Sweden sweep to curling gold at Beijing 2022

In a tight contest that went to an extra end for the first time in a men's Olympic final, Sweden beat Great Britain 5-4 to become Olympic champions.

Sweden's emotional skip Niklas Edin finally becomes Olympic champion after claiming fourth, bronze and silver at three previous Olympic Winter Games in men's curling.

In a high-quality match that needed an extra end for the first time ever in a men's Olympic final it was Sweden who came out on top beating Great Britain, who won the nation's first medal at Beijing 2022, 5-4 at the National Aquatics Centre on Saturday (19 February).

It only took until the third end for the game to spark into life with some sensational world-class stones from the top two teams in the men’s game in the world right now. Skip against skip, with two stones left Bruce Mouat played a fabulous shot to knock three of Sweden’s stones out of scoring positions. With Sweden trying not to give three away, Edin stepped up and matched Mouat’s skill, knocking two of Great Britain’s stones out of the way to leave Sweden’s stone centre circle for a three. With the last stone, GB managed to limit Sweden to a one, with the blue and yellows heading into a 3-1 lead.

The fourth end provided another tense moment with the Swedes asking for a measurement of the stones but it ended up going GB's way. The teams went into the fifth end with the pace-setting Swedes ahead by one, on 3-2.

After no score in the fifth, the teams headed into the halfway break 3-2. More of the same followed in the sixth end, and the score stayed the same.

A sensational shot from Grant Hardie in the seventh end put GB's yellow stone centre stage, which the Swedes could not move no matter what they tried. A steal for GB followed and the match was tied 3-3.

Sweden had the last stone in the eighth but only scored one, a small victory for GB, with the score 4-3 to Sweden heading into the ninth where an empty end left a final-end shootout.

Before the tenth end both teams were on 92 per cent accuracy. GB would have the last stone and needed two to win but instead scored the one they needed to tie.

In the extra end, and with Sweden's last stone, they scored the one they needed to clinch the Olympic title.