Great Britain hopes remain alive after dramatic day in women’s and men’s curling

A brilliant final shot from Rebecca Morrison sealing an unlikely 8-7 victory over the United States in their morning fixture.

Rebecca Morrison produced a stunning shot to clinch victory over the USA (Andrew Milligan/PA) (PA Wire)

Great Britain’s women’s and men’s curling teams remain in with a chance of qualifying for the semi-finals after a day of drama at the Cortina Olympic Curling Stadium.

Both sides had struggled to find consistent form in their round-robin competitions and arrived for Wednesday’s action with work to do.

The women’s team knew nothing less than wins in both of their matches would suffice, with a brilliant final shot from Rebecca Morrison sealing an unlikely 8-7 victory over the United States in their morning fixture.

Up against Japan in the evening session the aim was again clear and, after a blank first end, Team GB chalked up three points in the second before stealing a further point in the third.

A mistake from Japan limited them to just one point in the fourth, with two points in the fifth putting the British team in control at 6-1 at the interval.

Japan closed the gap slightly with two points in the sixth end, but Team GB pulled away again with two in the seventh and a final point in the eighth saw the handshakes offered.

Sophie Sinclair said: “We’re used to getting into that stage of a championship where we have to really fight for the wins. We’ve done that with Europeans and stuff.

“We’re kind of used to gritting our teeth and getting that performance. But I think the main thing is we’ve just sat together and just been like we need to enjoy every moment that we’re on the ice.

“The atmosphere out there is amazing so we’re just trying to soak it all in and hopefully the more wins we get, the more games we get.”

Team GB face Italy in their final match of the round robin on Thursday afternoon, a game they must win while hoping other scorelines are in their favour.

The men’s team must also wait to see if results go their way after a comprehensive 9-2 victory over the USA, who conceded after the sixth end in the afternoon session.

That result left Team GB third in the table but they have played one more match than Italy and Norway, who both lost their respective ties with Canada and Switzerland.

Thursday morning’s session is now crucial to British medal hopes as Italy face Switzerland and Norway take on Canada, with the British men’s team needing one of those sides to lose to qualify.

Skip Bruce Mouat said: “We’re doing a lot of good things, so we’re just having to hope for other results to go our way now.

“It’s looking all right for us at the minute but it’s hard to be in that position when you’re out of control.”