Swedish women nail down another curling victory, setting up semi with world champion China

Swedish women are rolling in curling at Olympics

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Anette Norberg is sporting bright blue acrylic fingernails, a perfect complement to her curling uniform.

The Swedish skip gave herself a pick-me-up manicure after her defending gold medalist team lost 10-1 in seven ends Saturday to lowly Russia.

“I just needed a little change,” she said.

Norberg and the Swedes improved to 7-2 in round-robin play Tuesday at the Olympics with a shortened 10-6 victory over Japan, setting up a semifinal Thursday as the No. 2 seed against world champion China. The Chinese beat Norberg’s foursome at the 2009 worlds.

“That was our goal, to come here and be in the playoffs,” Norberg said. “We’re there now. I’m happy with that. We have 7-2, so I think that’s quite good. We had that in Torino, too — very satisfied.”

Cheryl Bernard pulled out another big shot in extra ends for the favored Canadians (7-1), who locked up the No. 1 spot with a 6-5 victory over Britain.

Canada had one match remaining Tuesday night against France to wrap up the round-robin portion of the schedule. Bernard was forced into an extra 11th end after missing with her final rock in the 10th to surrender the tying point.

Britain and its 19-year-old Scottish skip, Eve Muirhead, finished with five straight losses after a promising start.

Switzerland also got done early Tuesday, beating Germany 4-2 in nine ends to earn the fourth seed and a Thursday date with Bernard’s rink.

Bernard has needed lots of big shots during this run. The Canadians’ lone blemish was a 6-5 loss to China on Sunday in extra ends.

“It took an extra one,” Bernard said, referring to Tuesday’s match. “That was a good game back and forth. I needed to make that one in 10. Looking at three rocks, shouldn’t have been in that situation anyway. It was a nice extra end. It was well played.”