Men’s curling: Switzerland, Canada advance to semifinals

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy -- Yannick Schwaller's Switzerland defeated champions Sweden 9-4 before beating Germany 8-4 on Tuesday to remain unbeaten in the men's curling competition and book their spot in the semifinals, where they will be joined by Canada.

The Swiss have won seven out of seven and top the standings. Brad Jacobs' Canadian team is second with six wins and one defeat.

"Everyone is buying into our project right now," Schwaller said. "The whole group, including coaches and alternates, is really paying attention. It helps in reading the ice and we talk a lot. We're just very focused at the same time and having fun."

Canada clinched its top-four spot with a 9-5 win over world champions Great Britain, whom it has a poor past record against.

Bruce Mouat's rink beat Canada twice at last year's worlds, once in the round-robin stage and again in the semis.

"We knew getting to six wins and staying at one loss was going to be big. Historically, when you look at the Olympics and men's play, the six-win number is a great number," Jacobs said.

Sweden's title defense ended earlier on Tuesday after the Niklas Edin-led group suffered its sixth defeat of the competition and was ruled out of playoff contention, but it returned to winning ways against Norway.

The 7-4 victory was overshadowed by the Norwegians' flashy red, white and blue harlequin-pattern pants -- a tribute to the late Thomas Ulsrud as his team wore them at Vancouver 2010.

The United States lost twice on Tuesday, slumping to an 8-5 defeat against Italy in a game where the hosts were roared on by their fans at a packed Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium.

Earlier, Xiaoming Xu's China won by the same score over the U.S., while Czech Republic beat 2024 European champions Germany 9-7. It was a first-ever win for the Czech men's team at the Olympics, though the Czechs have won in mixed doubles before.

Teams play nine matches in the round-robin stage, which continues on Wednesday. The top four advance to the semis this week.