Gb Curling Team's Rollercoaster Week: From Cortina Comeback Semi to 9-6 Final Defeat by Canada

The Gb Curling Team's run at the Winter Olympics ended with a 9-6 defeat by Canada after faltering in the final ends, denying Britain its first Olympic men's curling gold since 1924. The loss followed a dramatic semi-final win that had already guaranteed the British side at least a silver medal and raised hopes of making history.

Gb Curling Team: tense semi-final details and the Cortina comeback

The men's squad reached Saturday's gold-medal match by beating the previously unbeaten Swiss team 8-5 in a semi-final that was described in coverage as a late-night turnaround. Coverage framed the run as the "Cortina Comeback": at nine o'clock on Thursday morning Great Britain did not even know whether they would reach the semi-finals, and by nine o'clock on Thursday night they had secured a place in the final.

Different accounts in the coverage highlighted key turning points. One account described Britain stealing the sixth end when Switzerland's vice-skip missed a tricky hammer shot, an improbable run-back triple takeout by Bruce Mouat in the seventh, and Britain scoring two in the following end to lead 6-5 going into the 10th. Another account emphasized a point in the sixth that changed momentum, then two points in the eighth to edge Britain ahead for the first time, and a further two-point score in the 10th that sealed the win. The team had scraped through the round robin only because the Italian team lost their last group stage game to Switzerland that Thursday morning.

Atmosphere was lively: coverage noted a rowdy crowd, a band of Scottish fans, a lone bagpiper and even someone playing a kazoo. Hammy McMillan described the experience as an emotional rollercoaster and spoke of the fight the team had to produce in that contest.

Final against Canada: the gold match outcome and decisive moments

The final ended in a 9-6 victory for Canada after Great Britain faltered in the closing ends. Accounts referenced the final two stones that clinched the gold for Canada and left Great Britain contemplating another near miss in Olympic men's curling. The British side had been aiming to become the first British men's curling squad to win Olympic gold since 1924; they had also been seeking to improve on the silver they won at the previous Games in Beijing in 2022.

Coverage also noted that Canada are led by Brad Jacob and that the Canadian teams have been at the centre of controversy over claims of "double-touching" curling stones after release. The dispute began during a heated match between Sweden and Canada and prompted officials to increase the level of umpiring; the Canadian men's and women's teams, and Mouat's squad, were named in those allegations in coverage.

Team makeup, roles and Olympic pedigree

The British roster as listed in coverage comprises Bruce Mouat (skip), Hammy McMillan Jr (lead), Bobby Lammie (second), Grant Hardie (third and vice-skip) and Kyle Waddell (alternate). The first four members also made up the team for the Beijing Games, while Kyle Waddell returned to the Olympic stage for the first time in eight years. The squad squeezed through the round robin with five wins and four defeats, while Switzerland had gone through the round robin unbeaten.

Bruce Mouat produced an extraordinary shot in the semi-final that was called a run-back triple takeout; Mouat judged it one of the best shots he has ever made and celebrated with a little fist pump. Hammy McMillan praised Mouat's shotmaking and expressed confidence in the skip's ability to finish matches.

Rivalries, coaching moves and historical context

Mouat's rivalry with Swiss skip Yannick Schwaller stretches back to their meetings at the world junior championships about a decade ago. Schwaller won their earliest meetings but Mouat had the better record in the years since; coverage cited a head-to-head standing of 22-10 in Mouat's favour coming into the semi-final, including the last four straight. The British had also beaten the Swiss 5-4 in last April's world championship final.

Coverage noted that the Swiss brought in Glenn Howard, a four-time world champion from Canada, as national coach; Howard was credited with building the Swiss side into a round-robin machine, and he came onto the ice during a time-out to try to steer his team through the final shots.

Wider Milan-Cortina picture: other events, medal chase and what's next

The Winter Olympics programme at this stage included a postponed women's halfpipe final set for Sunday at 09: 40 GMT, with Great Britain's Zoe Atkin described as having a strong medal chance. Coverage posed the question of whether Zoe Atkin would win Great Britain a fifth medal on the final day and invited readers to check back on Sunday morning for the result. Coverage also noted that there were five gold medals up for grabs on the 16th and final day of the Games and described this moment as the penultimate day of competition.

In cross-country, Norway's Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won a sixth gold of the Games in the 50km event, while Great Britain's Andrew Musgrave finished sixth. Coverage also mentioned the conclusion of the men's ice hockey bronze medal match between Slovakia and Finland.

Names present in the coverage include Katie Stafford, Phil Cartwright and Josh Lobley. Commentary in the coverage included reflections from Vicky Wright, an Olympic gold medallist curler who commented on whether the men would want to continue and the potential she sees in them, and a recollection that Eve Muirhead made a fourth attempt at Olympic gold in 2022 and that she treated that moment as likely her last chance.

Uncertainties remain in some descriptive details across accounts; where specifics differed in the coverage, they are presented here as distinct elements rather than reconciled assumptions.