Krizanic, Schraner claim 2021 Australian Champion of Champions title
Carla Krizanic and Lee Schraner have made it a golden day for Victoria by claiming gold at the 2021 Australian Champion of Champions at Broadbeach Bowls Club.
On a tense final day, Krizanic leapfrogged from third to first after posting a trio of wins over the ACT’s Chloe Morrison, Queensland’s Chloe Stewart and South Australia’s Kathy Miller.
The Commonwealth and World Champion joined Dawn Hayman as the only two-time women winners of the event.
However, the result wasn’t decided until the final end of the women’s competition, with the undefeated Rebecca Van Asch only needing to win her final match against Morrison to secure the crown.
Having clawed her way back from a 13-3 deficit against her Emerging Jackaroo opponent, Van Asch levelled the contest at 19-19 before Morrison played two composed ends to seal one of the biggest victories of her career and end the Tasmanian’s quest to claim her maiden Champion of Champions title.
Stewart retained her bronze medal from the 2020 event in Dandenong, making it a trio of Right at Home Jackaroos on the podium.
Below the top three were Morrison, who missed out on shot difference, the Northern Territory’s Sarah James and Miller in sixth.
Krizanic says she was unsure of her emotions following the news of her victory after seeing her good friend in Van Asch succumb in the final match, but to finally add to her 2016 title is a phenomenal feeling.
“I’m honestly not quite sure how to feel, I’m very happy to have won but it’s a weird feeling that I can’t explain,” she said.
“Obviously Bec is a great friend and she would’ve been disappointed to have lost that last game, you don’t want to see others losing to win it.
“I got a bit lucky in some ways, but over the weekend I’m happy with how I played, the conditions were tricky here and I just tried so hard not to get frustrated at myself when adapting.”
On the men’s side, Schraner became the only three-time conqueror of the event, male or female, with an undefeated run to the title.
It came down to the second match of the day, where he took on Queensland’s Jake Rynne, who was also undefeated at the time.
Rynne led 16-11 before Schraner turned the tide and piled on ten straight shots to place himself in the box seat for the title.
His final match against Tasmania’s Tim Douce was half way through completion before the Victorian’s dream was realised, as Rynne fell to eventual bronze medallist, Will McPharlin from South Australia.
McPharlin edged out Western Australia’s Cody Packer for third, with the ACT’s Richard Lawson following in fifth.
The Northern Territory’s Mark Malogorski, Douce and New South Welshman Peter Taylor rounded out the standings for the event.
