Bruce Mouat and his rink secured a fourth medal for Great Britain at the Winter Olympics by beating unbeaten Switzerland 8-5 to reach the men’s curling final in Cortina.
The British quartet – the reigning world champions – will face Canada in Saturday’s final (18:05 GMT) looking to upgrade the silver medal they won in Beijing four years ago.
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But that’s the least these four Scots can achieve at the Olympics in Italy.
Mouat, Grant Hardie, Hammy McMillan and Bobby Lammie climbed to the top of the world rankings and were aiming for what a thrilling jumper after the race called “our gold medal”.
Although they struggled in the round robin and only secured a spot in the medal race thanks to Italy’s loss on Thursday morning, they are now just one step away from achieving that goal.
“This will be the biggest game of our lives and we’re delighted to get this opportunity again,” vice-captain Grant Hardy told BBC Sport.
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However, the British woman’s dream was dashed earlier in the day in the most dramatic of circumstances.
Rebecca Morrison’s rink needed to beat Italy in the final round-robin game, and they did just that. The other part of the equation is that Switzerland has to beat the United States.
But the Swiss failed to do their bit – despite forcing a heart-breaking extra time from three points down – which rendered England’s 7-4 win over the hosts meaningless.
Mistakes and Magic Swing Epic Contest
As recently as Wednesday morning, Britain’s highly-touted men’s had no chance of winning a medal of any color.
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But their best performance to date – against the United States – drove home the threat they pose and they head into the most important game with a pressure test the Swiss have never experienced.
Indeed, the closest Yannick Schwaller’s side have come to defeat here was when they were taken into extra time by an English quartet on Sunday.
But the Swiss had already played this game earlier in the day and adapted better early on, scoring two runs in the second to open up an advantage.
Slow starts have cost UK rinks in other games this week, but this time they responded much better, with Mouat calmly leveling the score in the third.
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These two teams are arguably the two best teams in the world at the moment, but mistakes played their part in a game that lacked the high-level quality of their previous encounters.
Muya’s misjudgment allowed the Swiss team to score two more points in the fourth inning and lead 4-3 at halftime, but errors occurred on both sides.
In Game 6, we had a play that changed the entire tone of the game.
Switzerland had a chance to score three points on its final shot. But during the attack, one of their shots grazed one of their own pieces and went straight through the house, giving Great Britain a 4-4 steal and new hope.
The Swiss regained the lead in the seventh, but held on to just one point after Mouat’s brilliant shot averted curling disaster, and the Englishman then put two of his own on the board to give his rink its first lead with either end of the ice remaining.
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How did the Swiss react? They elected to leave the ninth game blank, meaning the final two games would see them reach the finals and avenge their defeat in last April’s World Championship final.
Benoit Schwarz-van Berkel came within a hair’s breadth in the final seconds of the race, a score that earned Team GB at least a silver medal.
“It was probably the toughest win we’ve ever had and it’s great that we put in our best performance when it really mattered,” No. 2 Bobby Lamy told BBC Sport.
[BBC]
Women do their part… but luck runs out
The women’s team – last year’s European silver medalists – have really grown up in this tournament since losing their first two games.
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They needed three late wins to reach the semifinals, culminating in an incredible win over the United States and a win over Japan on Wednesday.
Italy – their last round-robin opponents – are behind them in the table but have come late and will be looking to end their home campaign in style.
Morrison’s rink was in control throughout, though.
They led 4-1 after four games and although the Italians did reduce their lead, the Scottish quartet controlled the game brilliantly and comfortably took the lead again in the dying seconds to claim their fifth win in the last seven games.
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However, after the celebrations were over, they could only watch sideways as already-advanced Switzerland fell slightly behind in overtime, allowing the United States to cruise to a 7-6 victory that dashed Great Britain’s dreams of an incredible medal.
“We’re really, really proud,” captain Sophie Jackson told BBC Sport, standing next to her tearful teammates. “We had a tough start to the week and we did everything we could but it was too late.”
