Silvana Tirinzoni

Silvana Petra Tirinzoni (born 25 June 1979) is a Swiss curler from Zurich. She is currently the reigning women's world champion skip having won the last four championships, in 2019, 2021,  and . Tirinzoni also represented Switzerland at the 2022 Winter Olympics and 2018 Winter Olympics, after winning the 2017 Swiss Olympic Curling Trials.

Career
In 1997, Tirinzoni was the Swiss alternate for Bianca Röthlisberger at the World Junior Curling Championships. The team finished seventh. The following year, Tirinzoni was the Swiss skip at the World Juniors, and she and her team of Michèle Knobel, Brigitte Schori and Martina von Arx finished sixth. In 1999, the same team returned to the Juniors and won the whole tournament for Switzerland. After finishing the round robin in second place with a 7–2 record, Tirinzoni led Switzerland to a semi-final win over Sweden's Matilda Mattsson and a final win against Japan (skipped by Akiko Katoh) to win the gold medal.

In 2005 Tirinzoni finished fourth at the Swiss Olympic trials. The following year she qualified for the 2006 World Women's Curling Championship, her first. Her Swiss team finished in tenth place with a 3–8 record.

Tirinzoni returned to the 2007 World Women's Curling Championship with nearly the same team as in 2006, adding veteran Mirjam Ott to the lineup. Ott moved into the third position when the team began with three losses, and they nearly came back to qualify for the playoff round. Switzerland fell just short, finishing fifth with a 6–5 record. Later that year, Ott returned the favour by making Tirinzoni her alternate at the 2007 European Curling Championships. Tirinzoni would not see any action, and the team finished fourth.

In 2011, Tirinzoni won her first World Curling Tour event, the Red Deer Curling Classic. She would not play in an international championship until 2013 when she skipped Switzerland at the 2013 World Women's Curling Championship. After finishing the round robin with a 6–5 record, she found herself in a three-way tie for fourth. After beating Russia's Anna Sidorova in the first tiebreaker, she lost to the United States' Erika Brown in the second, settling for fifth place. Since then, Tirinzoni has won several World Curling Tour events, including the 2013 International Bernese Ladies Cup, the 2013 Stockholm Ladies Cup, the 2013 Women's Masters Basel and the 2014 Pomeroy Inn & Suites Prairie Showdown.

Tirinzoni and her rink began the 2014–15 season by winning their first event, the 2014 Stu Sells Oakville Tankard. She then went off to skip the Swiss team (throwing third rocks) at the 2014 European Mixed Curling Championship. She would lead her rink of Martin Rios, Romano Meier and Jenny Perret to a bronze medal.

While Tirinzoni did not return to international competition for a while (due to strong competition in her home country from teams like Alina Pätz and Binia Feltscher), she and her rink have been strong on the World Curling Tour since then. The 2015–16 season included three tournament wins, including the first slam of the year, the 2015 GSOC Tour Challenge, where she beat the World #1 Rachel Homan rink in the final. The team would also win the International Bernese Ladies Cup and the Glynhill Ladies International later that year, while she led her team to four other tournament finals.

Tirinzoni continued her WCT success the following season, winning their first event, the 2016 Stu Sells Oakville Tankard, but did not win any further tournaments. She began the 2017–18 season by defending her Oakville Tankard title, which would be the third time she would win that tournament.

In one of the strongest countries, with three different World Champions, including a two-time World Champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist, Tirinzoni won the right to be the Switzerland representative at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Her team finished undefeated throughout the 2017 Swiss Olympic Curling Trials. At the games, the team just missed out on a playoff spot, finishing with a 4–5 record.

Heading into the 2018–19 curling season, Tirinzoni joined forces with Alina Pätz, who threw fourth rocks with Tirinzoni skipping at the third position, with Esther Neuenschwander at second and Melanie Barbezat throwing lead rocks. The team reached the final in the first Grand Slam of the season, the Elite 10. They represented Switzerland at the 2018 European Curling Championships claiming the silver medal, going on an unbeaten 9–0 run to finish top of the Round Robin, before defeating Germany 6–4 in the semi-final, and falling 5–4 to Sweden's Anna Hasselborg in the final. Having won the 2019 Swiss National Championships, the team represented Switzerland at the 2019 World Women's Curling Championship in Silkeborg, Denmark. The team got off to a shaky start posting a 2–3 record in their first five games before winning six in a row to secure their playoff spot, and, after a final round dead rubber loss, a round robin record of 8–4 and 4th place in the standings. Tight victories over China in the qualification game and South Korea in the semifinal set up a repeat of the European Championship final against Hasselborg and Sweden. They turned the tables on Sweden, with Pätz making a draw to the four-foot in the extra end for an 8–7 win, which meant they were crowned the 2019 world champions. The team capped off their year with their first Grand Slam title together at the Champions Cup and reached the final of the inaugural Curling World Cup.

At the start of the 2019–20 season, Team Tirinzoni were runners-up at the 2019 Cameron's Brewing Oakville Fall Classic. They also qualified for the playoffs at their next three events, the 2019 Stu Sells Oakville Tankard, the 2019 AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic and the 2019 WCT Uiseong International Curling Cup. The next week, they won the Women's Masters Basel. They represented Switzerland at the 2019 European Curling Championships, where they finished the round robin in first place with an 8–1 record. However, they would not make the final, as they lost to Scotland's Eve Muirhead in the semifinal. They rebounded in the bronze medal game, defeating Alina Kovaleva of Russia. The team was not able to defend their Swiss championship, losing the final of the 2020 Swiss Women's Curling Championship to the young Elena Stern rink. The Swiss championship would be the team's last event of the season, as both the Players' Championship and the Champions Cup Grand Slam events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tirinzoni began the 2020–21 season by making the final of the 2020 Schweizer Cup, where they once again lost to the Stern rink. Three weeks later, her team was invited to play in the Adelboden International men's World Curling Tour event, as a last-minute addition. After dropping their first game to Yannick Schwaller, they went on a four-game winning streak against the men's field before losing to Olympic bronze medallist Peter de Cruz in the semifinal. In January 2021, Tirinzoni competed at the 2021 Swiss Mixed Doubles Curling Championship with partner Benoît Schwarz. The pair finished the round robin with a 4–3 record before losing to teammate Alina Pätz and Sven Michel in the semifinal. Two weeks later, Tirinzoni won her fifth national championship at the 2021 Swiss Women's Curling Championship. This put her in a playoff against 2020 Champions Team Stern for the right to represent Switzerland at the 2021 World Women's Curling Championship, as the 2020 Worlds were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tirinzoni beat Stern in the playoff, and represented Switzerland at the World Championship, which was played in a bio-secure bubble in Calgary, Canada due to the pandemic. There, she led her rink to a 12–1 round robin record, including scoring a rare eight-ender against Denmark, the first time an eight-ender has ever been scored at a World Championship. In the playoffs, Tirinzoni defeated the United States in the semifinal, and then Alina Kovaleva representing RCF (Russia) in the final to win the gold medal, successfully defending her 2019 championship, becoming the first Swiss skip to win back to back titles. While also in the Calgary bubble, Team Tirinzoni played in two Grand Slam events, making the final at the 2021 Champions Cup and the semifinals at the 2021 Players' Championship.

Team Tirinzoni had a slow start to the 2021–22 season, not reaching any finals in their first five tour events. At the first two Slams, the 2021 Masters and the 2021 National, they went undefeated until losses in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively. At the 2021 European Curling Championships, the team failed to reach the playoffs for the first time, finishing in fifth with a 6–3 record. The next event the team played in was the 2022 Winter Olympics, where they found their footing for the first time during the season. They finished in first place after the preliminary round with an 8–1 round robin record. This earned them the top seed in the playoff round. They then, however, lost the semifinal to Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa and the bronze medal game to Sweden's Anna Hasselborg, placing fourth. Immediately after the Olympics, the team entered the Swiss Women's Curling Championship where they were once again able to defend their title, earning the right to represent Switzerland at the 2022 World Women's Curling Championship. At the championship, Team Tirinzoni dominated the competition, finishing the round robin with an unblemished 12–0 record. They then beat Sweden's Hasselborg in the semifinal to qualify once again for the world championship final where they would face South Korea's Kim Eun-jung. Switzerland took a three point lead early, but Korea was able to tie the match later on. In the end, Alina Pätz executed an open hit to win the match 7–6 and repeat for a third time as world women's curling champions. On April 25, the team announced that they would be splitting up at the end of the season, with front end Esther Neuenschwander and Melanie Barbezat stepping away from competitive curling. Team Tirinzoni ended their four year run together with the final two Slam events of the season, the 2022 Players' Championship and the 2022 Champions Cup, where they had quarterfinal and semifinal finishes respectively. On May 12, Tirinzoni and Pätz announced that they would be staying together and adding Carole Howald and Briar Schwaller-Hürlimann to their team for the 2022–23 season.

The new Tirinzoni rink found immediate success on tour, going undefeated in their first event to win the Summer Series. The following week, they lost to Team Clancy Grandy in the final of the 2022 Martensville International. The team next competed in the 2022 Women's Masters Basel where they lost in the semifinal to Raphaela Keiser. They bounced back immediately the following week at the 2022 Stu Sells Toronto Tankard, again going undefeated to claim their second event title of the season. Team Tirinzoni continued their strong play into the first Slam event of the season, the 2022 National. After an undefeated round robin record, the team beat Jennifer Jones 7–3 in the quarterfinals, Kaitlyn Lawes 7–5 in the semifinals, and Kerri Einarson 7–3 in the championship game to win their third tour event and Tirinzoni's third Grand Slam title. The team was back on the ice the following week at the 2022 Western Showdown where after dropping their first game, they won seven straight to claim another title. Team Tirinzoni's event streak came to an end at the 2022 Tour Challenge where after a 4–0 round robin record, they lost 9–2 in the quarterfinals to Isabella Wranå. Next for the team was the 2022 European Curling Championships where they finished third in the round robin with a 6–3 record. They then beat Italy's Stefania Constantini in the semifinal before dropping the championship game 8–4 to Denmark's Madeleine Dupont. After much success in the first half of the season, the team missed the playoffs at their next two events, the 2022 Masters and the 2023 Canadian Open. They rebounded, however, at the 2023 International Bernese Ladies Cup, going a perfect 8–0 to win the event. At the 2023 Swiss Women's Curling Championship, the team defended their title for a third year in a row, winning 6–4 over Corrie Hürlimann in the championship game. This qualified Team Tirinzoni for the 2023 World Women's Curling Championship where they continued their winning streak at the World Championship, again going 12–0 through the round robin. They then topped Sweden's Anna Hasselborg 8–4 to qualify for the final against Norway's Marianne Rørvik. Despite not having their best game, the Swiss team stole two in the tenth end to win the game 6–3 and secure their fourth consecutive World Championship title. With the win, the team also took the record for the most consecutive victories at the Women's World Championship, now at 36 games. Team Tirinzoni ended their season at the final two Slams of the season, the 2023 Players' Championship and the 2023 Champions Cup. At the Players', the team lost two straight before going on a six-game winning streak to qualify for the final. There, they lost 6–5 to Isabella Wranå. Prior to the Champions Cup, the team's last event of the season, they announced they had removed Briar Schwaller-Hürlimann from the team for "team harmony" reasons. The team made the decision while Schwaller-Hürlimann was playing in the 2023 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, but did not tell her until she travelled to Canada to play in the Champions Cup. Schwaller-Hürlimann was replaced by Rachel Erickson at the tournament, where they missed the playoffs with a 1–4 record. Days later, it was announced that Selina Witschonke was replacing Schwaller-Hürlimann on the team at second with Howald shifting to lead.

Personal life
Tirinzoni studied business administration at the University of Zurich and completed further training as a financial analyst and investment advisor. She worked for seven years as a project manager at a bank, and in 2019 she focused entirely on sports.

Grand Slam record

Former events

Teams

Notes

References

External links

 Team Tirinzoni's Home Page

Swiss female curlers
Living people
1979 births
Swiss people of Italian descent
Sportspeople from Zürich
People from Baden District, Aargau
Swiss curling champions
Continental Cup of Curling participants
Curlers at the 2018 Winter Olympics
Olympic curlers for Switzerland
World curling champions
Curlers at the 2022 Winter Olympics