Sweden, whose unbeaten run had been ended the previous day by an 8-7 loss to Norway, beat Italy 8-2 and New Zealand 7-1 to go second with nine wins and one defeat, with Switzerland, who have played a game more, top on 10-1.

Three other nations - Norway, Scotland and Canada - secured qualifying places, which means there is only one more spot to fill before knock-out competition starts on Saturday (April 9).

Meanwhile, the wonder shot produced by the Swedish skip, six times world champion and Beijing 2022 gold medallist Niklas Edin in the previous day's defeat, was still the talk of the TD Place Arena.

Edin, defending his title, played a rarely-seen spinning stone to score two and take the game to an extra end before the Norwegians prevailed.

"I will remember that shot for as long as I live," said American 2018 Olympic gold medallist Tyler George.

Switzerland, skipped by Yannick Schwaller, maintained their pre-eminence with a 12-9 win over the United States and a 7-6 win against Japan.

Scotland, skipped by Bruce Mouat, had a day to remember as they beat Norway 9-5 and then earned a 6-3 win over Canada that secured them one of the top six qualifying places.

Last year’s runners-up Canada, skipped by Brad Gushue, who led his nation to Olympic gold at the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics, also secured a place in the top six with a 9-4 win over Germany in the morning.

Defeat to the Scots kept Norway in third place with two matches remaining.

Switzerland’s final round robin match will be against Sweden.

The top two teams in the round robin will go through to Saturday's semi-finals, where they will meet the two teams emerging from the morning's two play-off matches.