Melanie Barbezat

Melanie Barbezat (born 10 August 1991) is a Swiss curler from Bern.[2] She currently plays lead for Silvana Tirinzoni, and the team represented Switzerland at the 2018 European Curling Championships[3] and 2019 World Women's Curling Championship, winning the latter. Before joining with Tirinzoni, Barbezat spent the majority of her career as a skip.

Melanie Barbezat
Born (1991-08-10) 10 August 1991
Team
Curling clubCC Aarau,
Aarau, SUI [1]
SkipSilvana Tirinzoni
FourthAlina Pätz
SecondEsther Neuenschwander
LeadMelanie Barbezat
Career
Member Association  Switzerland
World Championship
appearances
1 (2019)
European Championship
appearances
2 (2018, 2019)
Grand Slam victories1 (2019 Champions Cup)

Curling career

Barbezat's first experience at a major international event came in 2012, when she won the right to represent Switzerland at the 2012 World Junior Curling Championships in Östersund, Sweden, an event which saw several future Olympic, World and European medallists appear, including Sara McManus, Lauren Gray, Anna Sidorova and Victoria Moiseeva. Barbezat's team finished the Round Robin with a 3–6 record, outside the playoff positions.

After her appearance at the Junior World Championships, Barbezat made a move to join Michèle Jäggi on the World Curling Tour playing lead. The team won the 2012 International ZO Women's Tournament, and finished runner-up to her future skip Silvana Tirinzoni at the 2013 Stockholm Ladies Cup.

Barbezat played second on the Swiss team at the 2013 Winter Universiade, skipped by Jäggi. After completing the Round Robin with a 7-2 record, finishing second in the table, the team were defeated by Kim Ji-sun in the semi-final, before winning the bronze medal with an 8–6 victory over Hannah Fleming.

After the 2013–14 season, Barbezat moved back to the skip position, with her team consisting of Daniela Rupp, future 2018 Olympic mixed doubles silver medallist Jenny Perret, and Carole Howald, an alternate for three consecutive World Championship winning teams. The team won two events on the tour, those coming at the 2014 Dumfries Curling Challenge and the 2016 International ZO Women's Tournament, Barbezat's second career victory there.

Prior to the 2018–19 season a major shake-up in Swiss curling saw Barbezat move back to the lead position to join Esther Neuenschwander, Tirinzoni and Alina Pätz in a team where three of the four members had just come from skipping their own teams. The move brought immediate results, as the new team reached the final of the Elite 10. The team 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, and, after a final round dead rubber loss, a round robin record of 8–4 and 4th place in the standings. 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 and mean they would be 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.[4] 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.

Teams

Season Skip Third Second Lead
2010–11[5] Melanie BarbezatMara GautschiMichelle GribiVera Campanovo
2011–12 Melanie BarbezatBriar HürlimannMara GautschiJanine Wyss
2012–13 Michèle JäggiMarisa WinkelhausenStéphanie JäggiMelanie Barbezat
2013–14 Michèle JäggiMarisa WinkelhausenStéphanie JäggiMelanie Barbezat
2014–15 Melanie BarbezatCarole HowaldJenny PerretDaniela Rupp
2015–16 Melanie BarbezatCarole HowaldJenny PerretDaniela Rupp
2016–17 Melanie BarbezatJenny PerretCarole HowaldDaniela Rupp
2017–18 Melanie BarbezatJenny PerretCarole HowaldDaniela Rupp
2018–19 Alina Pätz (Fourth)Silvana Tirinzoni (Skip)Esther NeuenschwanderMelanie Barbezat
2019–20 Alina Pätz (Fourth)Silvana Tirinzoni (Skip)Esther NeuenschwanderMelanie Barbezat

References

  1. "Team Silvana Tirinzoni". Grand Slam of Curling. Archived from the original on November 16, 2018. Retrieved November 24, 2018.
  2. 2019 Continental Cup Media Guide: Team Tirinzoni
  3. "Women's Teams". World Curling Federation. 2010-01-08. Retrieved November 23, 2018.
  4. "2019 Cameron's Brewing Oakville Fall Classic". World Curling Tour. Retrieved September 2, 2019.
  5. "Melanie Barbezat Past Teams". World Curling Tour. Retrieved November 23, 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.