BEIJING — Team Shuster had one critical win and one surprising defeat on Tuesday as the round-robin portion of the men's curling tournament at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games approaches its conclusion.
The Americans earned a critical 7-4 victory over Switzerland on Tuesday morning (Monday night in Duluth), but stumbled to a 10-4 defeat against ninth-place Italy on Tuesday night.
At 4-4 with one match to play, the US is currently in a tie for fourth and the last place in the medal round with a Russian Olympic Committee team over which it holds a head-to-head tiebreaker. A win in their last game, on Thursday morning (Wednesday night in Duluth), should be enough to ensure the Americans advance in either third or fourth place.
The win against Switzerland was particularly vital as the Swiss were even in the standings with Team USA at the time. The Americans took the lead for good with a deuce in the seventh end, then took control in the following end with the shot of the day: skip John Shuster made an angled takeout that led to a steal of a point. When the Swiss tried to play a similar shot in the next end, they missed, leading to another American point and eventually, the win.
Italy led 5-3 at the halfway point on Thursday night, then held the Americans to one in the sixth. After a similar result for Italy in the seventh end, the Americans gave up a steal of four points that sealed the game.
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- The United States women were 4-3 and in a three-way tie for third with games against Canada and Japan remaining on Wednesday after a 9-6 loss to tournament-leading Switzerland on Tuesday afternoon.
