Men's curling at Beijing 2022 Olympics Day 3 round-up: Sweden on top after defeats for Canada and GB
Switzerland pounced on Canada following a tactical game of cat-and-mouse to win 5-3 while Great Britain overcame Norway in response to their earlier loss to Team USA.
Curling
Sweden are the only remaining undefeated team following an intriguing third day of the men’s curling tournament at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics on Friday (11 February).
Skip Niklas Edin and his quartet breezed to a 9-3 victory in eight ends over Italy at the conclusion of the day’s morning session to sit clear at the top of the round-robin table.
Defending champions United States of America bounced back from their loss to the world champions on Thursday.
John Shuster's rink produced a masterclass of clinical play to defeat Great Britain 9-7.
Down 5-2 after four ends, Bruce Mouat and his men roared back, scoring a double and then stealing two to go into the lead.
But the errors then crept in and five-time Olympian Shuster pounced. With the scores tied at 7-7 in the ninth end, Mouat came up short with his final two draws to hand Shuster a double with Britain conceding in the 10th.
The British rink accepted the loss and conceded the game in the 10th end.
"There were a lot of points scored," reflected Shuster after the game. "We managed a tough stint there in the middle and put a lot of points on the board. Our team did a great job."
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Back on the ice in evening session against Norway, it wasn’t long before Mouat's European champions returned to winning ways.
The British rink strung together a much sharper performance to triumph Norway 8-3 in seven ends.
In control throughout the match, all four members of Team Mouat were on song as the Brits went 5-1 up after four ends.
Norway’s response of one in the fifth end did little to stem the incoming tide.
After the break, Team GB returned eager to close out the game and Mouat's wonderfully executed double take-out with the hammer did just that. That yielded three to put Britain 8-2 and, after Norway managed just one in the seventh, skip Steffen Walstad offered the concession.
Beijing 2022 men's curling round up: Switzerland come out on top of a tight tactical clash against Canada
Team Canada suffered their first defeat of the tournament, going down 5-3 to Switzerland.
The Swiss started the brighter as they backed up a one-point first end with a steal in the second.
They led 3-1 after five ends but a double in the sixth saw Canada draw level at 3-3.
In a tight, tactical battle, Switzerland scored another single in the eighth with Canada taking the hammer in the ninth.
Skip Brad Gushue was keen to have the hammer in the 10th, but a wonderful draw from Benoit Schwarz helped the Swiss steal one in the ninth to double their lead.
And the Europeans were able to prevent Canada from setting up a high-scoring situation and took the win with both teams now holding 2-1 records.
All eyes will be on Gushue on Saturday when they on unbeaten Sweden who boast a so-far unblemished record.
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Elsewhere, it was a day on the ice to forget for Denmark who lost both of their matches.
An error by skip Mikkel Krause in the 10th end proved costly with his final shot going through the house to gift People’s Republic of China a 5-4 win.
Things got worse as the Danes went down 10-2 to ROC in just six ends later in the day.
A score of six for skip Sergei Glukhov in the fifth end broke the game wide open with ROC bouncing back from a 6-3 defeat to Switzerland in the morning session.
Men’s curling at Beijing 2022 Olympics Day 3 results in full:
- Switzerland 6-3 ROC
- United States 9-7 Great Britain
- Sweden 9-3 Italy
- People's Republic of China 5-4 Denmark
- ROC 10-2 Denmark
- Great Britain 8-3 Norway
- Switzerland 5-3 Canada
You can find the round robin standings after today’s action here.
A reminder that the top four teams after the round-robin proceedings will progress through to the semi-finals. The subsequent winners of those matches will then face off for the Olympic gold medal.
Schedule: Curling at Beijing 2022 Olympics Day 4
Here is the schedule for Saturday 12 February (all times local China Standard Time):
- 14:05 Men's Round Robin Session 5 - Italy v People's Republic of china
- 14:05 Men's Round Robin Session 5 - Canada v Sweden
- 14:05 Men's Round Robin Session 5 - Denmark v Switzerland
- 14:05 Men's Round Robin Session 5 - United States of America v Norway