Sweden have won curling bronze in mixed doubles at Beijing 2022 with a sensational performance against Great Britain, winning 9-3 at the National Aquatics Centre in Beijing on Tuesday (8 February).
Oskar Eriksson and Almida De Val beat the reigning world champions (playing as Scotland), Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat, who struggled to make their throws count.
Sweden meanwhile, who were making their debut in mixed doubles at the Olympic Winter Games, could do no wrong.
The damage was done in the second end when they scored four to take them 4-1 up and they didn’t let up from there. By the halfway point, after four ends, Team GB were 8-1 down and from then on they had a mountain to climb.
Sweden curling win bronze Beijing 2022 mixed doubles
After the match, Eriksson had nothing but praise for his playing partner. “That was a perfect game, Almida was outstanding today, making every shot, (it) made my game a lot easier. It’s an incredible feeling winning our last game here and getting the bronze medal.”
“We know that it’s much more fun leaving here with a medal than without, so it was a big motivation to go out there and give it everything,” said de Val. “This was our last chance. We had nothing else to lose, just go out there and play the best.”
“The second end was one of the best shots I’ve seen all week from Almida,” said Mouat. “To make a shot like that in a game like this, I’m just quite impressed that she was able to make that and put us on the back foot and we just had to try and fight.”
“Mixed doubles anything can happen,” said Dodds of their hopes even when 9-1 down. “We were hoping something incredible might happen but unfortunately it didn’t happen today.”
Next curling matches
The gold-medal match takes place later on Tuesday (8 February) with the pairing of Amos Mosaner and Stefania Constantini – who will win Italy’s first ever curling medal no matter what – taking on the Norwegian duo of Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten, the 2021 World Championship silver medallists.
There’s no rest for the men with their team event taking place Wednesday 9 February. The women’s competition starts Thursday (10 February). Both Team GB and Sweden have teams in both events. See the full schedule here.
