Russian women's curling team

The Curling Federation of Russia was founded in 1991. In April 1992, she joined the World and European Curling Federations. In 1992, the Russian men's team was formed, which in the same year took part in the European Championships , and two years later a debut took place in official international competitions and the Russian women's national curling team at the European Championships held in December 1994 in the Swedish city ​​of Sundsvall . In their first match, held on December 4, the Russian curling women lost to the national team of Bulgaria with a score of 5:14. In the remaining three matches of the tournament In (2nd division of the European championship), the Russians won once (against the Wales team 10: 3) and lost twice (Czech Republic 4:10 and Luxembourg 5:15) and took the penultimate 16th place. Tatyana Smirnova , Irina Kolesnikova , Marina Cherepanova and Ekaterina Lisitskaya played in the debut competitions as part of the Russian team led by coach Yuri Shuliko . Over the next 5 years, the results of the Russian national team in the annual European championships were also very modest. Only in 1999, Russian curling women managed to enter the top ten teams of the continent according to the results of the European championship . At that tournament, Olga Andrianova , who led the Russian team for more than 12 years, made her debut as a head coach. Over the next three years, the national team was almost completely updated by attracting players from the Russian youth team, whose coach until 1999 worked as Andrianova. Of the old-timers, only Yana Nekrasova remained in the team, and Olga Zharkova , Nkeiruka Jezekh , Anastasia Skultan , Angela Tyuvaeva , Lyudmila Privivkova and others became newcomers in this period. It was this generation that ensured the further access of Russian curling to the world stage and the first victories on the European continent.

The first local success came to the Russian team in 2000, when the team became the 7th at the European Championships , thereby winning a ticket to the 2001 World Cup . The debut world championship for the Russians was unsuccessful - only the 9th (penultimate) place. In December of the same year, the Russian team again took 7th place at Euro 2001 , securing an Olympic debut.

In 2002, the Russian women's team for the first time took part in the Olympic curling tournament , but became only the 10th, closing the standings. On the account of Russian athletes there is only one victory (over Denmark 7: 5) and 8 defeats.

In December of the same year, the Russian national team at the next European Championship stopped only one step away from the medals, losing to the future champions in the semifinals - the Swedish national team , and to the Norwegians in the bronze match. The Russian team repeated the same result (4th place) and two years later at Euro 2004 .

Since 2005, the Russian team has firmly become one of the strongest national teams in Europe and the world. Already not a single official international tournament ( Olympics , World and European Championships ) could do without her participation, and in 2006 the first resounding success came to the Russian curling women. The Russian team, which had never before reached the medals, won 11 victories in 12 matches at the European Championships held in Basel in Switzerland and won gold medals in the European Championship. In the final, the Italian national team was confidently beaten with a score of 9: 4 ^[3] . The Russian team included Lyudmila Privivkova , Olga Zharkova , Nkeiruka Ezekh , Ekaterina Galkina and Margarita Fomina .

The next appearance of the Russian team on the European podium happened only after 5 years. At the Moscow European Curling Championship 2011, the Russians lost to the Scottish national team in the semifinals, but in the match for bronze medals they confidently beat the Danes with a score of 13: 7.

Despite European successes, Russian curling women performed modestly at world championships and Olympic tournaments. The best result at the Olympics for the Russian national team was 6th place in 2006 , and in 2010 in Vancouver, Russians became only the penultimate of the 10 participating teams. After an unsuccessful result at the 2012 World Championships held in Canadian Lethridge , where the Russian team became only the 9th, her long-time coach Olga Andrianova (now the head of the Turkish team) resigned.

In July 2012, Swiss Thomas Lips ^{[4] was} appointed the new coach of the Russian national team, under whose leadership the Swiss women's team won gold awards at the 2012 World Cup mentioned above. In 2009-2010, Lips led the Swiss men's team , with whom he became second in 2009 at the European Championships , and a year later, third at the Olympics in Vancouver, Canada .

The first tournament, led by a new head coach, ended victoriously for the Russian national team. At the European Championships held in Sweden in Karlstad in December 2012, the Russian team regained the title of the strongest on the European continent after a 6-year break. In the semifinals, Russian curling women outplayed the hostesses of the Swedish tournament 8: 6, and in the final in a bitter struggle they pulled out a victory in an additional end from the current European champions of the Scottish national team 6: 5 ^[5] . Two-time champions of the continent were Lyudmila Privivkova , Nkeiruka Ezekh , Margarita Fomina , Ekaterina Galkina . The first gold medal in the skip asset of Anna Sidorova’s team ^[6] . It should be noted that in this composition the curling women of the Russian team have been performing since February 2010 , having already held 7 official tournaments in a row together.

In September 2013, Thomas Lips, head coach of the national team, made an unexpected decision to exclude from the national team its long-term leader Lyudmila Privivkova ^[7] . Instead, Alexander Saitov was included in the national team. At the European Championships in November of the same year in Norwegian Stavanger, the Russian team was unable to reach the semifinals of the playoffs, taking the final 5th place and thereby resigning the powers of the champions of the continent.

At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, the national team rode in the status of one of the contenders for prizes, but performed unsuccessfully at the tournament, taking only 9th place in the preliminary stage with three wins and six defeats.

An unfortunate failure at the home Olympics became a good irritant for the team and at a world championship held a month later in Canada's St. John’s , Russian curling women for the first time during their participation in the world rivals overcame the preliminary stage, reaching the playoffs. In the semifinal match, the Russian team lost to the South Korean national team 5: 9, and then defeated it in a duel for bronze medals 7: 6. Thus, the Russian team for the first time became the winner of the World Cup.

In the summer of that year, the Swiss national team coach Thomas Lips resigned. The coaching tandem of the national team was formed, consisting of Svetlana Kalab and Swiss Roger Schmidt.

In November 2014, at the next European Championship , held in Switzerland , Russian curling women showed an outstanding result at the preliminary stage, defeating their rivals in all 9 matches held. At the same time, only one match with the participation of Russians (with the German national team) included all 10 periods (endov) set according to the regulation. In other meetings, the Russian team forced opponents to admit defeat ahead of schedule. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough Russian curling women for the whole tournament and in the final match they lost to the hostesses of the competition - the Swiss national team - 7: 8.

In March 2015, at the World Championships in Sapporo, the Russian team managed to repeat its bronze success a year ago.

In November 2015, the Danish Esbjerg national team of Russia confidently won the European Championship , becoming a three-time winner of European championships. At the preliminary stage, the Russians took first place with 8 wins and one defeat, in the semifinals with a score of 6: 5 they defeated the hosts of the tournament - the Danes , and in the final they were stronger than the Scottish team , defeating it with a score of 6: 4. Margarita Fomina and Nkeiruk Yezekh became the three-time champions of the Old World, the skip of the team Anna Sidorova , the first team Alexandra Raeva (Saitova) and Alina Kovaleva became two-time champions.

In March 2016, the Russian team became a three-time (in a row) bronze medalist of the world championships, winning medals at the world championship in Canadian Swift-Carrent. Anna Sidorova, Margarita Fomina, Alexandra Raeva, Nkeiruk Yezekh and Alina Kovaleva played for the Russian team.

In anticipation of the 2016/2017 season, in order to identify the team that will play under the flag of the Russian national team at the upcoming European Championships, the Super Cup was held for the second time, in which the teams of skips Anna Sidorova and Victoria Moiseeva opposed. In a series of up to four victories, a victory with a score of 4-2 was won by a team led by Moiseeva, whose players formed the national team of Russia at Euro 2016 ^[8] .

The European Championship 2016 was held in Renfrew, Scotland and ended with the victory of the Russian team, which consisted of athletes who had no previous experience in playing for the national team in classical curling in official competitions. At the preliminary stage, the Russians took 4th place with 6 victories and three defeats, and in the semi-finals they confidently outplayed the Scottish national team 11: 6, despite the fact that before that the Scottish women had not suffered a single defeat. The final, in which the national teams of Russia and Sweden met, passed in a bitter struggle and only the last stone determined the champion, who became the team of Russia for the 4th time in its history and the second time in a row, albeit in a completely new composition. The European champions are Victoria Moiseeva (skip), Ulyana Vasilieva (vice-skip), Galina Arsenkina , Julia Guziyova , Julia Portunova (sweepers).

In order to determine the team that would represent Russia at the World Cup, a series of matches was again held between the teams of Anna Sidorova and Victoria Moiseeva. This time the victory went to the Sidorova team and it was she who went to the World Cup in Beijing under the flag of the national team. Having started the tournament not too successfully, when after 5 matches the Russians had 3 losses, in the course of the group round the Russian curling women won 6 consecutive wins and finished in 2nd place. In a duel for direct access to the finals, the Russian team lost to the Canadians , but having defeated the Swedish team in the semifinals, she again reached Canada in the decisive match of the championship. The Russians did not succeed in the finals - the Canadian team, unbeaten at the tournament, left no chance for the Russian athletes, beating them with a score of 8: 3, but the silver won at the end of the tournament was the highest achievement of the Russian national team at the world championships. In addition to Anna Sidorova, silver medalists were Margarita Fomina, Alexander Raev, Nkeiruk Yezekh and Alina Kovaleva.

At the European Championships 2017 , held in November in Swiss St. Gallen , the Russian team was represented by the skip team Anna Sidorova. For the first time in 4 years, Russians were left without medals, taking only 5th place at the preliminary stage of the championship. In a series of qualifying matches to determine the Olympic composition of the national team, held at the end of December 2017 in Sochi , the teams of skips Sidorova and Moiseeva met and Victoria Moiseeva won a landslide victory, having four times defeated their rivals in five matches. At the Olympic Games in Korean Pyeongchang themselves, the Russian team of Moiseeva performed frankly weakly, taking the 9th (penultimate) place with two victories and seven defeats.

After the failure at the Olympics, the team of Moiseeva without Vasilyeva, but with the most experienced reserve Anna Sidorova, took part in the World Championship in Canadian North Bay. At the preliminary stage, the team took 4th place, defeating the teams of Germany , Denmark , USA , Czech Republic , Switzerland , Scotland and Japan , but losing to China , Canada , South Korea , Sweden and Italy . In an additional match for reaching the semifinals, the Russians beat the Czech national team 7: 3, and in the semifinal they lost to the Olympic champions Pyeongchang of the Swedish national team 6: 7. In the bronze match, the Russian team defeated the US team with a score of 6: 5. Thus, the Moiseeva team won the World Cup medals for the first time.

In October 2018, in a series of matches for the right to represent Russia at the upcoming European Championship, two teams met - Alina Kovaleva ( Kovaleva , Bryzgalova , Arsenkin , Kuzmina , Vasilyev ) skips and Anna Sidorova ( Sidorova , Fomina , Portunova , Guziyova , Jezekh ). Having won with a total score of 4-1 under the Russian flag, the skip team Kovaleva went to the European Championship , but in the end was left without medals. The same situation was repeated on the eve of the 2019 World Cup , when the team led by Kovalyova replayed the Sidorova quintet, which was significantly updated compared to previous seasons. At the world championship, the Russians confidently overcame the preliminary stage, having won 9 victories in 12 matches, but in the quarterfinal they suffered a sensitive defeat from the Japanese team and already at this stage they dropped out of the fight for awards.

Russian national team in the season 2018—2019

• The head coach is Igor Minin .
• Trainer - Irina Kolesnikova .

As of the end of March 2019, the Russian women's team has 482 official matches held in competitions under the auspices of the World Curling Federation and the European Curling Federation as part of the Olympic Games , World Championships and European Championships . Of these, 248 were won, 234 lost.

Olympic Games

В олимпийском турнире 1998 года сборная России участия не принимала.

World Championships

В чемпионатах мира 1992—2000, 2004 и 2006 годов сборная России участия не принимала.

European Championships

В чемпионатах Европы 1992 и 1993 годов сборная России участия не принимала.

В рамках официальных турниров сборная России встречалась с национальными командами 26 стран.

Всего в составе сборной России в официальных турнирах, проведённых в период с декабря 1994 по март 2019 года под эгидой WCF и ECF , выступало 27 кёрлингисток.

• Цветом выделены игроки сборной России, выступавшие за неё в сезоне 2018-2019.

Скипы

Татьяна Смирнова (1994—1996, 1998), Екатерина Лисицкая (1997), Нина Головченко (1999—2001), Ольга Жаркова (2001—2004), Людмила Прививкова (2005—2011), Анна Сидорова (2011—2016, 2017), Виктория Моисеева (2016, 2018), Алина Ковалёва (2018, 2019).

• 1994 —   Юрий Шулико
• 1995 —   Йозеф Валхли
• 1996—1998 —   Татьяна Смирнова
• 1999—2012 —   Ольга Андрианова
• 2012—2014 —   Томас Липс
• 2014—2016, 2017 —   Светлана Калалб
• 2016, 2018 —   Сергей Беланов
• from 2018 -   Игорь Минин

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  In the game, the Russian team (Olympics 2010)

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  Nkeiruka Jezekh, Anna Sidorova, Ekaterina Galkina (2010 Olympics)

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  Lyudmila Privivkova

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  Nkeiruka Jezekh

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  Ekaterina Galkina (2014 Olympics)

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  Alexandra Saitova (2014 Olympics)

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  Ekaterina Galkina, Alexandra Saitova and Margarita Fomina (2014 Olympics)

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  Russian national team (2014 Olympics)

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  Victoria Moiseeva

• Russian men's curling team
• Mixed Russian Curling Team
• Mixed Doubles Curling Team of Russia
• Wheelchair Curling Team of Russia

• Russian national teams on the website of the Russian Curling Federation
• Russian national teams on the site "Curling in Russia"
• Russian women's team on the WCF results and statistics website