Curling: Olympic qualification: DCV with the back to the wall

The men’s DCV men’s team will face the wall at the Olympic qualification in Pilsen, Czech Republic, after their third defeat in the fifth game.

The team around Skip Alexander Baumann (Rastatt) was defeated Denmark on Friday morning after an indisputable performance with 1:6. The game was already over after the eighth of ten possible ends.

In the fight for one of the two tickets to the Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea (9. till 25. February) for Baumann and Co. now tight. In the last two games on Friday evening (19.00 hrs) against Russia and on Saturday afternoon (13.30 hrs) against Finland, two victories must be achieved in order to reach at least third place.

In a play-off on Sunday morning (8.00) the first player of the preliminary round against the second player plays the first ticket. The loser of the duel gets another chance against the third player in the afternoon (16.00).

The German women’s team around Skip Daniela Jentsch (feet) kept their slim chances for third place by beating Finland 6:4 on Friday afternoon. With two victories at three defeats, the team will be fifth in the final preliminary round on Saturday morning (9.00) against the leaders of the standings, China. In addition to their own victory, German women are dependent on support in the other games.

Should both DCV teams fail in Pilsen, it would be the first time since the Olympic premiere of the sport at the 1998 Winter Games that Germany is not represented. The German champions Julia Meißner and Andy Büttner (Geising) had already missed the qualification for the first round in mixed doubles.