22 March 2025

Virginija Paulauskaite and her team—Olga Dvojeglazova, Migle Kiudyte, Ruta Blaziene, and alternate Justina Zalieckiene—made history this week as the first Lithuanian team to compete in a World Curling Championship.

Although they lost their opening game to Canada, and all their other opponents, the Lithuanian team left a lasting impression with their performances and sportsmanship. Perhaps their most notable game was against Switzerland, where they pushed the silver medallists to the final stone before falling just short in a close 9-8 defeat.

Switzerland against Lithuania © World Curling / Will Palmer

Reflecting on Lithuania’s strong showing, Swiss skip Silvana Tirinzoni praised Paulauskaite, saying, “It’s hard to defend against great shot-making—she played amazing.”

Once the round-robin stage concluded, Paulauskaite reflected on her team’s experience. “This is our first time here, and it has been really special for us, with experiences that are the best,” she said. “One of the best things about being here is that the teams were all very kind to us, and the welcome was really warm. Everyone has been really friendly.”

Curling in Lithuania?

She also shared insight into the state of curling in Lithuania. “In total, there are about 50 curlers in Lithuania, men and women. Curling is not very popular in Lithuania, so not many people know about what we’re doing, but now, because we’re here, more and more people are starting to hear about us and about curling.”

© World Curling / Will Palmer

Training remains a challenge for the team. “Almost all Lithuanian curlers are from Vilnius, but we don’t train in Lithuania at all. We go to Latvia at the weekends so that we can train there,” she explained. Highlighting the difficulties they face compared to other teams, she added, “We can only get to train at the weekends, so there is a huge gap between us and many of the other teams here.”

Looking ahead, Paulauskaite hopes her team can return to the championship. “We’ll try to make sure we come back again, but it is hard to compete with the conditions we have to deal with at home. We are not stable enough in our play—we are up and then we’re down. But we do feel that our overall standard of play has come up. It is important that we represent our small country at this big event, so we’ll do our best to get better next season.”

As for their most memorable moment, Paulauskaite had no doubt: “Our biggest memory is quite clear—our game against Switzerland, where it all went down to the last stone!”

“But it’s just all really special that we are here—that’s the most important thing.”

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