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Dupont sisters at first.

The opening session of this year's European Championship belonged to the women. On five sheets, the national teams of ten countries, which belong to the European elite in this category, presented themselves. The Czech women played their first match on sheet number one against the Danes led by the experienced skip Madeleine Dupont and the sixty-three-year-old coach Ulrik Schmidt. Over the years, we have considered each other traditional rivals, so it is a bit surprising when Mathilde Halse, playing the third, reveals her ignorance of the rule that was introduced many years ago and tries to convince Klára that she is not allowed to prepare for her throw in the space behind her own stones. Anna, Míša, Aneta, Klára (the fifth player is Karolína) play a very solid and balanced match until the sixth end. However, the seventh end catches us in a weaker moment, which the Danes use to gain three points and create a lead of four stones in total. In the eighth end of this televised duel, we would like to play a three back, or at least a two, but we have to finally turn away the threat of several Danish points. The final draw ends close to the ideal position, but not quite there. After a short reflection, at 4:10, we congratulate our opponents and go to talk to Jindra (sports psychologist) about the feelings we had through our first match at the European Curling Championship 2025.

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In the men's section, the Swedes did not do well, but the Germans did not win their match either. The Poles defeated the Danes and their Czech coach Jakub Bareš celebrated his first win at the European Championship in the elite group. The Czechs (Klíma, Černovský, Jurík, Klípa and the fifth player Boháč) struggled with the Austrians, from whom they received a four, but immediately returned the three, and in the last end of a completely even game, they squeezed out an important win by a single point with the final stone.

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The women's match was against Norway (Roervik). We did not regain the advantage of the last stone for the first end. In the complicated second part of the match, Norway was more accurate and also had more luck. They deserved the win. The match was accompanied by problems with the timing and, just like in the first match, the referees had to compensate for a number of inaccuracies. Mark Callen, the head ice technician will be papering the stones at night, so tomorrow everything might be a little bit different. We are looking forward to it.