What a game for Olympic bronze. Sweden and China were nearly perfect through five ends, then punished each other’s rare mistakes to set up a dramatic finish. Sweden was forced to give up the hammer to force an extra end, but Niklas Edin and company expertly set up a steal to take the bronze against a Chinese team that is making a lot of noise in curling just in time — the World Championships next month are in Beijing.

Date: 21-Feb

Sport: Curling

Event: Men’s bronze medal game, Sweden-China

What happened: A whole lot of quality curling.

Sweden’s Niklas Edin hit a precisely angled double takeout to hold China to one in the third, tying the game at 1. Then the teams set up a complex fourth end with several stones in a jagged line from the front of the house to the back, with China’s Liu Rui tossing precise draws and Sweden’s Sebastian Kraupp and Edin converting takeouts with very little of the rock available to hit. Edin drew to take a 2-1 lead.

In the fifth end, four rocks of alternate color were staggered in the house. Edin put up a guard. Then Liu somehow removed the three Swedish rocks from play while leaving two of his own. Edin came right back and played a double takeout to knock out China’s rocks and clear the house. Liu played through the house to blank the end.

At the halfway point, the skips’ percentages were off the charts — Liu at 97%, Edin at 100%. Sweden was shooting 90%, China 89%.

Edin finally erred in the sixth end. Needing to bump or draw ahead of a Chinese rock in scoring position at the back corner of the house, he missed and sent his rock through the rings. China put another another in scoring position with no potential for a double takeout. Edin took that one out, and China put it right back to score two for a 3-2 lead.

Sweden couldn’t keep rocks in the house in the seventh, and Edin hit a simple takeout to tie the game 3-3.

The eighth saw China wrestling with a typical curling dilemma. Swedish vice-skip Sebastian Kraupp hit a double takeout to clear the house, and the teams traded draws and takeouts after that. But before using the hammer, Liu called timeout to discuss options with coach Marcel Rocque. The Canadian said either option — blanking the end to keep the hammer or leaving one in the house to go up 4-3 — was fine. Pressed by his team, Rocque said he would opt to blank it. But he insisted it was their choice. Satisfied, Liu blanked the end.

That was a curious conversation for a team that may be representing a young curling country in China but has an experienced skip in Liu. Then Liu made an elementary mistake in the ninth end, failing to release his rock before crossing the line. The red light on the stone that detects such things went off, and China was forced to steer it out of play.

Sweden used its own timeout, with coach Eva Lund stepping down to make a few emphatic points. They opted to take out the lone Chinese rock within the eight-foot, leaving Sweden with three in scoring position. A triple takeout was unimaginable, and Liu was forced to play his last one to the button to tie it 4-4 and give Sweden the hammer for the 10th end.

That’s a big advantage, but Kraupp erred with his deliveries, leaving too many rocks in play in the four-foot. Liu hit a takeout to leave three Chinese rocks on the button. He was scored a “4” on the play, keeping his percentage up at 93% despite the dreadful error in the ninth, but NBC’s commentary team was less impressed. They saw an opportunity for Edin to get one in play. After bumping a couple of the rocks, Edin’s shot nestled on the edge of the button, probably in scoring position but close enough that no one could be sure.

Liu’s last shot nudged another Chinese rock just a bit, also to the edge of the button. Sweden’s rock still looked closer. But there was no good shot for Sweden to take two and the win. With so much traffic near the button, Edin risked losing if he so much as tapped one of the Chinese rocks. He opted to throw it through the side of the house to preserve his single — if the measurement confirmed that his rock was closer. It did. Tied 4-4 after 10, we were off to an extra end, and China had the hammer in a game in which neither side had managed a steal.

Incredibly, China had another hog-line violation, this time by vice-skip Xu XiaoMing on the 10th rock. Sweden called timeout to consider the situation — China had one in scoring position in the back of the four-foot, Sweden had one in the front of the four-foot, and Sweden had two guards. They opted to have Kraupp freeze his shot in front of China’s scoring rock, and the shot wasn’t bad — in scoring position on the button but just a couple of inches shy of China’s rock. Xu tried to take out both Swedish rocks, but he left one sitting slightly off-center and ahead of the tee line.

Edin put up another guard. Liu tried to bump the Swedish rock off the button, but it just went even closer to the center. Edin slammed out the one Chinese rock in the house, leaving Liu a difficult takeout — he would have to curl around some well-placed guards with enough momentum to get the Swedish rock out of there.

That shot just brushed Sweden’s rock, and Edin had a 6-4 win for the bronze.

Full results | Recaps with diagrams

Canada’s men and women will be playing for gold, as Canada’s Brad Jacobs put on a clinic against China. Sweden and Britain went down to the wire, with Britain taking advantage of one small miss to move into the final.

Date: 19-Feb

Sport: Curling

Event: Men’s semifinals – China-Canada, Sweden-Britain

What happened:

China-Canada: World runner-up Brad Jacobs vs. the ever-improving Chinese team.

Liu Rui must have thought he had a good chance to steal in the third end, wedging his last shot between two Canadian rocks in the four-foot. But Jacobs knocked one of his guards into the four-foot and managed to eject Liu’s without knocking off his own, scoring two.

Each team kept scoring with the hammer, and Liu leveled the game with a good draw in the sixth.

Tied 4-4 in the seventh, Jacobs piled on the pressure with a deft double takeout on his first shot, leaving Britain with two in scoring position and a guard in front. Liu couldn’t get past the guard, and Jacobs drew for three and a 7-4 lead.

Liu answered with two in the eighth, with neither side making a serious error or spectacular shot. But Canada removed rocks with reckless abandon through the ninth, leaving Jacobs an easy takeout for three and a 10-6 lead. Canadian vice-skip Ryan Fry clinched the game with a double takeout, clearing the house with only three rocks left.

Sweden-Britain: Current world champion Niklas Edin vs. two-time world champion
David Murdoch.

After a blank first end, Murdoch stole one in the second as Edin struggled on takeouts. But Murdoch struggled with his own takeouts in the third to let Edin draw for two, and Edin hit a terrific triple takeout in the fifth to reduce complications and limit Murdoch to one. That gave us a 2-2 tie at the halfway point.

The sixth end was one of those cases in which a couple of inches can swing several points. After Murdoch failed to clear Sweden’s rocks from the house, Edin had a takeout that could’ve scored two (if Edin’s shooter also rolled out) or three (if it didn’t). The shooter stayed, but Britain’s rock didn’t roll far enough. It wound up a couple of inches closer than Sweden’s best rock and maybe a foot closer than two others. Instead of scoring three, Sweden gave up one.

Edin converted a simple draw for one in the seventh to tie the game 3-3. Each side made takeouts through the eighth, leaving Murdoch a classic curling dilemma — make a simple shot for one or clear out for a blank, keeping the hammer for the ninth? He made the shot for one, leading 4-3 after eight.

The ninth end was complicated. Murdoch left a narrow window for Edin to take out both of his stones in the four-foot. He did. Sweden took a 5-4 lead after nine, giving the hammer back to Britain for the 10th.

The pressure-packed 10th end had a few small misses, and Edin had the biggest. He attempted a promotion takeout, slamming one of his guards into the British rock in the four-foot. The guard went a few inches closer to the center, removing his own rock instead of Britain’s. Murdoch just needed to get his last shot on the button, either a draw or takeout, to score two and win. No problem.

Canada-China | Sweden-Britain | Scores and diagrams

Should we just give Olympic gold to Canada? Jennifer Jones and company hit big shots and clutch shots to take out world champion Britain. In the other semifinal, Sweden made slightly fewer errors than Switzerland.

Date: 19-Feb

Sport: Curling

Event: Women’s semifinals – Britain-Canada, Sweden-Switzerland

What happened:

Britain-Canada: World champion Eve Muirhead vs. traditional power Canada, led this time around by Jennifer Jones. And the quality of play was strong — no one shot worse than 80%.

Britain would need to be perfect to challenge the unbeaten Canadians, and in the second end, they weren’t. Jones got a couple of rocks near the center. Muirhead could have scored two by getting rid of both Canadian rocks, but she only got one, giving up a steal.

Muirhead rallied in the third, pouncing on a couple of errors to get two and cut the lead to 3-2. Jones threaded the needle for a takeout to score one in the fourth, and they traded singles through the next two ends, leaving Canada up 5-3.

Canada played effective defense for the next two ends, taking out most of the British rocks and forcing Muirhead to either take a single or clear out to blank the end. She blanked both ends and was still down 5-3 heading into the ninth.

Kaitlyn Lawes had the big shot in the ninth, a moderately difficult double takeout that left Britain few opportunities. Jones then left two rocks in the house with little chance for a double takeout, forcing Muirhead to draw for one.

Down 5-4 in the 10th and needing a steal, Muirhead ramped up the degree of difficulty, taking a timeout before her final shot and opting for an aggressive double takeout. That put the pressure on Jones, who would need to draw to the four-foot for the win. A miss by a couple of feet would send it to an extra end; a miss by a few feet would give Britain the win.

You don’t really think Jones missed, do you? Canada stayed unbeaten with the 6-4 win and swept into the final.

Sweden-Switzerland: World runner-up Margaretha Sigfridsson vs. two-time silver medalist Mirjam Ott. Sweden has an unusual alignment — Sigfridsson is both skip and lead, throwing the first rocks for her team, while vice-skip Maria Prytz throws last.

Prytz had a slight error in the first end, taking out the lone Swiss rock in the house but failing to get hers out, scoring one when they really wanted to keep the hammer. They traded doubles in the next two ends, and the middle ends were quiet. Prytz had a shot for two in the seventh but was a little heavy, settling for one and a 4-3 lead. Then Prytz couldn’t make a difficult double takeout in the eighth, leaving Ott a simple shot for two and a 5-4 lead.

The Swiss put several rocks in the house in the ninth end, but Ott wasn’t quite able to nudge a Swedish rock out of scoring position on a double takeout, leaving Prytz a takeout for two and a 6-5 lead.

The most dramatic setup for the 10th end is for the team trailing by one to have the hammer, and that’s what Switzerland had. But the 10th end was sloppy on both sides. Before the skips took their shots, Switzerland’s Christina Bertrup whiffed on a takeout, and Sweden’s Carmen Schaefer missed on a draw. Prytz and Ott weren’t quite able to do what they wanted on their first shots. Prytz came up short on her final draw. Ott missed badly with hers.

Sweden stole one for the 7-5 win, but you’d have to think Canada and Britain will be in better shape to take gold and silver in their respective finals.

Britain-Canada | Sweden-Switzerland | Scores and diagrams