Sweden on two wins after day one at Olympic Winter Games

Sweden picked up their second win of the day when they defeated United States of America 9-4 and now stand atop of the rankings on a two win, no loss record.

Sweden blanked the first end before scoring one in the second when skip Anna Hasselborg took out an American stone on the eight-foot ring. The Americans levelled the score to 1-1 in the third when skip Tabitha Peterson drew onto the button.

Taylor Anderson-Heide, United States of America © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

In the fourth end, United States of America took a 2-1 lead when Hasselborg’s tap-back was unsuccessful, giving her opponents a single-point steal.

The Swedes recovered in the fifth end when Hasselborg scored two with a tap-back, for a 3-2 lead. Then, in the sixth, Sweden gained a single steal, taking their lead to 4-2 when United States of America’s Peterson failed with a take-out attempt.

However, Peterson changed things up in the seventh end when she drew for two points to level the game at 4-4. In the eighth end, Sweden’s Hasselborg hit out the sole stone in the house and kept her own there, to score one more point and regain their lead at 5-4.

Agnes Knochenhauer and Sofia Scharback, Sweden © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

Sweden then stole a single point in the ninth end after Peterson’s attempt at a double take-out to blank the end just wasn’t enough to remove one of Sweden’s stones. Sweden’s lead extended to 6-4.

In the tenth end, the Americans were chasing the game, and put themselves in a vulnerable position. Sweden stole three when American skip Peterson attempted an angle raise to score two, but was wide, handing Sweden their 9-4 win.

Following the game, Sweden skip Anna Hasselborg said, “It was such a fun game, we really love being here. We talked about going in and being very patient and continue to learn the ice and we did just that.

And about being back at the Olympics, she said, “I just love the environment [of the Olympics]. It’s like you’re with your friends on summer camp, everything is so fun, everyone is here to perform and having fun and I love being here.”

Anna Hasselborg, Sweden © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

People’s Republic of China and Great Britain both started their campaigns in Thursday evening’s second session of women’s round-robin play.

Great Britain gained last stone advantage and used it to blank the first two ends before fourth player Rebecca Morrison opened her team’s account with a take-out for two points in the third end.

Rebecca Morrison, Great Britain © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

China responded straight away in the fourth when Wang Rui played her own take-out to score two and level the game at 2-2. Great Britain then returned to their blanking tactic in the fifth end, and the teams went into the break, tied at 2-2.

Great Britain scored in the sixth for 3-2, but Team China responded in the seventh when Wang was able to draw for two points to re-take the lead, at 4-3.

Wang Rui, People’s Republic of China © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

People’s Republic of China then moved further ahead in the eighth when Great Britain’s Morrison’s attempt at a take-out was unsuccessful, stealing two points for a 6-3 lead. In the ninth, Morrison played a draw into a busy house, to score one and reduce Team China’s lead to 6-4. However, in the tenth end, Team China had hammer, and Wang took out a British stone to score one point, and win by 7-6.

Following the game Great Britain’s third player Jen Dodds said, “I’m really proud of these girls, they’ve settled into their first Olympic Games game really well — it felt so good out there. I think that showed in the first half, we had control of that and we were really positive going into the second half but we just let a couple of things slip, so that’s good that we have things to work on tomorrow that we can just tighten up on for tomorrow’s game.”

Jennifer Dodds, Great Britain © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

This is a first Olympic Games for fourth player Rebecca Morrison who said, “It’s absolutely amazing [being at the Olympics]. Today the nerves have been building but as soon as we got out there it just felt amazing.

“I’m so glad to finally be able to say I’m an Olympian, so I’m just delighted. Even though we didn’t get the result today, there was a lot of good stuff out there. The vibe was really positive which is what we’re looking for. We often build into a championship so I think that’s a really good building block for us today.”

Hosts Italy were up against Republic of Korea, and it was the Koreans who dominated the first half of the game. Republic of Korea were leading 3-0 going into the fourth end, until Italy finally got one point on the scoreboard when Stefania Constantini played a successful hit-and-roll into a busy house.

Gim Eunji, Republic of Korea © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

Korea then changed the complexion of the game in the sixth end when, after good build-up play, skip Gim Eunji was able to draw for four points and 7-1 lead.

Italy scored a single point in the seventh but then conceded, handing Republic of Korea their first win at 7-2.

Denmark and Japan had both lost their opening games when they faced each other in this session, a game that went to an extra end.

After single-point steals in the third and fourth ends, Denmark when into the fifth end break 4-3 up. The teams traded two-point scores before Japan stole a single in the eighth to level the scores at 6-6.

Following singles for each team over the ninth and tenth, the game went to an extra end. With the game’s final stone, Denmark’s skip Madeleine Dupont played raise take-out for three points and a final score of 10-7.