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Olympic curling: Men’s curling USA vs. Great Britain results and recap

By Adam Strangis

GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 18: Matt Hamilton, George Tyler, John Shuster and John Landsteiner of the USA compete during the Curling round robin session 7 on day nine of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Gangneung Curling Centre on February 18, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 18: Matt Hamilton, George Tyler, John Shuster and John Landsteiner of the USA compete during the Curling round robin session 7 on day nine of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Gangneung Curling Centre on February 18, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images) /
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Team USA continued their quest to make it into the semifinals of the men’s curling tournament against Great Britain early Wednesday morning.

The United States men’s curling team sure dug themselves into a hole in the early part of the tournament. They were sitting at 2-4 through their first six matches and needed to run the table in their last three to have a shot at making the semifinal portion. After victories over Switzerland and Canada, Great Britain was all that stood in the way for Team USA to at least force a tie-breaking match. Things looked promising early, as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first end.

The next three ends were not kind to the USA. Britain was able to build a 3-2 advantage due in part to some small mistakes in the United States throws. With all the tension in the match, it’s easy to understand why the nerves may have gotten to either team. Things were starting to look bleak in the fifth end as it appeared Britain was in a spot to build on their slim lead. That was until the final throw of the end when the USA delivered spectacularly and was able to walk away with three points to take the lead 5-3 at the midway point. This was a massive momentum shift in the match and brought the USA back from the edge of a cliff.

Britain answered the bell in End 6 because coming into the last throw, the USA stood to score three points. Only a clutch throw from Britain was able to save the day and they took home a point to cut it to 5-4 in favor of the USA. The United States carried a 6-4 lead into the eighth end, where disaster struck for Britain. With the USA poised to score at least three points, Britain left their final throw very short of the target area and the US was able to score four points, ending the game with a 10-4 victory.

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The Americans fought back and ran the table against some heavy odds. With all the matches played, they earned a qualifying spot in the semifinals outright, no tie-breaker game necessary.

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