Defending champion Sweden pushed to brink of elimination from Olympic men's curling

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — Defending men's curling gold medalist Sweden was pushed to the brink of elimination from the Milan Cortina Olympics on Tuesday with a 7-3 loss to Germany.

The loss was Sweden's fifth in six games of round-robin play, putting the curling powerhouse at the bottom of the standings along with Czechia and China and likely out of semifinal contention.

The Swedish men won gold in Beijing in 2022 and silver in Pyeongchang four years earlier. Sweden also won gold in mixed doubles at these Olympics, beating the United States.

“We just didn’t get up to our best level this tournament, and to be in the playoff in this tournament you have to be on your best level,” said Rasmus Wranå, the mixed doubles champion with his sister, Isabella Wranå.

Sweden ignited a controversy during its loss to Canada when Oskar Eriksson accused Canadian Marc Kennedy of breaking the rules by double-touching. The Swedes also lost to Italy, Britain and the U.S. while beating China.

Kennedy reacted angrily to Eriksson's accusation, and World Curling temporarily ramped up official monitoring of matches. On Sunday, the federation scaled that back.

Wranå and Eriksson said the kerfuffle was not to blame for the team's struggles. Against Germany, the Swedes were “just making too many half shots and a few mistakes here and there,” Eriksson said.

Eriksson had no regrets about raising the issue of double-touching and was happy with the way World Curling handled the situation.

“For us, it’s been a problem the last couple of years,” he said. “So we think it’s good that everyone can play with the same rules.

“Hopefully it’s just getting better from this,” he said.