Tuesday sees the final of the Mixed Curling event, and the surprise package Italy is the favourites and look the obvious betting pick.
The Italian pairing of Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner have taken the 2022 Winter Olympics by storm.
The duo is unbeaten having won all nine of their round-robin matches, and they then followed that up with an 8-1 thrashing of Sweden in their semi-final.
Monday’s win was their tenth in a row at the 2022 Winter Olympics, and they now just need to beat Norway in today’s final for an eleventh straight win, and with it, the gold medal.
Constantini and Mosaner are already guaranteed their place in the history books. In beating Sweden and guaranteeing themselves at the worst a silver medal, the duo will become the first Italians to ever win a Curling medal.
To win the gold, Olympic sports betting odds see the Italian pairing at just 1.57. Can they do it? Let’s take a look at the story so far for both finalists.
Italy have been Peerless
Starting with Italy, they have just been sublime through their Olympic campaign.
They previously signaled their potential with a joint fifth-place finish at the 2021 World Championships in Scotland last May. But even given that, no one could foresee the ease with which they have obliterated their opponents in Beijing.
Ironically, the closest Italy came to losing was in their final round-robin game against Canada. The match finished 7-7, and an extra end was required.
With the Canadian duo of Rachel Homan and John Morris needing a win to make the semi-finals, they could only watch on in despair as Italy won the extra end by millimeters. Such was the closeness, both stones had to be measured twice before Italy was eventually confirmed as the 8-7 victors.
The defeat left Homan and Morris with a 5-4 win/loss record, the same as Sweden. But the Swedes went through on head-to-head having beat Canada 6-2 on Saturday.
Norway see off Team GB in Tense semi-final
Italy’s opponents will be Norway. The Norwegians came through a gripping semi-final against British duo Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds on Monday.
Mouat and Dodds were in control of their match, leading the Norwegian husband and wife pair of Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten 4-2 going into the sixth end.
The match turned when the Norwegian pair scored 3 in the sixth end. After that, the momentum completely changed, and it was Team GB who struggled to stay in the match.
They did manage to level the game at 5-5 after the seventh end. But ultimately Norway took the match 6-5 after Skaslien won the tie with the final stone.
This leaves Team GB to battle it out with Sweden on Tuesday for the Bronze medal.
Italy v Norway Mixed Curling Betting Odds and Picks
As alluded to earlier, Italy is the favorite with the best Canadian sportsbooks. They are just 1.57 to win outright, with Norway at 2.30.
In the round-robin section, Italy topped the table with a 100% record.
The Norwegians finished in second place with a 6-3 record, this was the same as Team GB. During the round-robin when the two sides met, Italy beat Norway 11-8 in what was a comfortable win.
Italy is the form side, and with confidence no doubt sky high, they seem an obvious pick. Will experience play a part though?
The Norwegian pair has the edge here, having won bronze in Pyeongchang 4 years ago. While for Italy, this is Stefania Constantini’s first appearance at the Olympic games.
Her partner, Amos Mosaner, was part of the Italian men’s team in Pyeongchang that went out at the round-robin stage with a 3-6 record.
Constantini’s lack of games experience hasn’t affected her performances so far though. That’s for sure! So will she and Mosaner be able to win gold?
I think they have to be the call, and they are my betting pick to win the Mixed Curling outright.
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Handicap Betting
Elsewhere, in the handicap market, Italy is 1.72 to win with a -1.5 start.
In their round-robin fixtures, the Italians won seven of their nine matches by 2 or more points. They also destroyed that spread in their 8-1 semi-final win over Sweden.
At odds of 1.72, I think Italy -1.5 on the handicap is a worthwhile pick.
Total Points Betting
The final market is the points betting market. Here, the spread is set at 12.5 total points.
- Over 12.5 Total Points – 1.72
- Under 12.5 Total Points – 2.00
In the round-robin, Italy’s matches finished over 12.5 four times, and under 12.5 five times.
For Norway, over 12.5 came in six times, with under coming in three times. The round-robin match between these two teams finished 11-8, which is well over the spread.
I don’t see the scoring being that heavy in a final. So my final Winter Olympics betting pick on this match is for under 12.5 total points
