Curling - Team Sweden

Sweden makes its debut in mixed doubles at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.

At World Championships, Sweden has reached the podium seven times in 12 attempts. The specialist duo of Per and Camilla Noreen competed in six championships, winning silver three times (2012, 2014 and 2015) before dropping to 25th, 13th and seventh in the following three seasons.

The 2019 championship saw Oskar Eriksson, men’s third with team Niklas Edin, partner with 2018 Olympic women’s team champion skip Anna Hasselborg and the result was Sweden’s first World Championship title.

In the fall of 2020, Almida de Val wanted to play mixed doubles for the first time. She “bugged” Eriksson to team up with her, and he agreed. The pair won the Swedish championship and their round-robin group at the 2021 World Championship (9-0) but lost the semi-final 7-6 on a steal to Norway. They rebounded to defeat Canada’s Kerri Einarson and Brad Gushue 7-4 for the bronze medal.

Sweden thus qualified third for Beijing 2022. De Val and Eriksson were nominated for the Games by the Swedish Curling Association in June of 2021.

De Val/Eriksson are 5-2 in head-to-head matchups against the field in Beijing, including a 3-0 mark against Switzerland. They are 6-1 in two World Curling Tour events this season, placing second at Gothenburg and third at Martensville, Sask. Their scoring average is 11.78 points for versus 4.22 points against.

World Ranking: 4th (46.498 pts)

© Data by Sports Data Warehouse