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Schaffhausen hosts the Men's World Championships.

Schaffhausen, Switzerland is the venue for this year's World Curling Championships. The Czech team, consisting of two Lukáš - Klíma and Klípa, Martin Jurík, Marek Černovský and Radek Boháč, also made it into the elite thirteen, which is fighting for the largest possible allocation of Olympic points. The draw is seemingly tough for the Czech team, as they meet mostly favourites at the beginning, but appearances are deceiving. The favourites are more likely to be beaten at the start of the round robin, and after all, who is actually the big favourite, who is the smaller favourite and who is the underdog? It's very fine distinctions at this level. Head icemaker Mike Reid sharpened the stones after yesterday's program, trying to deal with the minor but visible technical flaws in the quality of the ice surface that result from the so-so cooling technology and also the increased humidity caused by the large attendance in the stands. However, this will increase by a few hundred at the very end of the tournament.

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The IWC arena, with a current capacity of about 1,200 seated spectators, is completely full this afternoon. The reason is obvious. The Swiss team is playing against the Netherlands in lane D. Both countries have one win and two losses so far. Initially a very even duel affected by one dirt on the ice, which helped the Dutch to a three-peat, turns into Swiss dominance at the end. The Scots are crushing the New Zealanders, the Norwegians are slightly outplaying the Swedes and the most interesting thing is on the B side - Canada versus Italy. Edin's amazing feather double-hit sends the Nordic duel into extra end, advantage Ramsfjell. Gushue pushes hard for at least an extraend, even standing to win for a while, but a final successful draw, after a previous double by Retornaz, means only a draw. The two extra ends are coming to a head. The Italian stands better and should beat the Canadian, the Norwegians and Swedes have it so tangled that Edin's team takes advantage and wins without advantage. Joel Retornaz needs a draw within five feet. The stone is at 14.34 feet and the draw ends just past the tee-line. A valuable win for Italy.

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photo: Schaffhausen - old town