Briar Schwaller-Hürlimann
| Briar Hürlimann | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||||||||
| Born | September 30, 1993 | ||||||||||||||
| Team | |||||||||||||||
| Curling club | CC Oberwallis, Brig-Glis | ||||||||||||||
| Skip | Elena Stern | ||||||||||||||
| Fourth | Briar Hürlimann | ||||||||||||||
| Second | Lisa Gisler | ||||||||||||||
| Lead | Céline Koller | ||||||||||||||
| Alternate | Corrie Hürlimann | ||||||||||||||
| Mixed doubles partner | Yannick Schwaller | ||||||||||||||
Curling career  | |||||||||||||||
| Member Association |  Switzerland | ||||||||||||||
| World Championship appearances | 1 (2017) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||
Briar Hürlimann (born September 30, 1993), is a Swiss curler from Recherswil.[1] She currently throws fourth stones for Team Elena Stern on the World Curling Tour.[2][3]
Career
Hürlimann first represented Switzerland on the international stage at the 2011 World Junior Curling Championships as third for Manuela Siegrist. They lost the tiebreaker to Sweden's Jonna McManus. She returned the following year at the 2012 World Junior Curling Championships, playing third for Melanie Barbezat. They were less successful than the previous year, finishing with a 3–6 record. After not representing Switzerland in 2013, Hürlimann made back to back appearances at the World Juniors. In 2014, they lost the tiebreaker 7–6 to Sweden's Isabella Wranå. In 2015, they won the bronze medal after defeating Wranå's Swedish team. Also in 2015, she finished fifth at the 2015 World Mixed Curling Championship, playing third for Yannick Schwaller.
In 2017, Hürlimann represented Switzerland at the 2017 Winter Universiade. This time, they could not defeat Wranå in the bronze medal game, settling for fourth. She also played in her first World Women's Curling Championships this season, as the alternate for 2015 World Champion Alina Pätz. She did not play in any games and the Swiss team settled for 8th after a 5–6 round robin record.
The 2018–19 season was a breakout year for Hürlimann and her team of skip Elena Stern, second Lisa Gisler and lead Céline Koller. They played in four Grand Slam of Curling events including winning the 2018 Tour Challenge Tier 2 and the 2018 Women's Masters Basel World Curling Tour event.[4][5]
Team Stern followed their great season with an even better one for the 2019–20 season. They had a quarterfinal finish at the 2019 Cameron's Brewing Oakville Fall Classic. They missed the playoffs at their next three events, the 2019 Stu Sells Oakville Tankard, the 2019 AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic and the inaugural WCT Uiseong International Curling Cup. Next, Team Stern played in the 2019 Canad Inns Women's Classic and qualified for the playoffs threw the C side. They successfully defeated Eve Muirhead in the quarterfinals, Silvana Tirinzoni in the semifinals and Rachel Homan in the final to win the event. They also won the International Bernese Ladies Cup and the Schweizer Cup. For the first time ever, they qualified for the playoffs at a Grand Slam event where they lost to Tracy Fleury in the quarterfinals at the Masters. They also qualified for the playoffs as the number one seed at the National but they also lost in the quarterfinals, this time to Satsuki Fujisawa. Team Stern surprised many when they upset the defending world champion rink Silvana Tirinzoni in the 2020 Swiss Women's Curling Championship three times and defeated them in the final 6–4. The team was set to represent Switzerland at the 2020 World Women's Curling Championship before the event got cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[6][7] The Swiss championship would be their last event of the season as both the Players' Championship and the Champions Cup Grand Slam events were also cancelled due to the pandemic.[8]
Personal life
Hürlimann's parents Janet Hürlimann and Patrick Hürlimann were also both curlers. Her father won a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics. He is currently employed as a teach.[1] Briar was named for the Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship.
Grand Slam record
| Key | |
|---|---|
| C | Champion |
| F | Lost in Final |
| SF | Lost in Semifinal |
| QF | Lost in Quarterfinals |
| R16 | Lost in the round of 16 |
| Q | Did not advance to playoffs |
| T2 | Played in Tier 2 event |
| DNP | Did not participate in event |
| N/A | Not a Grand Slam event that season |
| Event | 2018–19 | 2019–20 |
|---|---|---|
| Masters | DNP | QF |
| Tour Challenge | T2 | Q |
| The National | DNP | QF |
| Canadian Open | Q | Q |
| Players' | Q | N/A |
| Champions Cup | Q | N/A |
Teams
| Season | Skip | Third | Second | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010–11[9] | Manuela Siegrist | Briar Hürlimann | Claudia Hug | Janine Wyss |
| 2011–12 | Melanie Barbezat | Briar Hürlimann | Mara Gautschi | Janine Wyss |
| 2013–14 | Briar Hürlimann (fourth) | Corina Mani (skip) | Rahel Thoma | Tamara Michel |
| 2014–15 | Briar Hürlimann (fourth) | Lisa Gisler (skip) | Rahel Thoma | Corina Mani |
| 2015–16 | Ursi Hegner | Briar Hürlimann | Nina Ledergerber | Claudia Baumann |
| 2016–17 | Briar Hürlimann (fourth) | Elena Stern (skip) | Anna Stern | Céline Koller |
| 2017–18 | Briar Hürlimann (fourth) | Elena Stern (skip) | Lisa Gisler | Céline Koller |
| 2018–19 | Briar Hürlimann (fourth) | Elena Stern (skip) | Lisa Gisler | Céline Koller |
| 2019–20 | Briar Hürlimann (fourth) | Elena Stern (skip) | Lisa Gisler | Céline Koller |
References
- ^ a b c "2020 World Women's Curling Championship Media Guide" (PDF). Curling Canada. Retrieved 2020-03-09.
- ^ "Briar Hürlimann Profile". Team Stern. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
- ^ "Team Elena Stern". Grand Slam of Curling. Archived from the original on May 27, 2019. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
- ^ "Stern wins 2018 GSOC Tour Challenge Tier 2". CurlingZone. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
- ^ "Elena Stern wins Womens Masters Basel". CurlingZone. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
- ^ The Canadian Press (March 12, 2020). "World Women's Curling Championship Cancelled". The Sports Network. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
- ^ "World Women's Curling Championship 2020 cancelled in Prince George, Canada". World Curling Federation. March 12, 2020. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "GSOC cancels remaining events of 2019–20 season". Grand Slam of Curling. Grand Slam of Curling. March 13, 2020. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
- ^ "Briar Hürlimann Past Teams". CurlingZone. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
