Swiss Silvana Tirinzoni, who leads the world’s top-ranked women’s curling team, is retiring from the sport at age 46.
“This decision is a very difficult one,” Tirinzoni wrote. “It hurts. There are tears and it’s not easy to find the right words that truly reflect how I feel. It might seem crazy to step away while being part of the number one ranked team in the world, but I feel that I’ve pushed myself to my absolute limits.”
Tirinzoni led the Swiss women to silver at the Milan Cortina Games, falling 6-5 to Sweden in the final. It marked Switzerland’s first women’s curling medal in 20 years.
Tirinzoni became the oldest woman to win a Winter Olympic medal in any sport, according to Olympedia.org.
She also led teams to a record four consecutive world titles from 2019-23, including a win streak of 42 consecutive games at worlds from 2021-24.
“Looking back, I can’t say I enjoyed every single minute,” she wrote. “That wouldn’t be the truth. There were tough moments, setbacks and challenges. Moments that made me cry and forced difficult decisions. But even in the darkest times of my career, one thing was always clear: I love Curling.”
