U.S. Males's Curling Group Advances to Semifinals

The U.S. males’s curling workforce superior to the semifinals on Thursday with a 7-5 victory over Denmark.

The win got here after a shaky run that left the end result of the workforce’s Olympic run unsure.

4 years in the past in South Korea, the workforce won the gold medal — the primary ever within the sport for the USA, which had by no means been generally known as a curling powerhouse. That electrifying victory raised the profile of the workforce and the stakes for its Olympic return.

In Beijing, the workforce has gained 5 of its 9 video games, rating fourth behind Britain, Sweden and Canada. The workforce faces Britain in a recreation on Thursday night (7 a.m. Japanese time). The USA beat Britain, 9-7, in a match on Friday.

“They’ve performed nice all week, in truth,” John Shuster, the captain of the U.S. males’s workforce, mentioned of his teammates after the win over Denmark.

The U.S. ladies’s curling workforce is tied with China for seventh place within the round-robin rankings, having gained 4 of its 9 video games.

The lads’s workforce has oscillated between wins and losses in Beijing. Moreover Britain, it beat Russia, 6-5; China, 8-6; and Switzerland, 7-4, after which misplaced to Sweden, 7-4; Norway, 7-6; and Canada, 10-5.

After the win over Switzerland on Tuesday, the U.S. roller Matt Hamilton expressed optimism. “I really like the truth that we’re in charge of our personal future,” he instructed reporters.

That evening, the USA misplaced to Italy, 10-4.

However Chris Plys, who joined the workforce in 2019, mentioned he and his teammates had demonstrated resilience. “We’ve had our backs towards the wall earlier than,” he mentioned after the win over Denmark.