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Men's World Curling Championships 2023.

I really felt sorry for Joel Retornaz. In a big time crunch, Joel played a stone for three, and thus the win in the semi final match against Scotland. It was a decision made only after the Italians had agreed to the draw option at deuce, thus moving the match to the extra end. Nevertheless, the combination of lack of time and a last-minute change led to an extremely successful throw and, ultimately, the measurement of whether it was a deuce or a three. The two or three millimetres that the Italians were two or three short of a three gave the Scots strength for the added end. The Italians lost the extra end and a few hours later went into the bronze medal match, where they fell to the Swiss 3 : 11. Canadian skip Brad Gushue played a longer draw in the third end against two stones of the opponent and the subsequent 0 : 4 score was not reversed against the excellent Scottish team. Disappointing for sure are the Swedes, who clearly already lost to the Canadians in the semi-final qualifiers after they decided to take a disproportionate risk in the seventh end at 1 : 4 and lost the match with a three by the opponent's counter after attempting a miracle stone on deuce.

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The spectator backdrop numbered in the thousands - nearly six thousand watched the final. Excellent technical conditions, including electronic control of the hog-line (finally!!). But most of all, a visible shift in the quality of play of the teams. There were a series of precise runbacks, freezes placed to within an inch and daring trickshot stunts, such as Niklas Edin's spinner against Norway. These are all distinct pluses that take curling, as a sport, up a level.

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The Czech team finished 10th after reaching three wins (against New Zealand, Turkey and Korea). After last year's ninth place, this is a confirmation of a position that would be enough to participate in the Olympic Games. It's a close call, and world curling will be a step further away again next year, but with increased effort and hard work to improve technical skills and tactics, the Czechs can realistically consider breaking the Czech national team's current block of participation in the Olympics. For the Czech five of Lukáš Klíma, Marek Černovský, Radek Boháč, Martin Jurík and Lukáš Klípa, the championship played in Ottawa, Canada, was certainly an irreplaceable experience to build on.

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photo: the situation just before the last stone of the Italians in the tenth end of the World Championship semi-final against the Scots. To play for two or three?

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