First 4 games were played at Arctic Curling Cup 2018 in May 24.
In the morning after breakfast, the athletes visited six schools of Dudinka. Students asked a variety of questions about their sports career, life, impressions of the Taymyr, curlers tried to answer everything as sincerely as possible.
During the day, all 10 teams spent half an hour trainings on the ice of the arena "Taymyr". And at 15:00 local time the first matches began. More experienced Scots Gina Aitken and Duncan Menzies beat young Swedes Fabian Wingfors and Malin Wendel (10:3). In a parallel game Canadians Reid Carruthers and Joanne Courtney were defeated by Tomas Paul and Zuzana Haykova from Czech Republic. If at the beginning of the match the Canadians were better (3-0 after two ends), by the middle of the game the Czechs seized the initiative, the 4th end they managed to win after Courtney's mistake with the score 4-0, after which the Czechs did not miss the initiative. The final score is 8-6.
The following games were even more interesting. On the ice for the first time in the same team came the leaders of the world curling among men's and women's teams Niklas Edin (Sweden) and Rachel Homan (Canada). Playing in one team of such masters is one of the main highlights of the tournament on the Taymyr. Swedish-Canadian duo resisted the Finns Markku Uusipaavalniemi and Eszter Juhasz. Experience of Markku can be the envy of any curler. Perhaps it was this experience that eventually affected. It was evident that Edin and Homan have not yet fully established mutual understanding on the ice. Game of the high class they alternated with errors. As noted after the game Uusipaavalniemi, the game was like a swing. Homan and Edin won 4th end 3-0 and led 6-3, but the Finns responded with three stones in the next end and equalized. Before the last end, the Homan/Edin were ahead (8-7), but the last end was unsuccessful for them. Markku won two points for his team. Win 9-8, and the Finns make application for the semi-finals after defeating titled opponents.
In another match on the ice for the first time in the tournament came the team from Russia. Krasnoyarsk players Anna Venevtseva and Vasily Groshev opposed Matthias and Jenny Perret from Switzerland. Jenny is one of the best double-mix players in the world, the silver medalist of the 2018 Olympic games. But her brother Matthias has not yet shown such a strong game. It is interesting that Mattias played in a T-shirt with the name Rios it’s a partner of Jenny in the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. The game dragged on. In the last 8th end, the Russians, who were behind 3-5, managed to escape thanks to the last rock (5-5). In the extra-end the Russians made several mistakes, including technical ones. The last throw at Groshev failed, and in the end the Russians lost in the match 5-8. However, in general, Krasnoyarsk had a good first match in the tournament, they do not look outsiders.
The program of the day was not exhausted. 4 teams went to the boarding school of Dudinka, where students performed songs, dances and poems in front of the guests. Then the children and the participants ate the pancakes, which are especially appreciated by foreign visitors. At the end of the meeting, the guests received souvenirs made by children - crafts made of beads. Another group of participants, who finished their matches later, visited the performance in the theater-studio "White birds".
Results of the first day:
Group A. Scotland (Aitken/Menzies) – Sweden (Wendel/Wingfors) – 10:3
Group A. Czech Republic (Hajkova / Paul) - Canada (Courtney / Carruthers) - 8:6
Group B. Finland (Juhasz / Uusipaavalniemi) - Canada / Sweden (Homan / Edin) - 9:8
Group B. Switzerland (J. Perret/M. Perret) – Krasnoyarsk Krai (Venevtseva/Groshev) – 8:5 (extra end)
On May 25, 8 matches will be held at the tournament.