played the end of the game better, achieving another victory 7:3.
Thanks to these three victories in four games, Barone/Weidemanis entered the play-off round of the competition, where they met the team of Nilla Hallstrom/Johannes Petz from Sweden. In the first end of the game, the Swedes had accumulated a 6:1 advantage, which our team managed to reduce to -3 (3:6) until the seventh end. However, it was not enough to enter the semi-finals, losing 3-8 and withdrawing from further competition.
“The tournament had gathered a lot of strong teams, for whom these were the last test matches before the national championships.
Glad we made it to the play-off games. In the quarter-finals, with a better performance, we could clearly fight for a place in the semi-finals. Some key shots that we didn’t execute prevented us from getting into the game,” Veidemanis said after the competition.
For Barona/Veideman, this was a good preparatory tournament for the upcoming Latvian mixed team championship on February 16-19.
Skasliena/Nedregoten naturally made it to the finals, and were faced by the Danish duo Jasmīna Lander/Henrik Holtermans. Five points in the third end and three points in the fifth gave the Norwegians a comfortable lead of 9-4, ending the entire game after six ends with a 9-5 victory and remaining undefeated throughout the tournament. In addition, this is their first PKT stage title of the season.
Barones/Weidemanis match results:
2:7 – K.Skasliena/M.Nedregoten (Norway)
8:6 – G. Kvist/M. Kvists (Denmark)
7:6 – A.Sundberga/A.Iseus (Sweden)
7:3 – K. Elmika/M. Vlassov (Estonia)
3:8 – N. Hallstrom/J. Petz (Sweden) /quarter finals/
