In front of a packed house full of noisy home fans, Switzerland took a 2-1 lead before Russian skip Anna Sidorova hit back to score two points in the fifth end to steal a 3-2 advantage.

The match continued to progress in topsy-turvy fashion, with Swiss counterpart Binia Feltscher scoring two points herself in the sixth before Russia pulled one back to leave the final tantalisingly poised at 4-4 with three ends left.

But the turning point came in the eighth end, when a Russian error allowed the host nation to score four unanswered points, and, although the Eastern Europeans closed the deficit with three points in the ninth, Switzerland held on for victory by a single point. 

It marks only the fifth time that a women's curling team has won both the world and European Championship titles in the same year, following Switzerland first achieving the feat in 1979, before Norway in 1990 and Sweden in both 1992 and 2005 did likewise.

Swiss gold was celebrated excitedly by the partisan home gold ©WCF/Richard Gray







"It's incredible to be the world champion and the European Champion all in the same year," said a delighted Feltscher afterwards.

"The game was perfect for us.

"We didn't make too many mistakes and the ones that we did make were very small.

"After we got the four points in the eighth end, we made sure we stayed focused because the game is only over after 10 ends."

"To win the World Championship in Canada was very, very nice, but to win the European Championship here in Switzerland is the greatest."

Russia proved unable to repeat their victory in 2012, but still go home with a strong silver medal, while Scotland took bronze after a victory yesterday over Denmark.

In the men's competition meanwhile, Sweden snatched a 5-4 victory over Norway in extra ends after the two teams were locked at 4-4 after the regulation 10.

Sweden edged Norway in a thrilling final match at the European Curling Championships ©WCF/Allison Flannery



In another tense and bitterly contested encounter, Sweden took an early lead, and then increased their advantage to move 3-1 up after seven ends.

Norway hit back with two points, before Sweden scored another in the ninth to lead 4-3 with one to go, only for their Scandinavian opponents to hit back again to ensure an extra end. 

Taking full advantage of having the final stone in the 11th end, Swedish skip Niklas Edin delivered a superb nose-hit to score the one point needed to give his team a 5-4 win, making his side the first team in 14 years to go through an entire Championships unbeaten.

"It's amazing, we've had a perfect week here - nine wins in the round-robin," said Edin afterwards.

"We knew the Norwegians would give us a hard fight all the way - they always do, so we tried to never relax.

"We knew it was going to come down to the last rock."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
November 2014: Norway and Russia complete final line-ups at European Curling Championships
November 2014: Sweden and Switzerland reach finals at European Curling Championships
November 2014: Hosts Switzerland book places at European Curling Championships playoffs
November 2014: Russian women and Swedish men first to qualify for European Curling Championships playoffs
November 2014: Russia and Sweden remain dominant as Finland falter at European Curling Championships