Canada's Einarson falls to Switzerland's Schwaller in women's world curling final

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 give 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."