Great Britain miss out on first Beijing medal after crushing mixed curling defeat

Great Britain missed out on their first medal of Beijing 2022 after Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat suffered a crushing defeat to the Swedish team in their mixed curling bronze medal match.

Less than 24 hours after their gold medal dreams were snatched away in a final stone loss to Norway, Dodds and Mouat were unable to recover after going 4-1 down in the second end and lost 9-3.

One day after losing 9-1 to Italy, Almida de Val and Oskar Eriksson picked up four points in the second end, stole three in the third and took single points in the fourth and fifth despite lacking the last-rock advantage called the hammer.

Dodds made an easy draw to collect two points in the sixth end, then Mouat immediately bumped fists with the Swedes to concede the match with two ends to play.

De Val and Eriksson hugged and the handful of Swedes in the mostly empty Ice Cube broke into a cheer. It is the fifth straight time Sweden has reached the Olympic curling podium, including a gold in women’s and a silver in men’s four years ago in Pyeongchang.

Italy, which went unbeaten in the round robin, and reigning bronze medalist Norway were to play for the gold later Tuesday night.

More details to follow …