Muirhead vows to bounce back from the pain of latest defeat

EVE Muirhead’s trigger finger deserted her as Great Britain’s curling team were defeated 10-5 by Sweden in their Olympic semi-final at the Gangneung Ice Arena.

Muirhead had deployed her ‘pistol’ to sink favourites Canada on Wednesday but two days later it was more a case of shooting herself in the foot as a calamitous seventh end signalled an emphatic defeat.

For the second consecutive Games the 27-year-old will now face the tough task of raising spirits ahead of Saturday’s bronze medal match against their fellow last-four losers Japan.

Muirhead, who has often described her 2014 semi-final loss in Sochi as the most difficult of her career, said: “I definitely don’t think what we went through four years ago can harm us.

“We dealt with a serious loss and came back strongly to win a bronze medal. We’ll move on from the loss and focus on the next game and will go out there to get that bronze.”

Muirhead’s fate hinged on a pivotal seventh end in which it first appeared that Great Britain, trailing 5-3 at the time but with the all-important hammer, would benefit from an uncharacteristic mistake from Swedish skip Anna Hasselborg.

But her bid to draw her final stone to set up at least a two back-fired spectacularly when she clipped one of her own guards, setting up the Swedes to steal a three and with it effectively the match.