This was the pair's third match in an event which has started ahead of Friday's grand opening ceremony.

In the curling group stages, all 10 nations that qualified are to play each other, making nine matches apiece. The top four go through to the medals games next Tuesday.

The Estonian duo had suffered a painful defeat in Wednesday's tournament opener, as they came back from a deficit against Swiss husband-and-wife team Briar Schwaller-Hürlimann and Yannick Schwaller. However after a deciding extra end, Kaldvee and Lill lost 9:7.

Then on Thursday morning came another more decisive loss, 10:5 to Great Britain.

The Great Britain team, in reality Scotland, as both players, Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat, hail from the ancestral home of curling, won the first two ends with last stone advantage to go 2:0 up, but Estonia repeated the favor in the second end. In the fourth end. Dodds, part of the Great Britain women's team gold medalists at the last winter games in Beijing, missed her final shot for the Scots pair, giving Kaldvee a chance to level the score. However, the Estonian's shot came up short and the team only scored one point.

In the sixth end, Estonia used their power play (see rules below) and Kaldvee's decisive shot reduced the deficit to 6:5 in favor of Scotland/Great Britain, but in the seventh end the latter team capitalized on their own power play after a missed shot by Lill, scoring four points and taking the match 10:5.

Mouat was also a Beijing 2022 Olympic silver medalist in the men's event, and the pair won the mixed doubles world title in front of a home crowd in Aberdeen the year before.

Next came Sweden after the first two disappointing losses, and this opponent would be no pushover either: Sister-brother pair Isabella and Rasmus Wrana were world champions two years ago, and beat Kaldvee and Lill 8:4 in that 2024 final.

On Thursday, Estonia laid the foundation for success in the second end, where they managed to score three points. In addition, they stole a point from their opponents in both the fifth and sixth ends.

Before the final end, Estonia led 6:5, holding the last stone advantage together with a power play. Estonia capitalized on the favorable situation, secured the necessary point and took a satisfying 7:5.

The pair are next in action today, Friday, against hosts Italy, with five more round robin preliminary matches to go after that. The other qualifiers are: Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Norway, South Korea and the U.S.

Rules of the game

Mixed doubles curling is a fast-paced and engaging discipline from a spectator's perspective as well as a player's. Strategy and anticipating an opponent's moves play a key role. What distinguishes mixed doubles from traditional curling is that teams have significantly less playing time, resulting in a brisker tempo and pressure to think on the hoof, or the skate, and make quick decisions.

Players are also mic'ed-up, allowing the crowd to hear their discussions and better understand strategies and pressures.

Stones and ends

A match consists of eight ends, with each team throwing five stones per end.

Before each end begins, one stone from each team is pre-positioned on the ice. The team with last stone advantage places its stone in the "house," while the opponent's stone is placed in front of the house as a "guard." Removing the opponent's stones from the house is not allowed until the fourth stone has been played.

One of the two players must throw the first and last stones, in Estonia's case usually Kaldvee, while the other player — Lill for Estonia — is responsible for the second, third and fourth stones.

The order can switch as needed, and both players are permitted to sweep the ice during play as they wish.

At least six ends must be played between pairs. If the score is tied after the eighth end, an extra end is played, as was the case in the Estonia-Switzerland game.

Scoring system

An end is declared over when both teams have thrown all five of their stones, while only stones that are inside or touching the rings count for scoring.

The overall aim is to place stones as close as possible to the center of the scoring area, ie. the house. Only the team with the stone closest to the center scores points, while additional points are awarded for stones that are closer to the center than the opponent's nearest stone. For example, if at the end of an end three red stones are closest to the center while the nearest blue stone is fourth closest, the red team would score three to blue's zero.

Last stone advantage

Last stone advantage, or the "hammer," means a team has the right to throw the final stone in that end. The final shot gives an advantage to turn the situation in the favor of the team on the hammer.

If a team scores points in an end, the hammer goes to the opponent.

In mixed doubles curling, an end generally does not finish scoreless, but if it does, the last stone advantage passes to the opponent.

When holding the hammer, teams aim to score at least two points. A team without the hammer tries to limit the opponent to just one point, in order to gain last stone advantage in the next end and attempt to score two points themselves.

Steal

A steal refers to a situation where the team without last stone advantage scores points in that end. A steal demonstrates that the team defended effectively and had forced the opponent into making mistakes. This is often a major tactical success which can swing the course of the game.

Power play

Power play, or PP, as seen in the Estonia-Sweden clash, is an option that each team may use once during a match in a single end. It is specially marked on the scoreboard. During a power play end, the pre-positioned stones are placed to the side of the sheet instead of in the center line, diagonally toward the edge. This creates a better opportunity for the team using the power play to score multiple points or to secure a single point. The opponent's aim is to prevent that.

The definitive rules of curling are available from the World Curling organization here.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and X and never miss an update!