Curling-Switzerland thrash Norway 9-1 to win men's bronze medal

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 20 : Yannick Schwaller's Switzerland won the Olympic bronze medal in the men's curling competition by thumping Norway 9-1 on Friday, ensuring they would not go empty-handed after missing out on gold despite an incredible round-robin campaign.

Switzerland won all nine of their round-robin matches at the Milano Cortina Games but lost to world champions Britain in the semi-finals on Thursday.

"I'm just so happy that we got that medal now. We had a truly special week. We played amazing throughout the whole week," Schwaller said at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium.

"It was such a great performance, and if we wouldn't have won the medal, that would have been tough."

Schwaller's medal is not the first in his household, with his father Christof as well as uncle Andreas having guided Switzerland to bronze at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

"I followed exactly his footsteps. The same medal as well. Wouldn't have minded if we did one or two better! But no, it's been amazing," the 30-year-old said joking.

Brad Jacobs' Canada face Bruce Mouat's Britain, the world champions, in the gold medal game on Saturday.

STRATEGIC SHOT-MAKING

Some strategic shot-making from Switzerland in the second end helped them set up a three-pointer for Benoit Schwarz-van Berkel, before they stole another to take a 4-0 lead early on.

After a single for Norway, Schwarz-van Berkel struck again in the eighth end with a runback to add two more points to Switzerland's tally and give them a 6-1 advantage.

Norway never really threatened to get back into the contest and, after a miss from Magnus Ramsfjell opened a three-point steal for the Swiss in the ninth, the Norwegian skip conceded in some style, doing a 360 spin delivering his last