The women’s curlers of Team GB lost their semi-final match against Sweden today, and with it their shot at a gold medal.
A podium finish is still very much a possibility and they play their bronze-medal match tomorrow morning, 11:05 UK time.
At the Gangneung Curling Centre, the Swedes played a flawless game on course to a 10-5 win. They had emerged victorious against the British in the group stage, the score 8-6, and it would prove to be the same story today.
At the halfway stage of today’s match, Team GB had every right to feel positive. The score was 3-3, and the British had made a strength of their performance over the final five ends during the last week.
Sweden had other ideas, though, and picked up a two in the sixth end, and then in a crucial passage of play stole a three on the seventh to take an 8-3 lead. With Sweden leading 10-5 after the ninth, there was no way back for the Brits, and the two teams shook hands to end the match.
Though they will be disappointed, Eve Muirhead’s team have the advantage of having been in this situation before. As winners of the bronze medal in Sochi 2014, they will no doubt dust themselves down and go into tomorrow’s match with belief they can repeat the feat. They will be up against Japan, who were narrowly beaten by hosts South Korea, with the decisive point coming in the extra end.
Sweden and South Korea will play for gold on Sunday, 00:05 GMT.
Weekend’s action: men’s bobsleigh begin campaign
As well as the curling, Team GB go into the weekend with outside medals chances in other sports. In the bobsleigh, two Team GB crews will compete in the four-man tomorrow, one lead by Lamin Deen, the other by Brad Hall. They begin their campaign with their first two runs of the competition tomorrow from 00:30, with the final two on Sunday.
They will hope to emulate or even improve on the performance of Brits Mica McNeill and Mica Moore in the women’s two-man bob, who achieved the best-ever result for a women’s team at the Olympics with an eighth-place finish.
Billy Morgan will take part in the final of snowboarding’s big air tomorrow at 1am, in a field of 12. He will feel confident, having qualified for the final with impressive scores of 87.50 and 90.50m, but may have to land his top trick, the quad cork 1800, if he’s to claim a podium place.
GB compete in inaugural alpine-team event
The mixed-gender alpine team event, new to the programme for PyeongChang 2018, will take place tomorrow. The event sees teams of four (two male and two female) competing in a single elimination tournament, with Britain taking part through a team consisting of Dave Ryding, Charlotte Guest, Laurie Taylor and Alex Tilley. The parallel format of the discipline, whereby two skiers face off against one another in a head-to-head race, is known to be a strength of Ryding’s.
The cross-country skiing event, the 50km mass-start classic begins at 05:00 UK time tomorrow, and will feature Team GB’s Andrew Musgrave and Callum Smith. This will complete a successful Olympics for Musgrave, in particular, who finishing seventh in the men’s 15km + 15km skiathlon – the best performance ever by a British cross-country skier – and was a member of the GB team that a creditable 12th in the team sprint free.