Italy beat Sweden in the mixed doubles curling semi-finals

The Swedish curling team has qualified for the semi-finals of the mixed doubles tournament at the Olympics – with the lowest possible margin. They managed it after Italy, who won every match during the group stage, beat Canada 8-7 after a judging round that ended with double metrics required to determine the stone closest to the nest.

And it was Italy that Sweden had to face in the semi-finals, after several hours of the night’s drama.

I got tough situations

But Sweden weren’t too close to beating Italy, who they lost in the group final yesterday – a match that was decided only in the eighth and final round.

Italy played an unbelievably great game and put Sweden in one tough spot after another.

– They play perfectly, really. We make mistakes here and there but we play really well anyway. The scoreboard doesn’t really show what it was like, Oscar Erickson tells Discovery, but the more you pull it off, the more chances we have.

The point came too late

And although Ericsson/De Waal made a game far from weak, they weren’t able to break the deadlock until the sixth round, when they dropped to 1-6.

But then he was still five points behind, with only two regular rounds left.

Italy decided in the seventh round

That was quite a bit. Because after the next round, the seventh, it’s over. There, Italy, after another great run, got two points – and Italy’s lead was impregnable, which means the match is over.

Thus, for the first time ever, including in all categories, Italy is ready for the Olympic final in curling. For Sweden, the recharge for the Bronze match will be tomorrow, as Great Britain awaits.

The goal was to come here and fight for the medals, and we still have a game that we can influence. It’s just to go out and give the iron tomorrow and forget about this match. Of course, we will be disappointed with this result, but we will do what we can tomorrow, says Oscar Ericsson.