Canada’s male curlers clawed their way back into contention by chipping away with single points after falling behind 4-1 to the Swiss team, and then pulled away to win 7-5 at Pinerolo Palaghiacco on 15 February (Day 5).

The Canadians said that for a second night in a row, their shots were behaving unpredictably because of soft ice.

Italy upstaged the highly-rated USA, 6-5, to record their second straight victory of the competition, much to the delight of a bleacher full of partisan fans.

Great Britain rebounded from a loss to Canada, defeating Paal Trulsen’s Norway rink, 6-3, to keep alive their semi-final chances. They also beat Finland, 5-2.

Salt Lake City 2002 gold medallists, Norway outclassed a previously undefeated Sweden, 9-4.

In their first game of the day, Canada edged out the tough British rink, 9-5. Great Britain seemed to misread the ice on a couple of occasions, and they could have wished for better luck on a couple of key rubs in close.

Finland grabbed a 7-5 last end victory over a New Zealand rink that is still chasing its first Olympic curling victory.

Trailing by one in the eighth, the Kiwis built a promising arrangement of counters in the inner rings, but Finnish skip Markku Uusipaavaliniemi used his takeout weight to clean house, and they could only score one.

Uusipaavaliniemi was on target again for two at the close to secure the victory.

Standings after Day 5:
Canada 3-1
Great Britain 3-1
Sweden 3-1
Finland 2-2
Italy 2-2
Norway 2-2
USA 2-2
Germany 1-2
Switzerland 1-2
New Zealand 0-4

Tom Read/AOC
Torino