Sweden's Lag Anna Hasselborg advanced to the European Curling Championship final with a dramatic 7-6 semifinal victory over Norway. Despite a major miss by skip Anna Hasselborg, the team staged a comeback in Lojo, Finland. They will face Scotland in the final on Saturday.
In the European Curling Championship semifinals in Lojo, Finland, Sweden's women's team led most of the match against Norway. In the eighth end, it seemed they would secure a two-point lead, but skip Anna Hasselborg made an unusually major miss with the last stone.
"How is that possible?", exclaimed SVT Sport expert Eva Lund.
Instead of a Swedish point, Norway scored two, giving them the lead heading into the penultimate end. "It was tough mentally! I released the stone exactly as I planned, but it went much faster than expected. But I just tried to let it go after that", Hasselborg said after the match.
The Swedes responded strongly in the ninth end, scoring three points to lead 7–5. "We got our three, and put them under a lot of pressure in the tenth end. I'm grateful to the others in the team for how they backed me up", Hasselborg continued.
In the final end, Norway scored only one point, securing a 7–6 Swedish victory. The players celebrated: "Oh, how fun!"
This is the second year in a row that Lag Hasselborg has reached the final. They defeated Scotland 7–6 in the group stage. "If we play like we are now, it will be enough. We play so well, so it will be an awesome match", Hasselborg said about Saturday's final. Sweden has not won EM gold since 2019.