Sweden overcome tough Norwegian opposition to win third consecutive European gold
BySportsbeat
Updated 26/11/2016 at 22:19 GMT
Sweden's men's rink overcame stiff final competition to win their third successive European Championship title on Saturday.
The Swedish men's team celebrates after winning the European Curling Championships in Esbjerg
Image credit: Reuters
Skipped by Niklas Edin, it went down to a last stone draw in an extra end for Sweden to take the crown, prevailing over Norway 6-5 at Glasgow's Braehead Arena.
The Swedes opened the scoring in the first end, and went on to steal a point in the fifth to lead 3-1 at half-time.
In the sixth end, however, a score of two by Norway levelled the scoring, before ends seven and eight drew blanks from both teams.
They scored two apiece in the ninth and tenth ends to take the game into an extra end tied at 5-5, and with last stone advantage, Edin drew his final stone into the house to steal the gold medal.
He said: "It feels great – we were looking for the gold the whole way, but we knew this would be a tough but close final.
"Team Norway were playing better and better through the week and we kind of lost our touch in the semi-final.
"We focused on making out own shots but we had some nervous moments. It was a really exciting final and I'm glad we got the best of it.
"It's hard to compare this with previous wins. All of them have been special in their own way but winning three in a row, it's definitely up there. All three of them have been really sweet."
Norway skip Thomas Ulsrud was quick to praise Sweden following the final, and despite missing out on the gold medal, insisted he couldn't be prouder of his rink.
"I think we played a pretty good game, but if you play team Niklas Edin right now, they are the team to beat in the world – right now they're number one," he said.
"We managed to stretch them to an extra end but we just couldn't quite handle it there. It was key that they had the hammer coming in and it was a tight game – all credit to Niklas and the boys."
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