Great Britain's men's curling team have guaranteed themselves a medal at the Winter Olympics after defeating Switzerland 8-5 in the semi-finals. The victory, led by skip Bruce Mouat, secures their place in Saturday's gold medal match.
The British team started slowly, trailing early in a tense encounter. However, a crucial steal in the sixth end, thanks to a superb shot from Mouat, turned the momentum in their favour. Capitalising on the hammer, GB took the lead and held on, forcing a Swiss error with their final stone in the tenth end.
The result came after a dramatic day for British curling. The women's team earlier beat Italy 7-4 but missed out on a semi-final spot when the USA snatched victory over Switzerland in an extra end, a result that would have seen GB progress had Switzerland won.
Mouat's rink had earlier kept their medal hopes alive with a dominant 9-2 win over the USA in their final round-robin match, finishing with a 5-4 record. They then needed other results to go their way to reach the semi-finals, which they did.
“It was a bit of a scary first end,” Mouat told the BBC. “But we just turned the momentum straight away and forced them into some tricky shots.” On the tense wait for semi-final qualification, he added: “This is a horrible position to be in… We're just gonna have to sit and keep our fingers and toes crossed.”
