CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Niklas Edin said Sweden didn’t match the “toughness” of younger rivals after a 7-3 loss to Germany left the Olympic men’s curling champions staring at an early exit Monday. The three-time Olympic medalist, competing in his fifth Games and a record 51st Olympic match, said Sweden never found its sharpness as small errors and distractions piled up, Feb. 16, 2026.
The defeat was Sweden’s fifth in six round-robin games, dropping the defending champions to the bottom of the standings alongside Czechia and China. With three games left in a nine-game group stage, Sweden would need an extraordinary set of results to reach the top four. Sweden’s lone win came against China; the Swedes also fell to Italy, Great Britain, Canada and the United States as the group stage moved toward its final sessions.
Sweden has still made noise in curling at the Milan Cortina Games, winning mixed doubles gold earlier in the Olympics. But the men’s rink, led by Niklas Edin, has been unable to build on that momentum as the margins tightened against a deep field.
Edin said the losses have been less about one blowup end and more about a string of “half shots” and marginal calls that opponents have punished. In a Reuters report, he pointed to a field loaded with young teams that play more high-pressure matches and arrive sharper in big moments.
Niklas Edin on Sweden’s missing edge in Cortina
For much of the last decade, Niklas Edin has been the standard-bearer for Sweden’s men — a skip known for calm reads, precise weight and a team that rarely gives away easy points. This week, he said, that identity has been harder to find.
“Maybe we don’t have kind of the same toughness,” Edin said.
He added that Sweden “wasn’t sharp enough early on” and that the group’s confidence never fully reset after early stumbles. By the time Sweden met Germany, the margin for error had evaporated — and the defeat felt final even with games still left on the schedule.
The milestone offered little comfort. Niklas Edin’s appearance against Germany was his 51st Olympic curling game, surpassing the previous mark held by American John Shuster. He called it a testament to Sweden’s longevity, but he also labeled the tournament “one of our worst.”
Niklas Edin and the double-touching dispute that drained energy
Sweden’s struggles have also unfolded alongside a controversy that consumed time in mixed zones and team meetings. After a loss to Canada, Sweden raised concerns about a “double touching” incident — an allegation that drew a sharp on-ice response and prompted heightened attention from officials.
A day earlier, Niklas Edin told Reuters the fallout cost the Swedes sleep and focus, even as he stressed that the team’s problems began before the dispute.
“There’s definitely a little lack of sleep and a lot of energy wasted on that,” Edin said.
The Associated Press reported that World Curling temporarily increased monitoring after the accusation, then scaled it back Sunday. Swedish teammates said the broader issue remained execution: too many near-misses and too many shots that drifted from “good” to “not good enough.”
Sportsnet’s early-tournament analysis underscored how quickly the margins tightened. In Sportsnet’s breakdown of Sweden’s 0-2 start, the outlet pointed to a 6-3 loss to Great Britain that ended after eight ends and highlighted how Sweden’s front-end numbers weren’t enough to offset struggles at skip.
From Beijing gold to a brutal slide: Niklas Edin’s Olympic arc
The sudden dip lands differently because Niklas Edin’s Olympic story has been built on endurance — and on learning from losses. In 2018, the United States stunned Sweden in the gold medal game, a result captured in Reuters’ 2018 report from Pyeongchang that detailed the decisive five-spot in the eighth end.
Four years later, Niklas Edin flipped the script. He steered Sweden past Great Britain 5-4 in an extra end to win the country’s first Olympic men’s curling gold, as ESPN’s recap from Beijing noted. The Guardian’s account of that final described the narrow finish and what it meant for a Swedish team that had spent multiple Games chasing the top step.
That history is why Sweden arrived in Cortina as the team to beat — and why the current skid has looked so jarring. For Niklas Edin, the challenge now is turning a week of frustration into something useful before the next major test.
What comes next for Niklas Edin and Sweden
Sweden still has round-robin games left, and Niklas Edin said the immediate goal is simple: play cleaner curling, finish with pride and stop letting close ends turn into losses. He also urged the team to take a breath, even if the math is unforgiving.
“Right now it feels kind of empty,” Edin said.
Beyond the Olympics, Edin said Sweden will turn quickly to the World Championships in the United States, scheduled for March 27-April 4. Whether this Olympic stumble is a one-off dip or a sign of a changing guard, he said the team will evaluate what is “possible going forward” once the event ends.
