Alina Pätz (born 8 March 1990 in Urdorf, Switzerland) is a Swiss curler. She currently throws fourth stones on Team Silvana Tirinzoni. She is a six-time world champion and was the alternate player for the Mirjam Ott rink, which represented Switzerland at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Career
Playing as the alternate for the Ott rink, Pätz won a gold medal at the 2012 World Women's Curling Championship and a bronze medal at the 2013 European Curling Championships. Pätz also won a silver medal at the 2010 European Mixed Curling Championship (playing lead for Claudio Pätz) and a gold medal at the 2011 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship (with Sven Michel).
Pätz started skipping her own rink in 2013. The 2014–15 season was a breakthrough year for Pätz and teammates Nadine Lehmann, Marisa Winkelhausen and Nicole Schwägli. They won the 2014 Red Deer Curling Classic on the World Curling Tour, which was Pätz's first tour win. Pätz also qualified for the playoffs at the 2014 Masters Grand Slam of Curling event. In the second half of the season, they won the International Bernese Ladies Cup and the Swiss Women's Curling Championship, qualifying them for the 2015 World Women's Curling Championship. Switzerland finished the round robin in first place with a 10–1 record. A victory over Canada's Jennifer Jones sent them to the final, where they once again faced Jones. Up 4–3 in the tenth end, Pätz drew to the button for the win, winning the World Championship gold medal and title.
The following season, Team Pätz won the right to represent Switzerland at the 2015 European Curling Championships, but they did not qualify for the playoffs, finishing 4–5. They also did not win any tour events during the season. They could not defend their title as world champions, as they lost in the Swiss championship to 2014 world champions Binia Feltscher. The 2016–17 season was more successful for the Swiss rink. They won the 2017 International Bernese Ladies Cup and made the final of the Glynhill Ladies International. They also won the Swiss championship and represented Switzerland at the 2017 World Women's Curling Championship. Despite starting 4–0, the team lost six of their last seven games, ultimately not qualifying for the playoffs. They ended their season by finishing second at the 2017 Euronics European Masters and making the semifinals of the 2017 Humpty's Champions Cup.
Team Pätz had several quarterfinal finishes during the 2017–18 curling season. They won the 2017 Stockholm Ladies Cup in October, defeating Kim Eun-jung in the final. The team competed against the other top Swiss teams, Silvana Tirinzoni and Binia Feltscher, at the 2017 Swiss Olympic Curling Trials to choose the Swiss representative at the 2018 Winter Olympics. The event was ultimately won by the Tirinzoni rink, which finished 6–0. After failing to win the Swiss championship in February, the Pätz team disbanded.
Heading into the 2018–19 curling season, Pätz joined forces with Silvana Tirinzoni, who would skip the team, but Pätz would throw fourth rocks, with Esther Neuenschwander at second and Melanie Barbezat throwing lead rocks. The team reached the final in the first Grand Slam of the season, the Elite 10. They represented Switzerland at the 2018 European Curling Championships, claiming the silver medal. They were unbeaten in the round robin, winning nine games, defeated Germany 6–4 in the semi-final, and lost 5–4 to Sweden's Anna Hasselborg in the final. Having won the 2019 Swiss National Championships, the team represented Switzerland at the 2019 World Women's Curling Championship in Silkeborg, Denmark. The team went 2–3 in their first five games, then won six games in a row to secure their playoff spot. They went on to finish the round robin with an 8–4 record and in fourth place in the standings. They defeated China in the qualification game and South Korea in the semi-final to set up a repeat of the European Championship final against Hasselborg and Sweden. The result was reversed, with Pätz making a draw to the four-foot in the extra end for an 8–7 win to become the 2019 world champions. The team capped off their year by winning their first Grand Slam title together at the Champions Cup and reaching the final of the inaugural Curling World Cup.