Men's curling at Beijing 2022 Olympics Day 2 round-up: Defending champions United States fall to Sweden in tense second day
There was no magic five-point score to save reigning champions Team USA this time against Sweden, meanwhile Great Britain, Canada and ROC all notched wins.
Curling
Defending champions United States suffered their first loss (4-7) to Sweden in a captivating second day of action in the men’s curling tournament at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics on Thursday (10 February)
In a thrilling repeat of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic final, Niklas Edin and his rink looked every bit the team hunting Olympic gold, the one accolade missing from their comprehensive list of titles.
The Swedish foursome started off by holding Team USA to one in the opening end before adding scores of two in the second and fourth ends to take a commanding lead.
In a make-or-break moment deep into the eighth, U.S. skip John Shuster was presented with the chance to make a double takeout with the final stone to draw the score-line back to level. However, an uncharacteristic error by the five-time Olympian resulted in Sweden stealing one to sit 7-4.
After a blank end in the ninth, the U.S. conceded the game to go 1-1 after the second session of round robin play.
MORE: Niklas Edin, the skip with unfinished business still searching for Olympic glory
Beijing 2022 men's curling round up: Great Britain and Canada tested all the way in their victories on day two
Great Britain got their Olympic campaign off to good start by defeating Italy 7-5.
The team skipped by Bruce Mouat, familiar with the 'Ice Cube' having just participated in the mixed doubles tournament, were pushed all the way by Italian skip Joel Retornaz and his men.
Down 1-3 down after the third end, Mouat stepped up to deliver a score of two to bring his team back to level.
After Italy edged back ahead by one in the sixth end, Britain responded by doubling down on their own point-scoring efforts adding two in the seventh and then a steal in eighth for a 6-4 advantage.
Retornaz countered with one in ninth in an attempt to cut the deficit, but it wasn’t enough as Britain finished with a point of their own to close the match.
Elsewhere, Canada survived a nail-biting test from Norway to continue their perfect start in the men’s competition in Beijing.
The match resembled every bit ‘chess on ice’ as Brad Gushue and Steffen Walstad traded tactical blows in a game-long struggle for the upper-hand.
When Canada, with the hammer, opened with a score of two, Norway responded by matching the score.
After a blank third end, Gushue then posted a draw for one in the fourth, only to be matched by Walstad who responded with a take-out for one to leave things perfectly poised at 3-3 after five ends.
Two further blank ends meant that it was Canada with the hammer going into the eighth and the gold medallist from Turin 2006 didn’t miss when given the chance to score two and take a 5-3 lead.
Sticking to script, Walstad, now with the hammer, once more responded by levelling proceedings with his own score of two courtesy of a sensational takeout to leave things tied at 5-5 going into the final end.
In the tenth it was Canada that finally came out on top after Gushue delivered an open draw on the button by to seal a hard-fought for win.
Rounding off the day’s action was the ROC who clinched a 7-4 victory over People’s Republic of China.
After both losing their first matches of the tournament yesterday the heat was on to get a win on the board.
All appeared to be going the way of the Chinese rink who were up 4-3 going into the ninth until a phenomenal score of four by skip Sergei Glukhov turned the game completely on its head.
Down by three with only one end remaining skip Ma made the call to concede the match.
MORE: Canada expects men's and women's success after mixed doubles disappointment
Men’s curling at Beijing 2022 Olympics Day 2 results in full:
- United States of America 4-7 Sweden
- Norway 5-6 Canada
- People’s Republic of China 7-4 ROC
- Great Britain 7-5 Italy
You can find the round robin standings after today’s action here.
Schedule: Curling at Beijing 2022 Olympics Day 3
Here is the schedule for Friday 11 February (all times local China Standard Time):
- 09:05 Men's Round Robin Session 3 - Switzerland v ROC
- 09:05 Men's Round Robin Session 3 - Great Britain v United States
- 09:05 Men's Round Robin Session 3 - Sweden v Italy
- 09:05 Men's Round Robin Session 3 - Denmark v People's Republic of China
- 20:05 Men's Round Robin Session 4 - ROC v Denmark
- 20:05 Men's Round Robin Session 4 - Great Britain v Norway
- 20:05 Men's Round Robin Session 4 - Canada v Switzerland