CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- The United States and Sweden booked their final showdown in the mixed doubles curling at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Winter Games on Monday.
A last-end win once again helped the United States edge defending champion Italy 9-8 in the semifinals, as it did in a narrow 8-7 round-robin victory over Sweden on Sunday.
Finishing second in the round robin, Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin were tied 5-5 with their Italian rivals after five ends. The American pair then seized two points in both the sixth and eighth ends to clinch a dramatic 9-8 victory.
"There's no better way to make the Olympic final than to go through the reigning Olympic champions," said Dropkin, who punched the air in celebration and walked all the way around the rink.
"It's our first Olympics, and this field is incredibly deep. You really have no idea how a week like this is going to go, and I'm just so proud of the curling we were able to put together. Putting ourselves into the gold medal game is a dream come true. We're just living our dreams out there together and having a lot of fun," Thiesse added.
Against all odds, Sweden, who finished fourth in the round robin, stunned top-ranked Britain 9-3 in the other semifinal. The teams were level at 3-3 after five ends, before Sweden scored five points in the sixth end and added another in the seventh to seal the victory.
Rasmus Wranaa described the semifinal triumph as "amazing".
"It feels absolutely amazing, and we did it in such a good way. We played our best game of the tournament, kept our focus all the way to the end, made almost every shot and capitalized on everything. I'm so happy with that performance," said the elder brother of Sweden's sibling duo.
"We've had such a good week, and it was exciting to come into this game feeling the way we were feeling. To then come out and not perform anywhere close to what we wanted to is just hard to put into words," Britain's Bruce Mouat said after the defeat.
The final is scheduled for Tuesday, while Italy and Britain will contend for bronze.
