Switzerland's new-look men's team has qualified for the final of the 2006 Le Gruyère European Curling Championship.

2002 Olympic bronze medallist skip Andreas Schwaller, now teamed with former world junior champion skip Ralph Stöckli at third stone, grabbed three points over the final two ends to pull away from Scotland's David Murdoch 9-5 and is through to Saturday afternoon's final (live on Eurosport, 3:30pm local).

The Swiss will face Murdoch again, after the defending world champions dropped down to the semi-final and beat Sweden's Per Carlsen 5-2. The Swedes had defeated Germany's former European champion Sebastian Stock 6-4 in the Page 3/4 game to advance. Carlsen will be awarded the bronze medal.

Meanwhile, the women's Page playoff 1/2 match saw Italy's Diana Gaspari upend previously undefeated Russia 7-5 to qualify for Saturday's women’s final (Sunday morning on Eurosport). The Russians then recovered in the semi-final to defeat Mirjam Ott of Switzerland by a 7-5 count on the strength of a stunning last-rock raise double-takeout and will face Italy in the final-game rematch. Ott had earlier upended Scotland's Rhona Martin 8-3 in the women's Page 3/4 matchup.

Both top two round-robin finishers in men's and women's play will meet again, for the third time in the competition, in the European Championship finals.

"It was finally time to beat Murdoch," said Stöckli, a rival Swiss skip who was appointed to the starting lineup just weeks before the start of the event.

"I have had very bad losses to (Murdoch), all the time, and then you start to get deja vu. So obviously I needed to play with Andi to beat him."

Scotland had beaten the Swiss 8-3 in the round-robin but, in comparison to Stöckli, Schwaller is armed with a better career head-to-record against Murdoch, also the 2003 European champion.

"I like to play him," said Schwaller. "It's always a great game and there are no surprises. Unless they miss, then that's a surprise.

"I was hoping we would play strong early in the week and we did. We were very good today. I knew if I had a good week myself we would be very close, and now we are in the final."

The game matched up well in statistics, with both Schwaller and Murdoch firing a 78 in shooting percentage. Overall, the Swiss outshot the Scots 85 per cent to 80 per cent.

The hometown Swiss teams have benefitted from strong boisterious crowds during the week, and Schwaller is excited by the prospect of a packed St. Jakob Arena on Saturday. However, he has a message for Swiss curling officials.

"If we get a thousand new spectators tomorrow, that doesn't mean we will get 1,000 new curlers," he said. "They need to make the transfer from fan to participant, and we have to try harder to make this happen."

Switzerland, which boasts a strong Olympic curling legacy, has 50 dedicated club facilities and over 13,000 participants. 8,000 of those are registered with the national association.

The women's semi-final marked the bronze-coloured end of a wild ride for Ott's team, last year's European and Olympic silver medallists. Alternate Manuela Kormann was brought into the lineup after their 0-3 start, and they reeled off seven straight wins before falling to Russian skip Ludmila Privivkova in the semi. Along the way, Ott careened and lurched through her victories, surrendering late steals before prevailing, and even suffering a spectacular fall during a winning shot attempt on Wednesday.

It was never a question of "if" but of "when" for Russia's national women's team, and the "when" may be occurring right now at the 2006 Le Gruyère European Curling Championships.

Under the leadership of 20-year-old skip Ludmila Privivkova, the defending world junior champion, Russia's national women's team became the first squad to qualify for the playoffs after a 7-3 win over Sweden Tuesday afternoon. Russia is undefeated at 7-0, two games clear of second-place Germany (5-2).

Five teams - Scotland, Denmark, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland - are clutching at third place with 4-3 records. The Swiss almost dropped out of that group after surrendering three consecutive steals late in their match against Norway, but skip Mirjam Ott finally won it 6-5 in an extra-end.

After showing steady improvement since their debut in 1995, Russia's current lineup of athletes broke through last year with the junior crown and a strong fifth-place finish at the Olympic Winter Games in Turin.

"It was a big deal, fifth place was very good for our team," said the telegenic Privivkova. "It was the first time we beat (Anette) Norberg and to do it at the Olympics was great."

Norberg, winner of the vaunted "triple crown" last year, lost only three games in Olympic, World and European championship play.

Privivkova's only hiccup in 2005 was last year's Euro shootout in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. A 2-9 record meant an eighth-place finish and a challenge match series against Germany for the right to compete at the world championship. German veteran Andrea Schöpp beat the Russians twice in the best-of-three series to advance, but this year's fast start by the Russians has them two games ahead of Schöpp and all others... and their major goal is within easy reach.

"First for us is to qualify for worlds, and then to win medals at Olympics," Privivkova said. "Top seven here and you go to worlds and then you get the Olympic points, that is the focus."

And her first adult-aged championship title, such as the European Championship?

"Yes, that would be nice too," she smiled.

Russia faced Sweden late this afternoon, and faces Germany and Norway to finish up the round-robin.

In men's play, Scotland's defending world champion David Murdoch moved to sole possession of first-place at 6-0 after pounding host Switzerland 8-3. Andi Schwaller's Swiss fell to 5-1 while Finland, Germany and Norway are tied for third at 4-2. Three men's draws remain leading into Thursday's tiebreakers (if necessary) followed by Friday's semi-finals.

Scotland's David Murdoch bounced back from his first loss to crush Ireland 7-1 and clinch a berth in Friday's 1 versus 2 playoff match at the 2006 Le Gruyère European Curling Championships.

Scotland are guaranteed at least a bronze medal, as there is no third-place playoff in the ECC format.

Murdoch, the defending world champion and the 2003 Euro champion, led Ireland's Robin Gray 5-0 after just three ends, and finished the match after six.

The Scots lead the field at 7-1 with one match still to play. Tuesday night they lost for the first time, 9-7 to Denmark.

"It's good to get back on top, that was the plan today," Murdoch said. "We wanted to make sure we got the win to guarantee one-two for the playoffs."

The squad's first goal of finishing in the top seven - to qualify for March's Ford World Championships in Edmonton, Canada - was met long ago. Now, with a podium finish assured, the personable full-time curler from Lockerbie has his sights on gold.

"Oh yeah, we're not here to come into any other position," Murdoch said. "We're on track, we're here to win."

Amazingly, the squad is still without some luggage lost on Thursday, after a series of travel misadventures. Long gone is the broom bag and its cargo of carbon-fibre and nylon brushes, worth about USD $300 each.  After borrowing the Swiss women's teams brushes to start the week, the exasperated Scots purchased new weapons and are tempted to send the bill to the offending airline.

In other matches, Germany's Sebastian Stock made a sharp angle-raise takout to score three and eventually dispatch Switzerland's Andreas Schwaller 6-3, while France's Thomas Dufour walloped Finland's Markku Uusipaavalniemi 6-2. Norway's Thomas Ulsrud was also a winner, 7-5 over Adrian Meikle of Wales, and Sweden's Per Carlsen beat Johnny Frederiksen of Denmark 7-5.

The Swiss hold second place at 6-2, while Germany, Norway and Sweden are third at 5-3. Finland is at 4-4 with only an outside shot at qualifying for a playoff spot.

In women's play, Russia continued their relentless March to Friday's playoffs with a 9-6 win over veteran Andrea Schöpp of Germany. Russia has won all eight games without a loss, while Germany is now mired in a four-way tie for second place with Italy, Switzerland and Sweden. Denmark and Scotland, represented by 2002 Olympic champion Rhona Martin, are both at 4-4.

Switzerland's Mirjam Ott has won five in a row after opening with three losses, but her team is still searching for consistency.

Things got downright strange in the morning draw. While delivering her winning shot against the Netherlands, Ott fell down during her delivery and sprawled across the ice. The resulting miss handed the shocked Dutch a steal of three points and forced an extra-end. Ott, however, recovered her composure to win the game 6-5.

German skip Andrea Schöpp has a twinkle in her eye and a smile on her face, a marked departure from her legendary scowl. 

Her storied history as the most successful female German curler is assured. Schöpp has won a world title and a remarkable six Le Gruyère European Championships in her career, but after decades of criticism over a win-at-all costs attitude, she is ready for a change.

“You want to know what my goals are?” Schöpp asked. “I just want to have fun. I just love the sport.”

She and her team spanked Sweden 8-4 at this year’s Euro shootout to move to 2-1 and a six-way tie for second behind unbeaten Russia.

Schöpp returned to competition after a four-year absence in 2005, and promptly qualified for the Ford World Championship, where she finished fourth. She has longtime third Monika Wagner on board, but a new young front end of Anna Hartelt and Marie-Therese Rotter. In fact, the youngsters are only in their third season of curling.

“It was a breath of fresh air,” said Schöpp. “They came in (to the curling club) just a little interested after school, and now they compete for Germany.”

In other women’s matches, Scotland defeated the Netherlands 6-2, Denmark clubbed Norway 9-2, Russia beat the Czech Republic 9-5 and Italy upset host Switzerland 7-4. The Swiss are now 0-3 and will face Schöpp in night action.

On the men’s side, Finland clobbered Denmark 8-2 in six ends, Switzerland beat Ireland 8-5, France outlasted Wales 9-7, Scotland upended Sweden 6-4 and Norway emerged victorious over Germany 4-3 in an extra-end.

Scotland and Switzerland are both tied for first place at 3-0, with Norway and Sweden both a game behind at 2-1.

It was merely business as usual for Finland skip Markku Uusipaavalniemi when his team lost their first two games at the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships. 

Time for another winning streak.

The Finns, Olympic silver medallists at Turin last February, won their next two matches and sat at 2-2 heading into Monday's late afternoon draw.

At the Olympic Games, the man they call U-15 -- after the eye-popping 15 letters in his surname -- was 2-2 before reeling off six straight wins en route to the final. The previous season, Uusipaavalniemi found himself losing early -- and often -- at every Olympic qualifying tournament (the Europeans and Worlds) but, again, managed to launch a stunning roll of victories.

"Sometimes it's slow, and then we get the better touch," the bespectacled skip confirmed. "Sometimes it matters against who we are playing, we have tough matches at the start. But we've won eight in a row after losing the first five many times, so it's not a problem.”

The curling life is not a problem for the towering blonde skip, who became a folk hero after scoring Olympic silver. Millions watched on television, websites sang the praises of "The Mighty Uusis" and tens of thousands lined up at his home-built curling club in Hyvinkaa, a project for which Uusipaavalniemi risked his career and life savings a few years ago.

"You need to have at least one crazy guy like me to build a curling club, or you cross your fingers and hope the media will pick up on curling and everybody gets interested," Uusipavaalniemi said.

"Then after the Olympics I get 100-150 emails a day and the same amount of phone calls. Big publishers are trying to get me to make a book. On average, two television programs a day.

"The Olympics can change a lot."

The Finns have a new lineup, which sees Olympic second Kalle Kiiskinen at third stone and sweeping, while Olympic alternate Jani Sullanmaa throws second and holds the brush for skip stones. Teemu Salo is the lead.

Olympic third Wille Mäkelä retired after Turin, claiming he could no longer afford to compete away from full-time employment.

"He (Mäkelä) has been 10 years my soulmate in curling and trusted third," Uusipaavalniemi said. "I'm hoping he will get worklife stability soon and get back to curling."

Finland sat in a five-way tie for third place after their 7-5 win over Sweden, along with Norway, Germany, the surprising Irish and the Swedes. Scotland and host Switzerland lead the pack at 4-0.

In women's play, Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott is mounting a comeback of her own after critical wins over Germany and the Netherlands. Ott is 2-3 after a horrendous start, tied with two other teams. Three squads are in third place at 3-2, while Scotland's Rhona Martin is in second at 4-1. The surprising Russians led by 20-year-old Ludmilla Privivkova are alone in first place at 5-0.