Day of surprises leaves Italy as only unbeaten team in mixed doubles
Canada bounced back to beat Norway after an opening defeat against Great Britain who then suffered their first reverse against Switzerland.
Curling
Only Italy's Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner remain undefeated after a thrilling second day of mixed doubles curling at Beijing 2022.
Having sat out day one, the Italians defeated the United States 8-4 in the morning session before seeing off PyeongChang 2018 silver medallists Switzerland 8-7 in the first extra end.
All eyes were on Canada as the reigning Olympic champions entered the Ice Cube to compete for the first time at Beijing 2022.
After going down 6-4 to world champions Great Britain in their opening match**, John Morris** and Rachel Homan rebounded with a tight 7-6 win over Olympic bronze medallists Norway.
Despite having the momentum with victory over the Canadian duo, Britain fell short against Switzerland in their evening clash.
The Swiss, desperate to get their first win of the competition, took full advantage of Bruce Mouat’s dip in form to beat the early tournament favourites 8-7.
The People’s Republic of China also had their unbeaten run brought to an end by world silver medallists Sweden.
After defeating Australia 6-5 in the morning, LING Zhi and FAN SuYuan led Sweden 6-4 after seven ends in the evening session.
But Oskar Eriksson and Almida De Val scored three in the eighth to snatch victory against the pair making a good first of their first international tournament.
Before their defeat to Canada, Norway got on the board with an 11-6 win over the United States.
Australia are the only team without a win after a narrow defeat to the hosts was followed by an 8-2 defeat against Czech Republic.
Beijing 2022 curling round-up: Canada clinch first win against Norway
After their loss to Great Britain, the pressure was on returning gold medallist Morris and new partner Homan to deliver against 2018 bronze medallists Norway.
Married couple Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten started brightly taking a 2-0 lead after the first end.
However, a monumental four-point score by Canada in the second end quickly flipped the script, leaving the Norwegian pairing with work to do.
They rose to the challenge with the pairs all square after five ends.
Homan and Morris then pounced to recapture the lead but missed the chance of a double with the last rock.
Norway again levelled, but a costly error in the final end saw the Canadians seal victory before they even threw their final rock.
The defending champs will return tomorrow to face Switzerland at 08:35 local time.
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Curling mixed doubles results: Team GB stumble against a resurgent Switzerland
Victory against Canada buoyed Britain but they then went down 8-7 to a strong Swiss outfit.
Eager to clock their first win of the tournament, Jenny Perrett and Martin Rios looked every part Olympic silver medallists as they capitalised on the ends where they had last-stone advantages.
The Swiss scored three points in both the second and fourth ends, but Jen Dodds tallied three in the seventh to leave the match all square.
It was, however, not meant to be for the world champions who fluffed a final chance to score leaving Switzerland with the one point to take the win.
"That was a tough game for me personally," admitted Mouat after the match. "I think I struggled a wee bit more than I had done in the first two games.
"But taking two wins from the first three games, especially with the teams that we started with, we are very happy with. So, we are just trying to remain positive even though we've just had a tough loss."
Britain return to the Ice Cube tomorrow against Australia at 13:35 CST.
Curling at Beijing 2022 Olympics Day 2 results in full:
- People's Republic of China 6-5 Australia
- Great Britain 6-4 Canada
- Italy 8-4 United States
- Sweden 7-4 Czech Republic
- Italy 8-7 Switzerland
- Norway 11-6 United States
- Canada 7-6 Norway
- Switzerland 8-7 Great Britain
- Sweden 7-6 People's Republic of China
- Czech Republic 8-2 Australia
After every team has played each other once the top four teams will qualify for the semi-finals, with the winners and losers of those respective games competing for gold and bronze.
You can find the round robin standings here.
Schedule: Curling at Beijing 2022 Olympics: Day 3
Here is the schedule for Friday 4 February. All times listed are CST (Chinese Standard Time).
- 08:35 Mixed Doubles Round Robin Session 5 – Sweden v Australia
- 08:35 Mixed Doubles Round Robin Session 5 – Canada v Switzerland
- 08:35 Mixed Doubles Round Robin Session 5 – Italy v Norway
- 13:35 Mixed Doubles Round Robin Session 6 – Czech Republic v Italy
- 13:35 Mixed Doubles Round Robin Session 6 – People’s Republic of China v Canada
- 13:35 Mixed Doubles Round Robin Session 6 – Great Britain v Australia
- 13:35 Mixed Doubles Round Robin Session 6 – Sweden v United States