HEARTACHE FOR TEAM MUIRHEAD
It was a day of real disappoinment for Great Britain’s women’s curling team after finishing fourth yesterday, as Japan won an attritional bronze medal bout at the Gangneung Curling Centre.
Defeat to Sweden in Friday’s semi-final saw Eve Muirhead, Anna Sloan, Vicki Adams and Lauren Gray fall into the battle for bronze, which they won at Sochi 2014.
But the quartet were unable to replicate that at a second successive Winter Olympics as Japan capitalised on errors from Muirhead in the ninth and 10th ends to win 5-3.
Muirhead’s rink responded from a semi- final loss to Canada four years ago to beat Switzerland to bronze and were seeking to overcome disappointment again.
A tense, tactical encounter ensued, but Japan blanked the sixth and seventh ends to retain possession of the hammer and took the initiative.
A fine shot by Japan skip Satsuki Fujisawa piled the pressure on Muirhead in the ninth, but the 27-year-old missed her attempted takeout.
Britain had the scoring stone as Muirhead threw the last stone of the 10th end, but instead of scoring two points for the victory – or even one to force an extra end – her shot pushed a Japanese stone further into the house to seal defeat.
A clearly upset Muirhead tried to be phlegmatic, but was struggling to comprehend the loss.
“The shot was there, we went for it, to get two. As a skip it’s hard when you miss the last shot,” she said.
“I’m really proud of these girls, we have given it our best shot and it’s hard to say we are going home with nothing.
“I’m devastated it didn’t turn out how we wanted. It’s going to take a bit of time to sink in. It’s difficult when you don’t make the last shot, that’s what you train for day in, day out.
“It’s been a long journey, these last four years. It’s difficult to take to go home with nothing. The Olympics is a hard gig. We played our hearts out, left nothing out there.”
On whether she will compete at Beijing in 2022, Muirhead added: “The Olympics is something I dream about every day. I would love to be able to come back for another.”
The loss means Britain will finish the Games with a record five medals. Snowboarder Billy Morgan earlier on Saturday won the record fifth British Winter Olympics medal, with bronze in the Big Air event.
Four years after hanging a toilet seat around his neck during a memorable apres-ski moment in Sochi, Morgan can finally replace it.
“It’s a bit of an upgrade,” admitted the party-loving Morgan, who nailed a trick he had never performed before in competition – and had crashed in his last four attempts in training – to muscle in on the podium.
His success earned the 28-yearold former acrobat an unlikely place in history as the man who guaranteed Great Britain their best Winter Olympics with a fifth medal of the Pyeongchang Games.
When Canadian Max Parrot fell on his final run, ruling him out of contention, Morgan’s extraordinary achievement was confirmed, sparking wild celebrations amongst his support staff at the foot of the jump.
“I didn’t think I could win a medal,” conceded Morgan. “I had Torgeir Bergrem and Max to come and they’re rad riders, they never fall over – but they did.
“I had some good luck on the day but that’s what makes the sport so interesting – you can do a trick 100 times but fall on that day.”