The blue-and-yellow ladies have already secured their place in the playoffs at the European Curling Championships in Lohja, a few kilometers west of Helsinki. After an opening loss against Switzerland, Anna Hasselborg's team has won six straight games. On Tuesday, they first won 7–6 against the Czech Republic and then 7–4 against Norway, and since the other results turned out well, it is clear with two games left to play that Sweden will make it to the semifinals.
For Team Niklas Edin, the result is almost as impressive: five wins in six rounds. Tuesday's only match ended with an 8–4 victory against Poland, and Sweden is rapidly heading towards the playoffs, where the top four of the ten countries go.
An improvement compared to last year when the Swedish men's national team missed the playoffs in the same arena.
"But the ice conditions are completely different compared to last year, when it was honestly really bad. I thought it would be significantly worse this year, but it's a different ice maker and they have been much more careful for this championship," Edin tells Dagens Nyheter .
At the same time, the European Championships are just a stop on the way to the big goal: the Olympics in Milan in February, where team Niklas Edin has an Olympic gold to defend.
A European Championship title would of course be a boost before the Olympics, but if it's gold it wouldn't mean anything. It's in the Olympics that we should be at our best and that's what we usually are, says Edin.
