Winter Olympics 2022 - Team GB guaranteed first medal as men's curlers reach final with win over USA

Concerns that Great Britain could leave the Beijing Winter Olympics without a medal have been put to bed by the men's curlers after they beat the United States 8-4 to reach the final. Bruce Mouat — who missed out on a place in the podium in the mixed event — will lead his rink in the gold medal match against Sweden on Saturday (06:05 GMT). Ad/> It was the tightest matches that went down to the final stone but GB were rock solid and stayed calm as their opponents made all the mistakes.

Beijing 2022‘We are definitely a playoffs team’ — Muirhead predicts best to come after GB reach semis4 HOURS AGO But they got off to a ropey start. After a blank first end with the hammer, the USA stole an end and went 2-0 up as GB looked passive in the face of American aggression. But they struck straight back and took the lead in the third end as American skip John Shuster threw a few wayward stones and GB crowded the house.

The USA took the hammer and an end with it as they took two off GB thanks to some supreme shooting from Matt Hamilton, but that was the last time Mouat's men would lose an end as they took back the hammer and restored the lead thanks to brilliant shooting of Grant Hardie and Bobby Lammie. /> With a 5-4 lead and into the second half of the game, neither side took the risks required to either take the intiative, fearful of throwing away a chance of the final before the match neared its end. Three blank ends followed with the US holding the hammer as Christopher Plys was guilt of some heavy-handed shooting in the eighth, spoiling the USA's chances of levelling the match.