BEIJING, February 8 (Reuters) – Sweden’s Almida de Val and Oskar Eriksson added a mixed double medal to their country’s bulging Olympic curling trophy cabinet after taking bronze with a 9-3 dismantling of Great Britain at the National Aquatics Center on Tuesday.

The reigning world champions the British Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat led 1-0 after the initial end but remained staring at an 8-1 disadvantage at the halfway line when Sweden recovered from their 8-1 semifinal loss to Italy with a dominant win.

The pair received loud applause from spectators and the Swedish force present, including veteran Niklas Edin, whose rink Eriksson joins as third when the competition starts on Wednesday.

“Our goal was to take the medal and we succeeded, it feels fantastic,” said De Val when she competed in her first games. “It has been a really good experience to be here and I hope to be back at the Olympics.”

However, De Val’s partner Eriksson is no stranger to the Olympic scene, and became the first curler in history to win three medals at the Games, after taking bronze and silver in 2014 and 2018 respectively during Edin.

The result also means that Sweden has finished on the Olympic curling podium for the fifth time in a row, after winning gold in the women’s competition and silver in the men’s competition four years ago in Pyeongchang.

“We were just really motivated to win this last match and show the world and Sweden how good we can be at mixed double curling,” said Eriksson.

Men’s and women’s curling teams from Sweden have previously won nine Olympic medals in total, including three golds, where the country is the second most successful in game history after other heavyweights Canada.

“This is the top of the sport so we just try to enjoy the moment,” Eriksson added.

Italy, with a perfect record so far, and 2018 bronze medalists Norway will compete for gold in the mixed doubles final later on Monday.

Reporting by Hritika Sharma; Editing Himani Sarkar and Shri Navaratnam

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