Winter Olympics 2022 - GB women's curling team suffer narrow defeat to Switzerland in Beijing

Great Britain’s women’s curling team suffered a narrow 6-5 defeat to world champions Switzerland in their round robin opener. What started out as a cagey contest turned into a tense tactical battle as the sides entered an extra end tied at 5-5.

Ad/> GB skip Eve Muirhead had the chance to secure victory at the death but saw her final throw glide fractionally too far, meaning the Swiss snatched the victory. Beijing 2022Team GB joint flag bearer Muirhead hailed as 'trailblazer' ahead of opening ceremony04/02/2022 AT 09:29 Muirhead, who is searching for an elusive gold medal at her fourth Olympic Games having missed out on a medal in Pyeonchang four years ago, was largely impressive in a game that was tight on draws, take-outs and stolen ends.

Her three Olympic-debutants teammates — Vicky Wright, Jennifer Dodds and Hailey Duff – looked relaxed throughout and communicated well, showing promise ahead of their remaining fixtures. Swiss players Alina Paetz, Esther Neuenschwander and Melanie Barbezat, led by skip Silvana Tirinzoni, ultimately showed why they are world champions as they edged GB in extremely close-fought encounter.

Following Bruce Mouat and Dodds’ 9-3 thrashing by Sweden in the mixed doubles bronze medal match, the women’s team took to the ice with added incentive to get off to a strong start in the round robin stage. Medal table Schedule and results The start of the game was tight with both sides fighting for position in the house and knocking each other’s stones out.

The score stood at 0-0 after the first end, as with all the other fixtures taking place on the ice nearby, before Switzerland's Alina Paetz took advantage of space left by GB to give the Swiss a 1-0 lead after two ends. After trading shots for