Edin leads Sweden to fourth European crown on the bounce
BySportsbeat
Published 25/11/2017 at 17:26 GMT
He may have missed the winning moment thanks to a bathroom break, but Sweden skip Niklas Edin knows his rink are in a good place ahead of next year's Olympics after picking up a fourth European title in a row.
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
Sweden beat Scotland 10-5 in a see-saw contest that could, and perhaps should, have been sent to an extra end but closed with Kyle Smith sending a draw through the back of the house and giving Edin four to seal the victory.
And while Edin ranks his 2016 triumph higher on his list of achievement, the Swedish skip is in confident mood ahead of PyeongChang 2018.
"When I got back from the bathroom break I heard that we'd won. I was fully prepared for the last end but I'm still happy with the win," he said.
"We expected them to play really well, they always play well against us. We've got a fairly good record against them but every game is always really close.
"We expected it to be closer from the start, so when we got that lead we got in a weird situation – you don't want to miss badly and give them chances to get back.
"This is really sweet. Last year, getting the third one was bigger. But going into the Olympics our goal for this event was just to play really well and feel that we are ready for PyeongChang.
"Winning here proves that we are on the right path and if we can keep playing like this – but maybe read the ice a little bit better – then we're in a good seat."
The Swedes took two in the opening end after an error from Scotland skip Smith, before stealing on in the second to take a commanding lead.
Smith's rink rallied, though, and were level after the fifth, with the sixth being blanked and Sweden just picking up a single with the hammer in the seventh.
Scotland pushed things and a double in the eighth set them up well in the closing stages, despite the Swedes hitting back with two of their own in the penultimate end.
And it was all set to go into an extra end with Smith left a seemingly simple draw into the house for the single he needed.
But an overthrow left his rink reeling as they settled for silver in their first ever continental final.
"We're pretty disappointed, to be honest," admitted the 25-year-old.
"On that final stone I was just focussing on the weight that the boys were asking me to throw and I didn't actually mind it out of my hand – but it was obviously far too much.
"The boys played really well, I had a bad start with my last stone in the first end but the boys kept setting me up well and played a really good game.
"Unfortunately we just didn't get the two set up in the tenth and unfortunately I missed the draw.
"They're a great team but I thought we could have had them today if I'd made just a couple more shots.
"I think it will take a bit of time to see if we'll be pleased with the silver."
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