After going through round-robin play undefeated and falling in the semifinals, Switzerland’s men’s curling team put a bow on their Olympics by defeating Norway, 9-1, in the bronze medal game on Friday.

With the bronze, Switzerland wins the country's first Olympic men's curling medal since 2018 and fifth all time.

"First of all, it's amazing," said Swiss skip Yannick Schwaller. "Coming out with a medal after the last four years, it was such a good project. Three awesome guys that became friends, and the coaches as well. To have that end goal of going to the Olympics and to win a medal here feels fantastic. Of course, there are mixed feelings because we were that good so we could have won that semifinal, too, but I'm so proud and happy."

Switzerland's only loss of the tournament was in the semifinals, an 8-5 defeat at the hands of Great Britain, who advanced to the gold medal game.

It was hard for Swiss players to put that loss out of their heads, but they're happy to still leave with hardware.

"We’re not going to lie, yesterday was a huge disappointment," said vice-skip Benoit Schwarz-van Berkel. "We were millimeters away. How could you not be disappointed? I mean, we had it in our hands, basically. Yeah, this is still going to hurt for days and weeks, I think. But coming back with an Olympic bronze medal for Switzerland feels pretty good right now."

The Swiss squad took control of Friday's match early. In the second end, they swept their penultimate stone into the eight-foot and later got a simple takeout of Norway’s only stone in the house for three points.

They added another single in the fourth. Berkel got a takeout on Switzerland’s final stone and Norway lined up to try to richochet their rock off another in the house to move that Swiss stone and come up with three. Magnus Ramsfjell’s throw overcurled and missed the takeout, allowing a steal of one for Switzerland for a 4-0 lead.

The two teams blanked the fourth, and Norway added just one in the fifth to go into the break down, 4-1.

Switzerland had hammer and blanked the sixth and seventh ends, then added two to the lead in the eighth. Berkel’s hammer throw runback attempt took out Norway’s only stone in the house and sat a pair, giving the Swiss a dominant 6-1 lead.

They put the finishing touches on the game in the ninth. Berkel came away with a takeout on his final throw, leaving Switzerland sitting three stones alone in the house. Ramsfjell, knowing he’d lost, sent his rock down jovially and it didn’t even make it inside, giving the Swiss a steal of one more and the win.

Norway conceded the 10th end.

"With all the good games we played and the record we got in round-robin and making the playoffs, it's been our a great experience and we've had a lot of fun," Ramsfjell said.

The Swiss had 44 takeouts in the game to just 22 for Norway. Switzerland shot 91 percent on takeout attempts, 88 percent on draw attempts, and 88 percent on all shots in the win.

Even though they leave in fourth, the Norwegians are hopeful they made a statement in their time in Cortina.

"The news guys asked us beforehand, ‘So what's your thing? What's the thing we should focus on? What's, like, the gimmick or how do we recognize you?’" Ramsfjell said. "And I just said, I think you will see the four guys out on the ice who will have fun, and hopefully we’ll spread that to everyone who watches, and I believe we have accomplished that. And I feel like most people who watch the games back will have had a good time and I really hope that people enjoyed it."

Norway was looking for its first Olympic curling medal since 2010. 

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