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Tirinzoni to represent Switzerland at Winter Olympics

Team Tirinzoni will be Team Switzerland at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Tirinzoni completed a 6-0 run Friday in the Swiss Olympic Trials against Team Feltscher and Team Paetz in Biel, Switzerland. Since it was a clean sweep through the triple round-robin there was no playoff round required.

The Aarau-based crew features skip Silvana Tirinzoni, third Manuela Siegrist, second Esther Neuenschwander and lead Marlene Albrecht. Gerry Adam, from Yorkton, Sask., coaches the team. They captured the inaugural Tour Challenge Tier 1 title in 2015 and are currently ranked fourth on the World Curling Tour’s Order of Merit.

It’ll be Tirinzoni’s first trip to the Olympics. Mirjam Ott, who now coaches Team Paetz, skipped Switzerland at the past three Winter Games settling for silver in 2006 and finishing fourth in 2010 and 2014.

Tirinzoni joins Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg, Great Britain’s Eve Muirhead, Russia’s Anna Sidorova, Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa and EunJung Kim of South Korea among those who have already punched their Olympic tickets on the women’s side.

Peter de Cruz’s team was selected over the summer to represent Switzerland in the Winter Olympics men’s tournament. Sweden’s Niklas Edin, Great Britain’s Kyle Smith, Japan’s Yusuke Morozumi and Chang-Min Kim of South Korea are also bound with Thomas Ulsrud in for Norway on the condition his team qualifies for the playoffs at the European Championships.

Canada will determine its teams in December at the Roar of the Rings tournament taking place in Ottawa.

Curling at the 2018 Winter Olympics will run Feb. 8-25 starting with mixed doubles.