Eve Muirhead stars (and scares!) as curling fever grips Britain again – Best of Beijing

BEST MOMENTS OF DAY 14 Curling: the sequel Ad/> Wanted: new heart. Reason: Eve Muirhead. Beijing 2022When is the Beijing 2022 closing ceremony? The curtain falls on the Winter Olympics3 HOURS AGO Thrilling Eve almost became Killing Eve as Muirhead took British fans on the most twisting of rollercoasters in Team GB’s crunch semi-final with Sweden – one where they again flirted with an unfortunate demise.

Scintillating was married with silly as they fell 4-0 behind in the first end, roared back with a sensational four to lead 11-8 heading into the 10th and final end, then leaked a pitiful three to allow the Swedes to force overtime. At this point we must confess some choice words were flying around Eurosport Towers – “just blast every stone out the way ffs”. But Muirhead’s squad regained their composure and got sheet-smart to finally snuff out the Swedish threat in the 11th end and spark pandemonium amongst those draped in red, white and blue in the Beijing National Aquatics Centre.

It was the crowning moment in a storied career for Muirhead, which has featured a bronze medal in Sochi sandwiched between an angry broom snap at Vancouver 2010 and a capitulation at PyeongChang 2018. Now she has a shot of that elusive gold. We almost didn’t get here.

Even before Muirhead’s bizarre tactics in the 10th end invited Sweden back into the semi-final, GB had needed an unusual tiebreaker – the draw shot challenge – to progress after three results had swung in their favour on the final day in the round-robin phase. Now Japan await in the final. All the pessimism surrounding Team GB has suddenly lifted.