The following won an unfortunate 8: 9 second win against the Scotland team. At 8: 6 against Denmark, Skip Sixton Totzek of Fossen Curling Club and his colleagues insisted they could bend the corner. There are still five preliminary round matches (as of Wednesday): against the Netherlands, South Korea, China and Sweden, before the German team meets host and medal favorite Canada. The German team is upstairs in the table and should be able to regain one-digit status even after a false start.

In any case, the national coach Uli Cup hopes that their young players will experience more success in Canada. He points to the level that his team can achieve to stand the big curling nations. The current example is that Norway, who remained undefeated for five matches, lost to the German team. The 6–2 lead was then played with confidence against the Scots, until Marcus Muscatwitz retired due to a severe toothache. The result was bitter: the Scots played with their full strength on the curling track and called off the match until it was a close success.

Dominic Grindle, Mark Muskatevitz and Joshua Sutor von Kapp were nominated from the Fussen Club, who started as national coaches after a long tournament with Siden Tottenk of the Baden Hills Club, a world tournament with a total of 14 participants. Was in the form of a skip. Should the direct Qlympia qualification not succeed due to a weak preliminary stage, the team would have a chance to secure a place for another international tournament in Beijing in December 2022. A sixth place in Calgary would be enough for him – possibly also seventh.

Not the strongest opponent

But the placement sought by the German curlers seemed to be long after five initial defeats. The two victorious encounters changed the picture: as the table shows, the teams are now closer together. The Germans are expected to meet opponents in the remaining games who are not the strongest on the field with the exception of host Canada. At the end of the 13 World Cup preliminary round matches, the favored Canadian will be the opponent of the German team.

Five necklaces in a row

Looking at the tournament so far, the opening clash against Japan is particularly striking. Totzek & Co. left for the worst possible start after a long quarantine. At the first end – the game means in curler language – the opponent was allowed to write four stones. Holger Honne, a former national player from the Fusen Team Cup, who celebrates many successes, comments: “The team has made a good catch. Finally, four stones won by the Japanese from the first end hurt the German team. “This was followed by four more defeats: 5: 8 against Switzerland, 5: 7 against USA, a clear 3: 9 against Italy and 4: 6 against Russia. In the end the turn came against Norway, which was certainly not underestimated.

KB