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US men reach Olympic curling semis, keep repeat gold in play

BEIJING (AP) — John Shuster and the defending Olympic curling champions won a last-chance match to qualify for the playoffs on Thursday, beating Denmark 7-5 to keep the United States' hopes of a repeat gold medal alive.
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United States' John Shuster watches his throw during a men's curling match against Switzerland at the Beijing Winter Olympics Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

BEIJING (AP) — John Shuster and the defending Olympic curling champions won a last-chance match to qualify for the playoffs on Thursday, beating Denmark 7-5 to keep the United States' hopes of a repeat gold medal alive.

The Americans will play Britain in the semifinals Thursday night. Reigning silver medalist Sweden will meet sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½, which finished fourth in Pyeongchang.

Four years after winning five straight elimination games to take gold — just the second Olympic curling medal in U.S. history — Shuster’s foursome was again in a desperate position.

This time there was a twist, though: Even with a loss, they could have made the playoffs if Italy beat Norway. (The Americans beat Norway 7-6 in the round robin to claim the tiebreaker.)

With the U.S. playing Denmark on Sheet A and Norway vs. Italy on Sheet D, the matches began at 9:05 a.m. and seesawed for about hour in which the Americans were relatively safe; even though they fell behind early, so did Norway.

Both matches were 2-2 heading into the fourth end, when things turned in the Americans’ favor.

Denmark’s last stone slid slowly past its intended target — a U.S. rock that was well protected by two other American ones in the scoring area. That was a steal of three, giving Shuster a 5-2 lead after four ends. Three sheets away, Italy scored two to take a 4-2 lead.

But soon after Norway took the lead with a steal of two in the seventh, the Americans went ahead of Denmark 7-3 with a steal of their own. (Norway stole two more in the eighth and two more in the ninth to take a 9-4 lead, and Italy conceded.)

The Americans needed to win, and they did.

They gave up two points in the ninth end to make it 7-5, but Shuster would hold the last-rock advantage in the 10th. The Americans methodically eliminated any Danish rocks that could lead to a multipoint steal; when Shuster knocked away the second-to-last red rock, Denmark conceded.

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More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Jimmy Golen, The Associated Press