Canada's Mark Nichols, directs his teammates, during the men's curling match against Switzerland, at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb 11, 2022, in Beijing. (NARIMAN EL-MOFTY / AP)

BEIJING - Canada lost to PyeongChang 2018 bronze medalist Switzerland 5-3 in the fourth round robin session of the men's team curling at Beijing 2022 on Friday evening.

This was Canada's first loss after smashing Denmark and edging Norway.

Skipped by Turin 2006 champion Brad Gushue, Canada was 3-1 down after five ends, but managed to level the game 3-3 in the sixth end

Skipped by Turin 2006 champion Brad Gushue, Canada was 3-1 down after five ends, but managed to level the game 3-3 in the sixth end.

Skip Benoit Schwarz chose to blank the seventh end and scored one point in the eighth with the hammer, putting Switzerland up 4-3.

READ MORE: Van der Poel breaks world record in 10,000m speedskating

Switzerland raced further ahead after Gushue failed in his attempt to play a triple takeout in the ninth end, and a double takeout by Schwarz forced Gushue to concede before the last shot.

"We're obviously disappointed," admitted 41-year-old Gushue. "You know we played an okay game, but we missed some shots. We had a couple of bad breaks going against us as well. Now it's just a matter of regroup and for the next game we are trying to find a way to get a little bit better."

After winning the Turin 2006 gold medal, Gushue has never expected that it would cost him 16 years to be on the Olympic stage again.

"I do feel some pressure for sure, but I don't feel anywhere the pressure that I felt 16 years ago. You know I'm older," he said.

On the next two sheets in the evening session, Britain beat Norway 8-3, and Denmark was smashed by the Russian Olympic Committee 10-2, which was mainly due to their miss in the fifth end, giving a steal of six points to the ROC.

ALSO READ: Chinese rookies lose to Sweden in Olympic men's team curling

In the third round robin session, China defeated Denmark 5-4 for its first victory. One noteworthy thing is that when China made its Olympic debut at the Vancouver 2010, its first victory was also achieved against Denmark.

Other action saw defending champion the United States beat Britain 9-7, Switzerland overwhelmed the ROC 6-3, and Italy was smashed by Sweden 9-3.