Winter Olympics: Curlers defeat by US puts them on thin ice

The New Zealand curlers were outplayed when losing 10-4 to the United States at the Winter Olympics in Italy yesterday.

It was the third consecutive loss for the New Zealanders, who need to win their remaining six round robin games to progress to the semifinals.

The New Zealand team made the start they wanted by scoring two points on the first end but things came unstuck for them on the third end when they conceded two despite having last rock.

After that they were constantly playing catch-up and needed to take increasingly big risks to try to get back into the match.

Once the Americans had forged a six-point lead after eight ends, the New Zealanders conceded.

New Zealand lead Lorne dePape said the team were struggling slightly with the different ice in Turin.

"The conditions are very good, but we are finding there's not much curl in the ice, certainly nothing like as much as we are used to when we practise on the rink in Naseby.

"It's taking us some time to get used to. We are missing by very small amounts, maybe one centimetre, but this is a game where the margins are very fine."

New Zealand next play Finland. The teams have met twice at recent world championships, with Finland winning both times.

- NZPA