Norway came from behind to beat Great Britain by 6-5 in Monday evening’s Mixed Doubles semi-final, while Italy continued their unbeaten form with a one-sided 8-1 victory over Sweden.
These results mean that Norway and Italy will now face each other in Tuesday evening’s gold medal final at 20.05.
Losing semi-finalists Great Britain and Sweden will play for bronze medals at 14.05 on Tuesday.
Great Britain took an early lead in their game when Norway’s female player Kristin Skaslien had a miss with a take-out attempt, giving the British duo a steal of one point in the first end.
In the second end, Skaslien made amends when she hit out a British stone to score one and level the score.
Britain moved into a clear lead in the third end when their female player Jennifer Dodds played an angled tap-in for two points and 3-1.
The teams swapped singles in the fourth and fifth ends.
In the sixth, Norway called their power play and eventually Skaslien had a straightforward draw to score three points and take the lead for the first time in the game, at 5-4.
In the seventh end, Britain had to settle for a draw by Dodds for one point to level the game.
Then, in the eighth, Skaslien used a stone already lying in the house as backing as she rolled her own into position to score one point.
This meant a 6-5 win for Norway, who will head to the gold medal final.
After Norway’s win, Skaslien said, “It’s surreal. I’m not sure if I believe it — it feels amazing. It’s been my dream since I was 15 years old. We had a really bad start to the week, and to be able to turn it around…”
Her partner and husband Magnus Nedregotten added, “This was something totally different than the last time [2018]. We had one stone to go to the golden game. We had that moment of tension, now it’s all off — it’s amazing. It’s a rollercoaster — an emotional rollercoaster. You saw there were some unsteady slides out there when it started to come down to the last couple of ends.”
Italy faced Sweden in the other semi-final, having completed all nine games of their round-robin programme undefeated.
They continued the type of form that had earned them that record.
Despite their female player Stefania Constantini coming up short with her final draw, they opened with a score of one in the first end.
Their strong play then gave them steals in each of the next four ends, to take a 6-0 lead in to the sixth end.
Sweden’s Almida de Val finally got a Swedish point on the board in the sixth end with a hit on a stone already sitting on the button.
It reduced Italy’s lead to 6-1, but then Italy’s Constantini drew her final stone of the seventh end into position to score two points for a 8-1 result.
At this point, Sweden conceded.
As a measure of Italy’s form, it is noteworthy that their cumulative score in all nine wins so far is 87 – 49.
Italy’s Amos Mosaner is now looking forward to the gold medal game against Norway, saying, “Like I’ve said all week, every game is important, every game is tough, every game is so strong. I mean, if we go there and perform like today, I’m sure we’ll have a good game.”
Mixed Doubles Semi-final results: Italy 8-1 Sweden; Norway 6-5 Great Britain
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