The British women’s curling team beat the United States with two steals in the final, but their hopes of reaching the Winter Olympics semi-finals remain slim.
If the Scottish quartet are to retain their place in the medal race, they will need to win their last three games and hope to gain favor elsewhere.
advertise
They have cleared the first hurdle in an extraordinary scene in Cortina.
They trailed 7-6 going into the final without a hammer and looked set to suffer a decisive defeat after a haphazard performance.
However, Rebecca Morrison added the finishing touch with a brilliant double on the final shot to put the pressure on the Americans, who faltered and ultimately failed to hand Great Britain an incredible 8-7 victory.
“There’s a lot at stake but we just have to keep believing,” Morrison told BBC Sport. “We fought against it but we came here to fight and that’s what we did.”
advertise
Great Britain face bottom-of-the-table Japan in another must-win game later on Wednesday (18:05 GMT) before taking on second-bottom Italy on Thursday (13:05).
The inexperienced rink – with only Jen Dodds surviving from the 2022 gold medal-winning squad – finished sixth at last year’s world championships, missing opportunities and making mistakes against the United States, falling well short of their best.
A steal in the third set suggested November’s European silver medalists might get the win they needed, but the Americans regained the lead at halftime.
A double in the sixth gave Great Britain the lead again, but three runs conceded in the ensuing game gave the Americans a seemingly insurmountable lead until Morrison’s late intervention gave them a glimmer of hope.
advertise
“As soon as it came out of Becca’s hands, I knew it was close and you could see the excitement it gave us,” Skicker Sophie Jackson said.
“We’ve been hit and miss, but we’ll be back tonight.”
Until then, the British men will return to the ice under equally dangerous conditions.
The world champions must beat the United States on Wednesday (13:05) and hope either Italy or Norway lose their final two games to reach medal contention.
[BBC]