The Russian women’s curling team have won bronze at the home European championships in Moscow, confidently seeing off Denmark on a 13-7 in the third place game on Friday.
Russia were beaten by Scotland in an extra end in the semi-finals, meaning the Danes would be their test for the last podium spot.
The 2006 European champions – Russia – lost the opening end, but found their stride later on, leading by four points midway through.
Denmark did come close to leveling matters in the penultimate end, but the Russians showed their dominance by controlling the last end 5-0 and leaving the final score 13-7.
The third place wrapped up what was only the country’s second-ever piece of European silverware.
“I don’t think the game turned out to be very tight,” Russia’s Luydmila Privivkova told RT. “We were confident, helped each other, stayed focused and concentrated on the result until the very end. So we are very happy to win a bronze medal.”
“Denmark is a very experienced team and we expected them to fight until the end,” Russia’s Ekaterina Galkina added. “We kept in mind that we should battle even if they equalized. We followed the plan and we won.”
Meanwhile, Sweden will face the sport’s heavyweights, Scotland, in the finals later on Saturday.