| Yannick Schwaller | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1995-03-31)31 March 1995 (age 30) Solothurn,Switzerland |
| Team | |
| Curling club | CC3C Genève, Genève, SUI |
| Skip | Yannick Schwaller |
| Fourth | Benoît Schwarz-van Berkel |
| Second | Sven Michel |
| Lead | Pablo Lachat-Couchepin |
| Alternate | Kim Schwaller |
| Mixed doubles partner | Briar Schwaller-Hürlimann |
Curling career | |
| Member Association |  Switzerland |
| World Championship appearances | 4 (2022,2023,2024,2025) |
| World Mixed Doubles Championship appearances | 2 (2023,2024) |
| European Championship appearances | 5 (2019,2022,2023,2024,2025) |
| Olympic appearances | 1 (2026) |
Yannick Schwaller (born 31 March 1995 inSolothurn) is aSwisscurler fromRecherswil.[1] He currentlyskips his own team out ofGeneva.
Schwaller skipped the Swiss junior men's team at three straightWorld Junior Curling Championships. In 2014, he led his team ofReto Keller, throwing fourth stones,Patrick Witschonke,Michael Probst andRomano Meier to a 6–3 round robin record. They then beat Italy'sAmos Mosaner in a tiebreaker to qualify for the playoffs. There, they defeated Canada'sBraden Calvert and Norway'sEirik Mjøen in the 3 vs. 4 page playoff and semifinal games respectively, qualifying for the final.[2] In the final, they won 6–5 over Scotland'sKyle Smith rink to become the World Junior champions, becoming just the fifth Swiss men's team to do so.[3]
Schwaller returned to the World Juniors the following season with his same lineup in attempts to repeat as world champions. The team fared better through the round robin at the2015 World Junior Curling Championships, finishing second overall with a 7–2 record. They then lost to Canada's Calvert team in the 1 vs. 2 game, but bounced back with a win over Sweden'sFredrik Nyman to once again play in the World Junior final. There, they were defeated 6–3 by the Canadian team, settling for silver.[4]
Team Schwaller began competing on theWorld Curling Tour during the2015–16 season and found success, reaching the playoffs in four of their events. They made the semifinal round of theCurling Masters Champéry and the quarterfinals of theSwiss Cup Basel, as well as the finals of two regional Swiss events.[5] His team, now with Schwaller throwing the fourth stones, competed once more in the2016 World Junior Curling Championships where they made the playoffs for a third straight year with a 6–3 record.[6] Despite beating Canada'sMatt Dunstone in the 3 vs. 4 page playoff game, they lost both the semifinal and bronze medal game to the United States'Korey Dropkin and Canada respectively, settling for fourth.[7]
Out of juniors, Schwaller continued competing on the World Curling Tour skipping his team of Meier, Keller andMarcel Käufeler. They did not have very much success in their first season together and Reto Keller was replaced byMichael Brunner for the2017–18 season. They won their first tour event at the 2017Qinghai International, losing only one game en route to claiming the title.[8] They also reached the finals of both theDeKalb Superspiel and theAberdeen International Curling Championship as well as the semifinals of theOakville Fall Classic and theGerman Masters.[9] The team also had a strong performance at the 2018Swiss Men's Curling Championship, finishing the round robin in first place with a 9–1 record. They then won the 1 vs. 2 page playoff game to qualify for the final where they faced theMarc Pfister rink. After beating Team Pfister in both the round robin and page playoff game, they lost 7–5 in the championship final, settling for second.[10]
Team Schwaller won two more tour events during the2018–19 season, theStu Sells Oakville Tankard and theSchweizer Cup.[11] Because of their success from the previous season, the team joined the elite ranks and competed in their first everGrand Slam of Curling events. They played in the2018 Masters,2018 National and the2019 Champions Cup, however, missed the playoffs at all three events. The team also played in three legs of theCurling World Cup.[12] In thesecond leg, they finished in seventh place with a 2–4 record. In thethird leg, they finished in fourth with a 4–2 record and in thegrand final, they went 3–3. At the Swiss Men's Championship, the team finished second in the round robin with a 6–1 record but was able to avenge that loss in the 1 vs. 2 page playoff game by defeating thePeter de Cruz rink. In the final, they once again played Team de Cruz where they lost in an extra end 8–7.[13] Also during the 2018–19 season, Schwaller and his team competed in the2019 Winter Universiade. There, they went 6–3 through the round robin and won their qualification game before losing both the semifinal and bronze medal games, settling for fourth.[14]
Schwaller and his team began the2019–20 season by winning two more tour events, theBaden Masters[15] and the2019 Cameron's Brewing Oakville Fall Classic.[16] Later in the fall, the team was selected to represent Switzerland at the2019 European Curling Championships.[17] There, they posted a 6–3 round robin record. This qualified them for the playoffs where they beat Denmark'sMikkel Krause in the semifinals, before losing to Sweden'sNiklas Edin rink in the final, settling for silver.[18] In Grand Slam play, the team competed in four events and reached the playoffs for the first time at the2020 Canadian Open. There, they lost out toBrad Gushue in the quarterfinals.[19] At the Swiss Championship, the team went 7–2 through the round robin and championship pools, qualifying them for the final against the de Cruz rink. There, they won their first national title by defeating Team de Cruz 5–3.[20] The team was set to represent Switzerland at the2020 World Men's Curling Championship before the event got cancelled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[21][22] The team won the last tour event of the season before it was cancelled due to the pandemic, the 2020Aberdeen International Curling Championship.
To begin the abbreviated2020–21 season, Team Schwaller finished runner-up at the2020 Schweizer Cup, losing in the final toAndrin Schnider.[23] They also lost in the finals of theAdelboden International and the 2.0 Cup, both to the de Cruz rink. They were then, however, able to win the 2020Curling Masters Champéry, their only tour win of the season.[24] In January 2021, Schwaller competed at the2021 Swiss Mixed Doubles Curling Championship with partnerBriar Hürlimann. The pair finished atop of the round robin standings with a 6–1 record, sending them directly to the best-of-three final where they playedAlina Pätz andSven Michel. They defeated Pätz / Michel two games to zero to claim the Swiss Mixed Doubles title.[25] The pair then played against the 2020 Swiss champion rink ofJenny Perret andMartin Rios to decide who would represent Switzerland at the2021 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship. They lost the best-of-five series three games to zero.[26] At the Swiss Championship, the team could not defend their title, losing all three of their matches against the de Cruz rink, including the final.[27] As they had won the Swiss Championship in 2020 but could not participate in the World Championship due to the cancellation, Team Schwaller played Team de Cruz in a best-of-five series to determine which team would represent Switzerland at the2021 World Men's Curling Championship. After winning the first two games, Team de Cruz defeated Team Schwaller in the other three matches to win the series three games to two, earning themselves the spot at the World Championship.[28] Schwaller and his team ended their season at the2021 Champions Cup and2021 Players' Championship Grand Slam events, which were played in a "curling bubble" inCalgary,Alberta, with no spectators, to avoid the spread of the coronavirus.[29] The team failed to reach the playoffs at both events. At the end of the season, Schwaller and Hürlimann won the2021 WCT Arctic Cup inDudinka,Russia.[30]
The Schwaller rink had a strong start to the2021–22 season, winning both the2021 Baden Masters and the2021 Euro Super Series tour events.[31][32] Next, Team Schwaller competed in the2021 Swiss Olympic Curling Trials where they would face the de Cruz rink in a best-of-seven series to determine who would represent Switzerland at the2022 Winter Olympics.[33] Despite entering the Trials winning the first two events of the season, Team de Cruz won the first four matches of the event, securing their spot as the Olympic representatives.[34] Back on tour, Team Schwaller reached the semifinals of four events, not able to reach the final in any of them. They played in both the2021 Masters and2021 National Slams but failed to reach the playoffs at both events. In the new year, they finished runner-up at the St. Galler Elite Challenge before entering the Swiss Championship. There, the team dominated the field, losing only one game en route to claiming their second Swiss Men's title.[35] With the win, they went on to represent Switzerland at the2022 World Men's Curling Championship.[36] After having a strong start by winning five out of their first seven games, they finished the round robin in sixth place with a 6–6 record, narrowly qualifying for the playoffs. They then faced Italy'sJoël Retornaz in the qualification game, where they lost 10–4 and were eliminated from contention.[37] They ended their season at the2022 Players' Championship where they lost all three of their games.
In April 2022, Schwaller announced that he would be leaving the Bern Zähringer team.[38] It was later announced that he would skip a new team out of Geneva conisisting ofBenoît Schwarz-van Berkel,Sven Michel andPablo Lachat for the2022–23 season. Schwaller would skip the team but throw third rocks with Schwarz-van Berkel throwing fourth rocks, Michel playing second and Lachat at lead.[39] The new Schwaller rink would represent Switzerland at the2022 European Curling Championships, where they would go 8–1 in the round robin, but lose to Scotland'sBruce Mouat 5–4 in the final, winning the silver medal. Schwaller would go on to represent Switzerland at the2023 World Men's Curling Championship, where they would win a bronze medal, beating Italy'sJoël Retornaz 11–3 in the bronze medal game. Schwaller would again represent Switzerland at the2023 European Curling Championships, once again winning a bronze medal over Italy's Retornaz, this time by a score of 8–4 in the bronze medal game. At the2024 World Men's Curling Championship, the Swiss team would finish a disappointing 7th, going 6–6 in round robin play. However, Schwaller would have a strong season on theGrand Slam of Curling tour, finishing in the semifinals of both the2023 National and2023 Masters.
Schwaller would again have a strong start to the2024–25 curling season. At the Grand Slam events, Schwaller would finish in the quarterfinals of the2024 Tour Challenge and semifinalists at the2024 Canadian Open. At the2024 European Curling Championships, the team would finish 4th, losing to Norway'sMagnus Ramsfjell in the bronze medal game. The Schwaller rink would return to the2025 World Men's Curling Championship, where they would go 9–3 in the round robin, but lose in the final to Scotland's Mouat 5–4.
Schwaller participates inmixed doubles curling with his wife,Briar Schwaller-Hürlimann. Schwaller and Schwaller-Hürlimann have won two Swiss national mixed doubles championships, and have represented Switzerland at the2023 and2024 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championships, finishing 7th and 4th respectively. They would also be named the Swiss representatives for the2026 Winter Olympics mixed doubles tournament.[40]
Schwaller has also skipped Switzerland at twoWorld Mixed Curling Championship in 2015 and 2017. At the2015 World Mixed Curling Championship, he led his team of Meier,Briar Hürlimann andCéline Koller to a 7–1 record in group play. They then beat Scotland in the qualification games before being defeated by Sweden in the quarterfinals.[41] In 2017, his team, now consisting of Koller,Michael Brunner andElena Stern finished 4–3 through the round robin, not enough to advance to the playoff round.
Schwaller's father isChristof Schwaller, his uncle isAndi Schwaller, younger brother isKim Schwaller,[42] and cousin isXenia Schwaller. Schwaller is employed as a consultant and is currently a psychology student.[43]
In July 2022 he married fellow curlerBriar Hürlimann.[44]
| 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 | 2020–21 | 2021–22 | 2022–23 | 2023–24 | 2024–25 | 2025–26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters | Q | Q | N/A | Q | QF | SF | QF | QF |
| Tour Challenge | DNP | Q | N/A | N/A | QF | QF | QF | QF |
| The National | Q | Q | N/A | Q | Q | SF | DNP | SF |
| Canadian Open | DNP | QF | N/A | N/A | QF | QF | SF | |
| Players' | DNP | N/A | Q | Q | F | Q | F | |
| Champions Cup | Q | N/A | Q | DNP | DNP | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Season | Skip | Third | Second | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013–14[45] | Reto Keller (Fourth) | Yannick Schwaller (Skip) | Patrick Witschonke | Michael Probst |
| 2014–15 | Romano Meier (Fourth) | Yannick Schwaller (Skip) | Patrick Witschonke | Michael Probst |
| 2015–16 | Yannick Schwaller | Romano Meier | Patrick Witschonke | Michael Probst |
| 2016–17 | Yannick Schwaller | Romano Meier | Reto Keller | Marcel Käufeler |
| 2017–18 | Yannick Schwaller | Romano Meier | Michael Brunner | Marcel Käufeler |
| 2018–19 | Yannick Schwaller | Michael Brunner | Romano Meier | Marcel Käufeler |
| 2019–20 | Yannick Schwaller | Michael Brunner | Romano Meier | Marcel Käufeler |
| 2020–21 | Yannick Schwaller | Michael Brunner | Romano Meier | Marcel Käufeler |
| 2021–22 | Yannick Schwaller | Michael Brunner | Romano Meier | Marcel Käufeler |
| 2022–23 | Benoît Schwarz (Fourth) | Yannick Schwaller (Skip) | Sven Michel | Pablo Lachat |
| 2023–24 | Benoît Schwarz-van Berkel (Fourth) | Yannick Schwaller (Skip) | Sven Michel | Pablo Lachat |
| 2024–25 | Benoît Schwarz-van Berkel (Fourth) | Yannick Schwaller (Skip) | Sven Michel | Pablo Lachat-Couchepin |
| 2025–26 | Benoît Schwarz-van Berkel (Fourth) | Yannick Schwaller (Skip) | Sven Michel | Pablo Lachat-Couchepin |
Yannick Schwaller is out after undergoing knee surgery. His brother, Kim Schwaller, is playing second with Sven Michel moving up to throw third stones and skipping the squad.
