Switzerland's Schwaller beats Canada's Einarson 7-5 for women's world curling gold

Team Canada skip Kerri Einarson, centre, delivers a stone against Switzerland as lead Karlee Burgess, left, and second Shannon Birchard sweep during the gold medal draw at the World Women’s Curling Championship in Calgary, Sunday, March 22, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

CALGARY — Kerri Einarson’s bid for a first women’s world curling championship fell short in a 7-5 loss in Sunday’s final to Switzerland.

Einarson’s team from Manitoba’s Gimli Curling Club took the silver medal at Calgary’s Winsport Event Centre.

Einarson’s teams were bronze medallists in 2022 and 2023.

The podium upgrade felt bittersweet for the 38-year-old skip, whose twin daughters were among family members in the stands.

“It’s definitely tough, but at the end of the day it’s not the end of the world,” Einarson said. “I look up and see my girls standing there and I don’t want them to think that losing is the end of the world.

“It’s still pretty special to be able to bring home a medal. We wanted gold, but silver is pretty special, too. The girls told me when I gave them a hug ‘it’s an upgrade mum.’”

Einarson, third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard and lead Karlee Burgess ran up against a formidable young Swiss side again Sunday after an extra-end loss to them in pool play.

Switzerland’s Xenia Schwaller, Selina Gafner, Fabienne Rieder and Selina Rychiger, with an average age of 22.5, gave the Canadians little margin for error Sunday.

The 2024 world junior champions had beaten four-time world champion Silvana Tirinzoni twice in a best-of-three final to represent Switzerland in Calgary.

Einarson ranked fifth and Schwaller sixth in World Curling women’s rankings. The Swiss made fewer mistakes Sunday.

Einarson was short on draws in the fifth and the 10th ends. With the exception of 96 per cent shooting accuracy by Burgess, the Canadians were outplayed.

Swiss second Rieder was 99 per cent on her 17 takeouts thrown.

“They didn’t really miss,” Einarson said. “They didn’t give us many opportunities.

“My draw was just an inch too short. The game’s a game of inches and I just felt like that we couldn’t get things going either, just trying to like get rocks in play, and yeah, nothing was really working.”

The Swiss skip said few in her home country had confidence in her team’s chances in Calgary.

“It’s always nice to prove the haters wrong, but we didn’t really try to give them too much attention because we knew that we can play well and we knew we have a good chance for a medal here if we perform as well as we can,” Schwaller stated. “Now we did and that feels really good.”

Canada converted hammer into two points just once in the game in the fourth end.

Schwaller rolling out on a hit in the seventh gave up a steal of one and tied the game 4-4, but the Swiss rebounded with a deuce in the eighth.

Einarson’s difficult raise to try for two in the ninth produced just a single. The Canadians trailed 6-5 coming home without hammer.

Schwaller didn’t have to throw her final stone of the 10th when Einarson was light on a draw.

“All of us wanted a couple shots here and there,” Einarson said. “I made some really great ones too, some key hits and rolls to even keep us in the game.”

Canada and Switzerland met in the final a third straight year after Canada’s Rachel Homan beat Tirinzoni for gold in both 2025 and 2024.

Sweden’s Isabella Wranaa defeated Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa 8-5 for the bronze medal earlier Sunday.

The men’s world championship opens Friday in Ogden, Utah.

Matt Dunstone will wear the Maple Leaf for the first time after winning his first Brier earlier this month in St. John’s, N.L.

Canada opens Friday afternoon against South Korea.

After finishing third in November’s Olympic trials, Einarson claimed her fifth Canadian title Feb. 1 in Mississauga, Ont.

Her team earned the right to return to the 2027 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Charlottetown as Team Canada.

Einarson was noncommittal on the team’s future.

“I don’t know yet. I’m not sure,” the skip said. “I’m not getting any younger either. I’m definitely not retiring, so we’ll see what happens going forward.”

NOTES: Japan’s third Yoshida Chinami was presented with the Frances Brodie Award during the closing ceremony. The recipient of the award is selected by players to honour the curler who best exemplified the traditional curling values of skill, honesty, fair play, friendship and sportsmanship.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 22, 2026.

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press