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Champery - Round Robin men and women

After four years, the European Championship has returned to Champery, Switzerland. In 2010, both Czech teams won qualification for the World Championships. Just like this year, it was a few months after the Olympics and there were changes in some teams. The most significant event this year, however, is probably the unexpected participation of European curling legend Andrea Schoepp and her team. According to the original information from Germany, the Driendl team (CC Fussen) did arrive at the venue, but after the Schoepp team won the trial for participation in the European Championships, the original German team had to forfeit their participation and at the last minute Andrea arrived at the venue with Monika Wagner and the Ruch sisters. Despite these difficulties, the Germans managed to qualify their country for the 2015 World Championships (Sapporo, Japan). The Czech men, with a new face in the team (L. Klíma), played a good tournament. Under the guidance of a foreign coach (B. Grey), they finished in a very respectable fifth place, not far from advancing to the semi-finals. Maybe a bit of luck in the ninth end TB against the Norwegians, or at least less than perfect chips (including an excellent corner guard chip) played by Petersson could have helped this time. Round Robin didn't work out for the Czechs (Team Klimova), who lost Group A for the first time in four years (not to mention qualifying for the World Championships). Under a new coach and with a new player at number two (Z. Hájková) they got only one win (the final match against Estonia) and finished in last place. Despite some evenly matched games, the difference in the quality of play was noticeable and the result probably reflects reality. In the superstructure are the Swedes, Italians (!!), Swiss and Norwegians, and among the women the Russians, Swiss, Danes and Scots.