#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The Sixth International Curling Tournament Nornickel Curling Cup closing ceremony took place on the Taimyr ice arena in Dudinka. This year the competitions were held in a modified format: the strongest men’s and women’s teams competed for the Arctic Cup.
Russia was represented by several national teams at once. Among them, there were the men’s team basis – Sergey Gluhov’s team and the main national women’s team, skipped by Alina Kovaleva. As well as the Russian-Belarusian team, which includes Anna Samoilik, Kristina Dudko, Elena Ustinovich and Tatiana Torsunova. In addition, the fans had a chance to enjoy the game of the 2014 Olympic Games participants, who were included in two specially formed Russian star teams: the teams of Anna Sidorova and Alexey Stukalsky.
According to the final games results, the winner of the northernmost curling tournament was the Russia-1 team with skip Sergey Gluhov, who beat the Russia-4 team with a score of 7:6.
“Quite a tense finale. Everyone saw that the game was going on to the last stone. Small zones. We performed a lot of difficult throws, both good and bad ones. Without even having the advantage of the last stone from the beginning of the game, because the guys in the group were taller than us, they had this hammer, we still managed to put the squeeze on”, Sergey Gluhov shared with the This Is Taimyr.
The athlete also mentioned the good game of the women’s teams:
“It was difficult to play with both women’s teams. Our reunited team and the Olympic team showed very good curling”.
The third place was taken by Russia-2 with the skip Alina Kovaleva, the fourth place was taken by Russia-3, whose captain is Anna Sidorova.
The Nornickel Curling Cup results were summed up at the closing ceremony. For the guests of the large-scale sporting event, the organizers – the Russian Curling Federation with the support of the Nornickel company – prepared a show with the participation of a Moscow dance group led by Igor Eremenko and Ekaterina Vinogradova and the national dance team Heiro. Also, the dance orchestra Brass Band and the LD Fashion Theater performed in front of the audience.
The curling tournament in Dudinka is not only a bright event in the sports world, but also an important event for the entire Arctic. This year, the famous figure skater and director of the ice show, Ilya Averbuh, was the opening and closing ceremonies director: figure skaters, acrobats, fire show artists performed on the ice of the Taimyr arena. Also, biathlon master classes were organized for the guests of the ice tournament, they were held by six-time world championship medalist Anton Shipulin and 2020 European champion Matvey Eliseev.
During the six years, curling has gained popularity in Dudinka. For example, in 2016, the first Curling School in the northern region was opened in the capital of Taimyr. At the moment, more than a hundred people are involved in it, which is a lot for a city with a population of 20 000. Athletes are training at the Taimyr ice arena, the northernmost curling arena. It was built with the Nornickel’s support and opened in September 2014.
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Text: Ekaterina Elkanova, Photo: Nikolay Shchipko
