New Swiss front end named
Swiss aces Silvana Tirinzoni and Alina Paetz have selected their new front end.
Briar Huerlimann and Carole Howald have made the grade.
In a somewhat mysterious social media post, the images of the two new players are revealed without text, only music.
Huerlimann, 28, recently played third for skip Elena Stern. Their team defeated Tirinzoni at the 2020 Swiss Championships but missed out on competing at the 2020 worlds due to the pandemic.
The Stern team proved to be strong rivals to Tirinzoni, and grabbed a decent share of World Curling Tour cash in the last quadrennial.
Stern, however, stunned the curling world by abruptly retiring from the sport—at just age 26—after the 2021 season.
Huerlimann is the daughter of 1998 Olympic men’s champion skip Patrick Huerlimann, who married Canadian Janet Omand after meeting her in Ontario.
Also joining Team Tirinzoni in a full-time capacity is their faithful alternate of the past two seasons, Carole Howald.
Howald, 29, has an unprecedented five world women’s championship medals—all earned as Swiss national team alternate—and recently played third for Team Irene Schori, who announced their disbandment in March.
“I’m thrilled and excited to hit the ice with this team,” said Howald.
“We can benefit from each other and we can push each other to the next level, which is crucial to maintain our competitive edge in the next few years.”
Huerlimann also spared for Paetz and a Grand Slam event in 2016, and served as alternate for Paetz at the 2017 worlds.
Three-time world champions Esther Neuenschwander and Melanie Barbezat announced their departures from Team Tirinzoni, and their retirements, in April.