26 Aug 2011 at 08:11 | Published by: Hans | Views: 11530 | News search

Elisabeth Gruber watching as Bianca Oberweg plays.  (Photo by Hans Bergström 2011)

The Team competition at the World Championship in Stockholm ended in a extremely dramatic way on Thursday. Germany and Austria was head-to-head the entire last round and with only 2 lanes to go Austria had a two shot lead. Lisa Gruber didn’t want to risk anything and played straight at lane 17 for a sure 2. Bianca Oberweg played after and she aced to narrow the margin down to one stroke.

So it was “only” for Lisa Gruber to ace lane 18 for a WC gold. But for the spectators it was soon clear that Lisa was nervous and who wouldn’t be that. She had to restart the concentration several times and in the end she missed. So a two could still lead to sudden death but she missed again, and again making a four.

So this was giving Bianca Oberweg an unexpected opportunity to secure the gold for Germany by an ace or a two on lane 18. She once again showed her ice-cold nerves in these situations and with a perfect ace she could celebrate with her team mates (Stefanie Kern, Nicole Gundert-Greiffendorf, Nicole).

The Bronze medal was awarded Switzerland that could manage to keep the home nation Sweden behind for a fourth place.

In the men’s competition the victory was more or less secured already yesterday by Sweden that played incredibly well and consistent especially on the Beton. With a lead by 23 strokes before Austria and Germany it was hard to see how this team should lose the gold on home ground. And also today the Swedish Team played well. Even better was the performance from Germany that in the end was 21 strokes behind. The Swedish Closer, Carl-Johan Ryner, said afterward to the Swedish television that the whole last round felt like a victory lap. With impressive amount of people surrounding the course he secured the gold by a 19 on the ethernit and Sweden has made a historical achievement. Never before had Sweden manage to win a World Championship Team title on the combination Beton and eternity. Sweden also defended their title from Odense 2009.

Austria did not have the best of days and Switzerland could pass for the bronze.

» results of team competition
» website of the tournament

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