Sweden’s last stone topples U.S. in curling.

You throw a lot of stones in a curling match. But much of the time it really comes down to one.Sweden trailed by 1 point going into the last round (or “end”) of a hard-fought, tight mixed doubles final against the United States. Isabella Wranaa needed to knock the Americans’ stone out to score at least 2 points and win the match.ImageCredit...James Hill for The New York TimesHer aim was true. Her baby brother, Rasmus Wranaa, swept to get the rock where they wanted it. It caromed off the Americans’ stone, and Sweden had won the gold medal, 6-5.ImageCredit...James Hill for The New York TimesImageCredit...James Hill for The New York TimesImageCredit...James Hill for The New York TimesSweden rebounded from a slow start to the bonspiel, including a 9-0 loss to Norway. The American silver-medal team was two unrelated homonyms, Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse, both from the curling hotbed Minnesota.ImageCredit...James Hill for The New York TimesImageCredit...James Hill for The New York TimesWhen you throw the final stone (“the hammer”) in one of the eight ends, you really have to score a point, and you want to find a way to get at least two. But in the very first end, a tangled setup meant the U.S. had to make a strong last shot to get even one, and Sweden got two in the next end. The teams traded ones in the next four ends, and Sweden clung to its one-point lead.The U.S. had a big end 7, scoring two and nearly more. That left Sweden down one going into the last end and set up the gold-medal winning shot by the Wranaas.ImageCredit...James Hill for The New York TimesImageCredit...Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York TimesThey start skiing down the mountain like any other downhiller. But then they’re going backward. And scooting along metal rails planted in the snow. And then twirling and spinning impossibly off a ramp. That’s slopestyle. And the margins between the best skiers can be slim.ImageCredit...Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York TimesOn Monday, it brought the first gold medal bid of these Olympics for Eileen Gu, the American-born Chinese who won two gold medals at the 2022 Games. The one event she didn’t win in Shanghai was slopestyle, where she lost to Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland by a whisker. It happened again on Monday, and Gu was left with a second straight silver. ImageCredit...Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York TimesImageCredit...Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York TimesImageCredit...Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York TimesIn slopestyle, athletes get three runs, and only the best run counts. Gu wasted no time and nailed her first run, finishing with a double cork 1260 — three and a half rotations — off the last jump to score 86.58. Gremaud put up an 83.60, capped by a 1260 of her own.With good runs in the books, both skiers could take more chances on runs 2 and 3. Those runs went well for Gremaud, not so much for Gu.ImageCredit...Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York TimesImageCredit...Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York TimesGu made an early mistake on her second run and then chose to ski cautiously the rest of the way. But Gremaud nailed her jumps, including two 1260s, enough to take the lead with an 86.96, a fraction ahead of Gu. Gu had to answer on her third run. But she tumbled on the first rail, and she had lost the gold to Gremaud yet again.Gu’s legions of fans will get two more chances to cheer her on in Italy when she defends her big air and halfpipe titles.ImageCredit...Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York Times Freestyle Skiing: Women’s Slopestyle › Gold Mathilde Gremaud