A 9-2 victory against defending champions Sweden in the morning session ensured the Norwegians' spot in the last four, before they went on to beat Switzerland 6-5 in the afternoon.

Swiss fourth player Benoit Schwarz drew to score one point in the ninth end to tie the score at 5-5, but in a tense 10th end, Norway's skip Thomas Ulsrud held his nerve to draw his final stone into the house and score the one point that preserved his team's unbeaten record.

Six other teams are fighting to join Norway in the semi-finals ahead of tomorrow’s ninth and final round-robin session.

Among them are Sweden, who bounced back from their defeat to Norway to thrash The Netherlands 7-1, and Finland, who recovered from an 8-7 defeat at the hands of Russia to beat Czech Republic 10-4. 

Germany’s 7-4 win against The Netherlands in the morning sees them remain in contention, despite going on to lose against Italy 9-1, while Scotland and Russia are still in the hunt with the former beating the latter today, 8-6.

Switzerland, who beat Czech Republic 10-4 this morning, are also in with a chance, but Italy’s 6-4 defeat to Scotland ended their aspirations.

Meanwhile in the women’s competition, Russia beat hosts Denmark 8-5 in the final round-robin session to finish top of the rankings after earlier beating Sweden 12-9.

Russia will now go on to meet Denmark, who ranked fourth overall having also lost 7-6 to Finland on the day, in the first of tomorrow’s semi-finals.

The other last-four encounter will be between second-placed Scotland, who beat Norway 9-4 after overcoming Switzerland 7-5, and Finland, who beat Estonia 7-4 in the evening session.

The Finns had the same win-loss record as Denmark but ranked ahead of them in third as they beat them earlier in the round-robin.

It is the first time a Finnish women's team has reached the semi-finals since 1997.

In the day’s other matches, Germany beat Hungary 8-5 after defeating Norway 9-4, while Estonia and Sweden both recorded 8-6 victories against Hungary and Switzerland respectively. 

Action is due to continue in the Danish coastal town until Saturday (November 28).



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