Having reached the final of the last three editions of the Championships, winning in both 2013 and 2015, the Swedish team of Niklas Edin, Oskar Eriksson, Kristian Lindstroem and Christoffer Sundgren were expected to reach the latter stages of the event.

However, they were surprised 6-4 by Scotland in their opening match of the day to leave their hopes of progression at risk, with their record standing at six wins and four defeats.

It set up a must win tie against rivals Denmark, who would be able to seal their place in the play-offs with a victory.

Sweden were able to move into a 7-6 lead in the ninth end of a tightly fought match, but Denmark’s skip
Rasmus Stjerne scored two in the final end to give his team an 8-7 win.

“Playing a tight game, against the world champions, Niklas Edin’s team is one of the best teams in the world and you have to win to stay alive," Stjerne said.

“This is such a relief, I’m really amazed that we stuck together, kept playing, kept putting on the pressure.

“It’s been a really emotional ride for us but I am so proud that we can say we made it to the play-offs.”

The Danish team joined already qualified Canada in the play-offs, with the group winners having underlined their superiority in the standings by beating Switzerland 8-2 to claim their 10th victory.

After they triumphed 7-4 over Switzerland earlier in the day, Norway had an anxious wait as they required Japan or the United States to lose to stand a chance of advancing.

However Japan achieved a national record eight wins at the tournament by overcoming Finland 7-5 to reach the play-offs, while the United States edged out Germany 6-5 to claim the final place.

Canada will now meet Denmark in tomorrow’s first and second page play-off, with the victors set to advance to the final.

The losers will then face the winners of Japan’s match against the United States in the semi-finals.