Sochi, Russia (SportsNetwork.com) - It was a split day for the medal-hopeful Canadian teams in Monday's start of curling action at the Sochi Olympics.
While the women's team began its pursuit of a gold medal by claiming a 9-2 victory over China, the men followed up an 11-8 decision over Germany in the morning session with a 5-4 setback to Switzerland later in the day.
The Canadian men are chasing a third straight Olympic gold medal and saw Germany notch two points in the ninth end before responding with two in the 10th and final end to record the victory.
However, after going scoreless through the first four ends the Swiss grabbed three points in the fifth before Canada answered with two points in the sixth. The two clubs then alternated points the rest of the way to give Switzerland the win.
The Swiss earned bronze in the 2010 Vancouver Games and are also 1-1 after the first day, having lost 7-5 to Sweden in the first session.
Sweden went 2-0 on the day, following up the victory over Switzerland with an 8-4 decision over Great Britain.
Both U.S. teams failed to pick up a victory on Monday. The men's team suffered a 7-4 loss to Norway, a 2010 silver medalist, in its lone match, while the women were defeated 7-4 by Switzerland.
The women led the Swiss 2-0 after the first three ends, but Switzerland notched four points in the fourth end and another two in the fifth.
Canada, which took a silver in the women's tournament in Vancouver, rolled past China.
In other women's action on Monday, Russia topped Denmark 7-4, while defending gold-medal winner Sweden bested Great Britain 6-4.
Also on the men's side, Russia lost two matchups, falling 7-4 to Great Britain before getting outlasted 11-10 by Denmark, which had lost 7-4 to China earlier in the day.
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