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Edin, Moiseeva claim gold at European Championships

Sweden’s Niklas Edin has added a European Curling Championships gold medal to his impressive haul this season.

Edin outlasted Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud 6-5 in an extra end during the men’s final Saturday in Renfrewshire, Scotland.

The 31-year-old Edin is now a five-time European winner including a three-peat alongside third Oskar Eriksson and lead Christoffer Sundgren. It’s the first European gold for second Rasmus Wrana, who joined Team Edin this season replacing Kristian Lindstroem.

It’s been a stellar start for Edin, ranked No. 1 on the World Curling Tour’s year-to-date and money lists, with five tour titles already including two Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling championships. Team Edin became the first European men’s crew to win a Grand Slam last month at the WFG Masters and followed that up earning their second just two weeks later at the Tour Challenge. The WFG Masters win also clinched Edin a spot in the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup.

Sweden opened the final with the hammer and was held to a point after Ulsrud made an across-the-house double takeout to lie three counters.

Edin froze out Ulsrud’s chance for two in the second forcing the Norwegian side to draw to the pin for one. Ulsrud crashed on a guard with his last in four, but Edin was still limited to just another single.

Ulsrud collided with another guard in five to give a steal to Edin and trail by two points at the break.

Sweden fell into trouble in the sixth end and Edin made a double with his last to limit damage as Ulsrud hit and stuck for a deuce to tie it 3-3.

Edin blanked the seventh and eighth ends and his patience paid off with a deuce in the ninth to pull back ahead by two heading into the 10th end.

Norway held the hammer coming home and Edin sat two stones on top of each other, but Ulsrud sprung them both loose to score a deuce to draw level again 5-5 and force the extra.

Sweden remained in control keeping the centre lane clean for Edin to make the winning draw that stopped at the back of the four-foot circle just in time.

Team Edin finished the event with an overall 10-1 record with their lone blemish coming against Scotland’s Tom Brewster during the round-robin stage.

Ulsrud’s silver medal is his 10th consecutive podium finish at the European Curling Championships.

Peter de Cruz of Switzerland earned the men’s bronze medal beating Russia’s Alexey Timofeev 8-6 Friday.

Earlier Saturday, Russia’s Victoria Moiseeva capped her stunning debut at the European Curling Championships with a gold medal victory on the women’s side.

Moiseeva stole two points in the final frame to upset Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg 6-4.

Hasselborg, ranked No. 1 on the World Curling Tour’s year-to-date standings, held the hammer coming home all tied up and looked to draw to the eighth-foot circle for the win, however, she wrecked on a guard with her last.

The team of Moiseeva, third Uliana Vasileva, second Galina Arsenkina and lead Julia Guzieva has now qualified for the Humpty’s Champions Cup.

Moiseeva was playing in the European tournament for the first time her career after shocking reigning champ and perennial Russian rep Anna Sidorova during playdowns. The upsets continued for Moiseeva as she qualified for the playoffs with a 6-3 record and toppled top-seed Eve Muirhead of Scotland 11-6 during the semifinals.

Muirhead, who rolled through the round-robin posting a 9-0 record, settled for third place on home ice defeating Czech Republic’s Anna Kubeskova 6-2 in Friday’s bronze medal match.

Sweden opened the final with the hammer and Hasselborg scored a deuce in the first end for an early 2-0 lead. Looking at a pair of counters, Moiseeva drew to the button for a single in the second.

Hasselborg kept the third clean to blank the end and retook the two-point advantage in the fourth after Moiseeva tucked her last behind a guard to force a draw for one.

Sweden caught a lucky break in the fifth as Moiseeva had an opportunity to hit and stick for two, but her shooter rolled out of the rings to only count one as Hasselborg remained in the lead 3-2 at the midway mark.

Russia tied it up in the sixth on a steal when Hasselborg came up light on her first skip stone and Moiseeva capitalized to bury her last behind cover at the top of the button. Hasselborg looked at making a runback takeout, however, she opted for the less tricky draw instead and was just wide by a couple inches.

Another blank in seven kept the game knotted up and Sweden pulled back into the lead 4-3 in eight as Hasselborg landed on the lid with her last while looking at two counters.

Russia looked to be setting up for a deuce to go ahead in the ninth, however, Hasselborg sat shot rock partially buried and Moiseeva wasn’t able to tap it out far enough as it stayed in the house for second shot. That limited her to just another single and set the table for the dramatic final end.