Move comes months after leaving Italy
Almost eight months after leaving his pivotal role with Curling Italia, Claudio Pescia has joined Swiss Curling.
Pescia, who competed for both nations from 1994 through 2008—including an appearance at the 2006 Olympics for Switzerland—was announced as new SWISSCURLING Head of Sports this week.
The 61-year-old achieved historic results as Italian curling’s recent National Coach and High-Performance Director.
In his time there, Pescia oversaw Beijing 2022’s Olympic gold in mixed doubles, Team Joel Retornaz’ world men’s medals and Grand Slam stardom, Team Stefania Contantini’s world top 10 women’s status, and even a debut world medal (silver) for Italy’s junior men.
Pescia abruptly left Italy last May, alluding to politics in a social media post.
“From my point of view, the Olympics are overrated and can lead to strange behaviours in some people,” Pescia wrote.
Swiss Curling is also making structural management changes to its organization. Patrick Reber also joins as the new Head of Operations, replacing current CEO Tom Seger at the end of March.
Pescia will replace former teammate Marco Battilana, who is leaving the association at the end of January after a strong 13-year career in junior development and, most recently, as chief of high performance.
“I am honoured to have been appointed by the President and the Board of Directors and grateful for the trust placed in me,” said Pescia in a statement. “I look forward to taking on this challenge with great respect and my usual passion for curling.
“Today, (SWISSCURLING) is strong in many respects and is in a relatively comfortable situation. However, we must not lose sight of the fact that the competition is not sitting idly by and that there is still great potential for improvement and sustainability.
“I am convinced that with Patrick Reber and the in-depth knowledge he brings, we will form a strong management team.”
As Head of Sports, Pescia will work closely with athletes and coaches and will lead the sport development of both juniors and elite teams.
Pescia’s replacement in Italy is former Retornaz teammate Marco Mariani, who recently guided China’s women’s team to a seventh-place finish in Beijing.
Mariani caused an immediate stir by firing Italian women’s team and mixed doubles coach Violetta Caldart. Mariani appointed Sweden’s Soren Grahn, who also coached in China with Mariani, as Caldart’s replacement.
Pescia, who coached Switzerland’s Peter de Cruz prior to his Italian duties, starts his new role on May 1.