Curling, Men

Similar to the field in the women’s team competition, all the medalists returned from the 2018 Games, namely teams led by the American, John Shuster, Sweden’s Niklas Edin, and Peter de Cruz of Switzerland. Among other teams considered to be potential medal threats were the representatives from Great Britain, the Scottish team skipped by Bruce Mouat, making their Olympic debut, but recent European champions and silver medalists at the 2021 World Championships. Also of note were the Canadians, led by veteran Brad Gushue, who was making a return to the Olympic Games sixteen years after winning a gold medal in 2006 as a member of the team skipped by Russ Howard.

In the round-robin, Sweden and Great Britain established themselves as the teams to beat once the medal round commenced, going 8-1 and 7-2 respectively. One could pretty well throw a blanket over the rest of the field, though, as the next seven teams ended up within two games of each other in the standings. Ultimately, the United States and Canada advanced, despite the latter losing their last two round-robin games. Canada did provide a real test for Sweden in the semi-finals. It was a closely contested match, and Brad Gushue narrowly missed a run back double in the 10th end with the last rock, which would have propelled Canada into the gold medal game. As it was, Sweden prevailed and awaited the winner of the other semi-final featuring the United States and Great Britain. Although that game ended in an 8-4 win for Great Britain, the score was not indicative of the play, as only a point separated them at the midway break with steals in the 9th and 10th ends providing the margin of victory for the British.

In the bronze medal game, after falling behind by a pair in the first end, the United States battled back to take a one point lead after scoring a deuce in the sixth end. Canada then resumed control of the game with two points in the eighth and a steal of two in ninth, before running the United States out of rocks in the 10th for their well-deserved win. The gold medal match was a tense and well-played affair, as one would expect from two excellent shotmaking teams. It turned out to be the first men’s gold medal game in Olympic history to be decided in an extra end. Sweden built up an early 3-1 lead after three ends, but Great Britain chipped away and finally tied it at 3-3 in the seventh end. Sweden then picked up a single to take a one point lead, with Great Britain blanking the ninth end to retain the hammer. They were unable to manufacture two points for the win, however, and had to settle for one to send it to an extra, where Sweden prevailed after Bruce Mouat was unable to remove the Swedish shot stone with his own last rock. With the victory, Edin completed his climb up the Olympic podium to the pinnacle, finally adding gold to his previous silver and bronze finishes.