Jennifer Dodd and Bruce Mouat beaten 9-3 by Sweden's Almida de Val and Oskar Eriksson for the bronze medal in curling mixed doubles; Team GB teenager Kirsty Muir grabs fifth place in freestyle skiing Big Air final
Monday 14 February 2022 07:17, UK
Team GB missed out on a first medal at the Winter Olympics after being thrashed 9-3 by Sweden in the curling mixed doubles bronze-medal match.
Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat, who finished third in the round-robin group stage before a narrow loss to Norway in Monday's semi-final, were second-best throughout as Sweden claimed a dominant victory in the Ice Cube.
Team GB picked up a point in the opening end before a brilliant final stone from Almida de Val in the second saw her claim four points for her and partner Oskar Eriksson.
Sweden stole three in the third and took single points in the fourth and fifth, despite lacking the last-rock advantage called the hammer, leaving Team GB eight behind with three ends to play.
Dodds made an easy draw to collect two points in the sixth end before conceding the match with two ends to play, securing Sweden a curling medal for the fifth consecutive Winter Olympics.
"It's pretty gutting to leave this mixed doubles tournament without a medal because it really felt like we were on form to win one," Mouat said.
"It's pretty raw. We've put in a lot of effort in the last two months to really try hard and get to this point. It really felt like we should probably have turned [Monday night's] game into a win."
Dodds denied that the agonising manner of their last-four defeat to the Norwegians 12 hours earlier - when they succumbed to the final stone of the final end in a 6-5 defeat - had been a factor in their heavy loss.
"We did everything we wanted to do to park that result and re-set," said Dodds. "That loss last night was going to be hard, but this morning felt pretty good and a medal was up for grabs.
"I don't think we would have changed anything we did over the last 12 hours or so. We tried to bounce back as hard as we could but unfortunately today wasn't our day."
Mouat and Dodds will now switch attention to their respective team competitions which begin on Thursday. Mouat skips the fancied men's team that won silver at last year's World Championship, while Dodds will join up with Eve Muirhead's rink.
"Before coming out here we put in so much preparation with what-if scenarios if we did or didn't medal, so we've gone through all the processes and the plan is to go out and be strong with our teams," Dodds added.
"We know we've got another two medals we can go for. I just want to be there in the team and do the best I can for them."
Italy won gold after beating Norway 8-5 in the final with Amos Mosaner and Stefania Constantini going unbeaten the entire tournament.
Seventeen-year-old Kirsty Muir forged a fresh and fearless Olympic debut, finishing fifth in the women's freestyle Big Air behind Chinese superstar Eileen Gu.
Muir landed a rare 'dub 12' trick on her opening jump to establish herself in medal contention, and had no regrets about crashing out on an even more ambitious third and final attempt when a place on the podium might have been at her mercy.
"I wanted to go for it and I'm proud of myself for doing that," Muir said. "Getting to the final, I knew I'd be happiest if I really went for it. The level was insane and I'm super happy.
"I landed the [dub 12] trick before but I tried it with a different grab which I've only landed in competition once before, and that was definitely the best I've ever done it."
Muir, who had qualified for the final in seventh place, ranked third after her first of three jumps with a score of 90.25, and after a relatively safe second jump - with the cumulative total of the best two to count - she threw it all into a final effort which saw her crash out.
With Peng Shuai and International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach in attendance, Gu landed her final trick, a left double cork 1620, to push Tess Ledeux of France into the silver medal position and delight a raucous home crowd on the outskirts of the capital city.
American-born Gu could end the Beijing Games with three gold medals for China, as she is also scheduled to compete in the half-pipe and slopestyle events.
