Esther Neuenschwander
| Esther Neuenschwander | |
|---|---|
 Neuenschwander at the Players Championship 2018 | |
| Born | September 30, 1983 |
| Team | |
| Curling club | CC Aarau, Aarau, SUI |
| Skip | Silvana Tirinzoni |
| Fourth | Alina Pätz |
| Second | Esther Neuenschwander |
| Lead | Melanie Barbezat |
Curling career  | |
| Member Association |  Switzerland |
| World Championship appearances | 4 (2006, 2007, 2013, 2019) |
| European Championship appearances | 3 (2017, 2018, 2019) |
| Olympic appearances | 1 (2018) |
| Grand Slam victories | 2 (2015 Tour Challenge, 2019 Champions Cup) |
Medal record | |
Esther Neuenschwander (born September 30, 1983) is a Swiss curler. She currently plays second for Silvana Tirinzoni.[1]
Career
In 2006, Neuenschwander qualified for her first World Women's Curling Championship playing lead for Silvana Tirinzoni. The Swiss team finished in 10th place with a 3-8 record. The following year, she returned to the Worlds at the 2007 Championship,[2] this time playing third for Tirinzoni. The Swiss team lost their first three games but then turned things around and they nearly came back to qualify for the playoff round. Switzerland fell just short, finishing fifth with a 6-5 record.
In 2011, she won her first World Curling Tour event, the Red Deer Curling Classic. She would not play in an international championship again until 2013, when she played second for Switzerland at the 2013 World Women's Curling Championship. After finishing the round robin with a 6-5 record, the Swiss team found themselves in a 3-way tie for fourth. After beating Russia's Anna Sidorova in the first tie breaker, they lost to the United States' Erika Brown in the second, settling for 5th place. Team Tirinzoni won several World Curling Tour events after that, including the 2013 International Bernese Ladies Cup, the 2013 Stockholm Ladies Cup, the 2013 Women's Masters Basel and the 2014 Pomeroy Inn & Suites Prairie Showdown.
While Neuenschwander did play in another international championship for four years due to strong competition in her home country from teams like Alina Pätz and Binia Feltscher, she and her rink were a strong team on the World Curling Tour. The 2015-16 season included three tournament wins, including the first slam of the year, the 2015 GSOC Tour Challenge, where they beat the Rachel Homan rink, who was ranked #1 in the world at the time, in the final. The team also won the International Bernese Ladies Cup and the Glynhill Ladies International. They also made it to four other finals.
The Tirinzoni rink continued their WCT success the following season, winning their first event, the 2016 Stu Sells Oakville Tankard, but did not win any further tournaments. She began the 2017-18 season by defending her Oakville Tankard title, which would be the third time she would win that tournament.
In one of the strongest countries, with 3 different World Champions including a 2 time World Champion and 2 time Olympic silver medalist, Team Tirinzoni won the right to be the Switzerland representative at the 2018 Winter Olympics, where they finished in seventh position.
Heading into the 2018-19 curling season, Tirinzoni and Neuenschwander joined forces with Alina Pätz, who threw fourth rocks with Tirinzoni skipping at the third position and Melanie Barbezat throwing lead rocks. The team reached the final in the first Grand Slam of the season, the Elite 10. They represented Switzerland at the 2018 European Curling Championships claiming the silver medal, going on an unbeaten 9–0 run to finish top of the Round Robin, before defeating Germany 6–4 in the semi-final, and falling 5–4 to Sweden's Anna Hasselborg in the final. Having won the 2019 Swiss National Championships, the team represented Switzerland at the 2019 World Women's Curling Championship in Silkeborg, Denmark. The team got off to a shaky start posting a 2–3 record in their first 5 games before winning 6 in a row to secure their playoff spot. After losing their final round robin game to Daniela Jentsch and the Germans, they had a 8–4 going into the playoffs. Tight victories over China in the qualification game, and South Korea in the semi-final set up a repeat of the European Championship final against Hasselborg and Sweden. They were able to turn the tables on Sweden, with Pätz making a draw to the four-foot in the extra end for an 8–7 win which meant they were crowned the 2019 World Champions. The team capped off their year with their first Grand Slam title together at the Champions Cup, and reaching the final of the inaugural Curling World Cup.
In their first event of the 2019–20 season, Team Tirinzoni finished runner-up at the 2019 Cameron's Brewing Oakville Fall Classic.[3] They also qualified for the playoffs at their next three events, the 2019 Stu Sells Oakville Tankard, the 2019 AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic and the 2019 WCT Uiseong International Curling Cup. The next week, they won the Women's Masters Basel.
Personal life
Neuenschwander is currently employed as an accountant.[4]
References
- ^ "Team Silvana Tirinzoni". Grand Slam of Curling. Archived from the original on November 16, 2018. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
- ^ U.S. women win one, lose one at curling worlds
- ^ "2019 Cameron's Brewing Oakville Fall Classic". World Curling Tour. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
- ^ 2018 Continental Cup Media Guide
External links
- Team Tirinzoni's Home Page
- Esther Neuenschwander on the World Curling database
- Esther Neuenschwander on the World Curling Tour database (archived)
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