Xenia Schwaller and her Swiss squad were at the head of the class all week at the World Women's Curling Championship and passed the last test in Sunday's final.

Schwaller defeated Kerri Einarson's Canadian club 7-5 to win the gold medal at Calgary's WinSport Event Centre.

After losing 6-3 to Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa in the opening session, Schwaller rolled right through the rest of the field with 11 consecutive wins to finish first overall. Switzerland then beat Sweden's Isabella Wranå 8-5 in the semifinals.

It's been a meteoric rise for the Zurich-based team of Schwaller, third Selina Gafner, second Fabienne Rieder and lead Selina Rychiger since capturing gold at the world juniors just two years ago.

Right out of the gate this season, the 23-year-old Schwaller won two of her first three events on tour at the Oslo Cup and AMJ Shorty Jenkins Classic and sported a 16-1 record. Her team, ranked sixth in the world, qualified for the playoffs in a Grand Slam of Curling event for the first time at the AMJ Masters in September, and took another step by reaching the semifinals at the CO-OP Tour Challenge and KIOTI GSOC Tahoe events in the fall.

Both semis ended with losses to compatriot Silvana Tirinzoni, who won four straight world titles from 2019-23. A week after Tirinzoni earned Olympic silver at Milano Cortina, her team fell to Schwaller in the best-of-three final at the Swiss curling championships.

Team Schwaller shot 88.8 per cent during the round robin, with Schwaller, Gafner and Rieder all making the all-star team after leading their positions. Canada's Karlee Burgess denied the clean sweep, finishing just ahead of Rychiger among all leads.

Canada capped the round robin in second place at 10-2 and brushed aside Japan 11-3 in the semis.

Einarson, who earned bronze medals at the event in 2022 and 2023, was looking to avenge a 6-5 extra-end loss to Schwaller in the round robin and win Canada's third straight gold. Rachel Homan defeated Tirinzoni in the 2024 and 2025 finals.

But Einarson couldn't upend Schwaller, who started the final with the hammer and never trailed.

Schwaller opened the scoring with a draw for a deuce in the second end. Einarson avoided a wreck on her last in the fourth, grazing the top stone to roll in and count two points to tie it.

The five-time Canadian champ Einarson came up light on her last in the fifth, allowing Schwaller to hit and stick for another pair of points and grab a 4-2 lead heading into the break.

After Einarson was forced to draw for a single in six, she made a game-saver in seven to sit two. The double for a potential multiple score looked too tricky, and Schwaller opted to hit for a single. However, Schwaller's shooter rolled away as she gave up a steal to tie it 4-4.

That seventh end was the lone blip on the board, though, as Schwaller regrouped to split the rings in the eighth and draw for the go-ahead deuce.

Einarson's double-run-double in the ninth resulted in just a single as Schwaller held the hammer coming home with a one-point advantage. Schwaller didn't need to throw her last, as Einarson was unable to tap the shot rock back far enough to outcount it.

Team Schwaller shot 88 per cent, with Team Einarson close behind at 86.

Schwaller's breakout season continues with Rock League as she will play on Maple United, alongside Burgess, for the inaugural season, April 6-12 at TMU Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto. Gafner joins Alpine Curling Club, while Einarson is on Shield Curling Club.

NOTES

• Switzerland and Canada have combined to win the past 12 gold medals at the women’s worlds.

• Schwaller is the first skip to win gold at the women's worlds in her debut since compatriot Alina Pätz in 2015.

• Schwaller holds a 4-1 head-to-head record against Einarson. The first time they met was at the 2024 Players' Championship, Schwaller's Grand Slam debut event, with Schwaller earning her first win in the series, 6-4.

• Canada's Shannon Birchard has now won a medal of every colour at the World Women's Curling Championship. On top of the two bronze medals with Einarson, she also captured gold as the alternate on Jennifer Jones's team in 2018.

• Sweden scored five points in the eighth end and defeated Japan 8-5 to win the bronze medal earlier Sunday.

• Somehow, Schwaller's coach John Epping found time during the event to announce his new men's team. The Toronto-based skip will play out of Manitoba next season with third B.J. Neufeld, second Ryan Wiebe and lead Ian McMillan.

Lead photo courtesy of Curling Canada/Michael Burns