By Aadi Nair
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy, – World champions Britain nabbed a steal of two in the final end to beat Switzerland 8-5 in a thrilling semi-final clash on Thursday in the men’s curling competition at the Winter Olympics and set up a final against Canada.
Switzerland appeared to have the upper hand in the early stages, but the decisive moment of the contest came in the seventh end, when a brilliant takeout from Bruce Mouat cleared away four stones and forced the Swiss to relinquish the hammer for just a point.
From then on, Britain did well to restrict their opponents and though Switzerland had the last stone of the game, Benoit Schwarz-van Berkel was not able to get the connection he needed.
For Switzerland, the first men’s team to go unbeaten in their round-robin campaign at the Olympics since Kevin Martin’s Canada in 2010, it was a crushing defeat after what had been an excellent week.
Britain and Switzerland also met in the final of the world championships last year, when Team Mouat took a 5-4 victory.
Two sheets over, Canada’s Brad Jacobs, who won gold at the 2014 Games in Sochi, navigated his team through a defensive battle to prevail 5-4 over Norway.
The game went to an extra end after Jacobs’ attempt for a double takeout only got rid of one stone, but when Norway handed over the hammer with their two-pointer, it was easy enough for Canada to inch ahead and get the win. The two teams had met just hours before in the final round-robin session of the men’s competition, in which Magnus Ramsfjell’s Norway were 8-6 victors, though it was not against a full-strength Canada line-up with Ben Hebert rested.
Britain will meet Canada in the gold medal game on Saturday, while Switzerland and Norway will face off for bronze on Friday.
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