Curling: Scotland men lose out to Sweden in European Championship semi-finals

Ross Paterson must be sick of the sight of Niklas Edin after the Kirkintilloch curler lost to the Swedish great for the second time in ten hours in the European Championship men’s semi-final in Helsingborg.

Scotland's Kyle Waddell and Duncan Menzies during the defeat by Sweden in the semi-final of the European Curling Championships in Helsingborg. Picture: AFP via Getty Images

Paterson had scraped through to the last four despite yesterday morning’s 7-3 round-robin defeat, but the 35-year-old Scot was unable to reverse that result last night. Edin had won all nine games en route to the semis and is chasing a seventh European title to add to his four world golds. He quickly led 3-0 in front of his adoring home crowd, and although Paterson counted two stones to cut the deficit to 4-3 at the halfway stage, Edin controlled the rest of the match and clinched an 8-4 victory at the penultimate end.

Paterson can still salvage a bronze medal, however, and will now face Dane Mikkel Krause in tonight’s third-place play-off. Krause lost to Swiss skip Yannick Schwaller last night but will fancy his chances against Paterson after beating the Scot 6-5 on Monday.

Perth’s Eve Muirhead will meet Swiss world champion Silvana Tirinzoni in this afternoon’s women’s semis after completing her round-robin programme with a scrappy 7-6 victory over Estonia’s Marie Turmann. Tirinzoni qualified in first place, but Muirhead inflicted her only defeat this week when she pipped her 9-8 on Monday. The 29-year-old also defeated Tirinzoni in the 2017 semis en route to her second European title. Russia take on Olympic champions Sweden in other last four tie.