Curling Round-Robin Early Thursday Results at Olympics 2018

Canada continued their hunt for a curling gold medal as their men's team made it three wins from three in the round robin on Thursday at the 2018 Winter Olympics. 

There were also wins for Great Britain, Italy and Switzerland in the third session of their round robin in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Earlier, in the women's competition, Japan maintained their winning start after they dispatched Denmark 8-5 in the second round-robin session and Korea 7-5 in the third, while Great Britain bounced back from a defeat to the USA with a narrow win over China.

Here are the results from Thursday's action, along with a recap of the top moments from the Gangneung Curling Center.

Thursday Curling Results

Men's Round Robin

Session 3

USA 9-10 Italy

Norway 4-7 Canada

Great Britain 6-5 Japan

Denmark 7-9 Switzerland

Women's Round Robin

Session 2

Canada 6-8 South Korea

Denmark 5-8 Japan

China 6-7 OAR

Great Britain 4-7 USA

Session 3

China 7-8 Great Britain

Canada 6-7 Sweden

USA 5-6 Switzerland

South Korea 5-7 Japan

For the schedule in full, visit the Pyeongchang 2018 website.

Thursday Recap

Norway took a surprise lead over Canada in the sixth end of their clash, but the match ultimately boiled down to the two skips, Thomas Ulsrud and Kevin Koe.

Canada battled back to lead 5-4 in the ninth end but were put on the back foot early on until Koe intervened, per CBC's Devin Heroux:

Norway were unable to draw for a single, though, after Ulsrud missed a takeout entirely, allowing Canada to steal two and take the victory.

Heroux remarked on Ulsrud's troubles:

Meanwhile, Italy narrowly held off the USA in a thrilling match in which the pendulum swung back and forth between the two teams.

The Italians scored five in the third end to take a commanding 6-1 lead, but the USA made up that gap in just two ends, scoring three in the fourth before stealing two in the fifth, per Team Shuster:

Italy earned three in the following end, though, and despite a late rally from the United States to pull level heading into the 10th end, they clinched it at the death.

USA's women's team were more successful as they came from behind to enjoy a memorable victory over Great Britain.

Team GB led 3-2 at the halfway point, but the Americans scored five over the final five ends to seal the win.

Despite taking an early lead against China, Great Britain made some early errors as they let some opportunities slip, with skip Eve Muirhead guilty of knocking her own stone away and misjudging the length of a couple of shots.

A superb shot from counterpart Wang Bingyu earned China three in the fourth end, and by the sixth they had a 5-3 lead in the match.

Some improved delivery from Muirhead brought GB back into contention:

Indeed Great Britain continued their recovery and held a 7-6 lead heading into the 10th end, but China capitalised on the hammer to force a decider.

It eventually came down to the final shot, and Muirhead made the decisive effort in the clutch moment to earn her team a win.