Schopp strikes curling gold

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This article was published 29/03/2010 (5950 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SWIFT CURRENT, Sask. — Andrea Schopp has put Germany back on top of the world in women’s curling.

Schopp defeated Scotland’s Eve Muirhead 8-6 in an extra end in Sunday’s gold-medal final at the Ford World Women’s Curling Championship to give her country its first women’s title in more than two decades.

The veteran skip, making her 17th appearance at the tournament, won Germany’s first championship 22 years ago in Glasgow, Scotland.

On Sunday, Schopp, Melanie Robillard, Monika Wagner and Corinna Scholz celebrated Germany’s second title after a nose hit for two in the 11th end. Wagner was also part of Schopp’s first title win.

“It proves that everything I did worked — getting new players up, getting young people playing and working on myself and Monika,” Schopp said. “I forced everybody to keep going, and that has worked out well.”

Schopp, 45, is the oldest skip to capture a women’s world title since the event started in 1979. Sunday’s final was her first appearance in the gold-medal match since her victory in Scotland.

“You just have to stay patient and things will work out,” Schopp said. “Maybe I can make it again in another 20 years.”

Scholz, 17, became the youngest player to win a world title. Robillard, was born in Sussex, N.B., and grew up in Ottawa. She has dual Canadian and German citizenship, which allows her to curl with Schopp and claim her first world title.

“It’s unbelievable,” Robillard said. “I never thought I would do it for Germany, but when I joined the team, it looked pretty good.”

Schopp appeared to have the match won in the 10th end after Muirhead’s first shot picked up some debris and raised in two German counters. Muirhead got herself out of the end with a double raise takeout to score one and force an extra end.

“That pick was crucial,” said Muirhead, who at 19 was bidding to be youngest skip to win a women’s world title. “If I nailed that shot, I was looking very good for the game. Unfortunately, it came down the final end with my first stone… You have to forget about it and move on to your other shots.”

Muirhead, who was curling with Kelly Wood, Lorna Vevers and Anne Laird, was trying to win Scotland’s first world title since Jacquie Lockhart in 2002.

Muirhead finished first as a third at the 2007 world junior championship. She then guided Scotland to gold medals in the 2008 and 2009 world juniors before making the move into the women’s ranks.

“She is the future of the game,” Schopp said. “She’s a really great player. I don’t know if she will stay with the same team, but she is the future of curling.”

Canada’s Jennifer Jones won the bronze medal Sunday after beating Sweden’s Cecilia Ostlund 9-6.

— Canwest News Service