Lausanne, Switzerland, January 16, 2020: Curling has become one of the most popular sports of any winter games – and it is easy to see why at the Winter Youth Olympic Games.
The first of two events in the curling competition of the Winter YOG was decided on Thursday and Japan had to settle for the silver medal after a tense battle against Norway in the four-player mixed team final at the Palladium de Champery.
The match went to an extra end, and Norway took it 5-4 on the ninth end to end Japan’s hopes of gold.
Trailing 4-2 going into the final end, Japan scored twice to level the contest and sent the gold medal game to an extra end.
Takumi Maeda, Momoha Tabata, Asei Nakahara and Mina Kobayashi were left disappointed, however, as Norway held their nerve to seal the Winter YOG mixed team title.
Japan had fought back from 2-0 down to pull level at 2-2 and then again from 4-2 to 4-4, only to go down in the extra end.
Russia beat New Zealand 9-5 to claim the bronze medal.
The curling competition at Lausanne 2020 resumes on Saturday, January 18 with the opening games in the mixed doubles tournament.