Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat must settle for a bronze medal play-off after losing their Olympic mixed curling semi-final to Norway at the National Aquatics Centre in Beijing.
The British pair led for more than half the match but it turned when Norwegian duo Kristin Skaslien and Marcus Nedregotten scored three points on their power-play in the sixth, then held on for a 6-5 win.
Dodds and Mouat will have to swiftly shrug off their disappointment and prepare for a bronze medal match against Sweden on Tuesday afternoon.
The duo had confirmed their swift rematch against the Norwegians – against whom they had lost in the group stage 24 hours earlier – by beating the United States in their final group game on Monday morning.
Having trailed early in their round-robin tie, Britain made a much stronger start, taking the first end against hammer – or final stone – after Skaslien missed an attempted take-out.
A clever hit-and-roll by Dodds with the last stone of the third gave her a 3-1 lead and Norway were forced to settle for a single in the next, giving the Britons a 3-2 lead at the half-way stage.
Dodds had a good chance to score heavily in the fifth, but narrowly mis-judged her attempt and deflected off a Norwegian guard, forcing her to take one and relinquish the hammer going into the sixth.
Dodds was made to pay for an inaccurate take-out attempt in the next, giving Skaslien the chance to take full advantage of the Norwegian powerplay and roll in for a three and a 5-4 lead.
Britain could only respond with a single point from their own power-play in the penultimate end, hauling the tie back level at 5-5 but giving the Norwegians the hammer advantage in the decider.
And despite Britain’s best efforts the match came down to Skaslien’s final shot, the Norwegian calmly rolling her final stone into the centre of the house to signal heartbreak for the British pair.
