Team GB suffered defeat in the men’s curling final at the 2022 Winter Olympics after forcing Sweden into an extra end on Saturday.
A tense final in Beijing went into the 10th end with Sweden leading 4-3 and a fantastic penultimate shot from Niklas Edin all-but ended GB’s hopes of a two-point finish to secure the title with the final stone.
Bruce Mouat and his team of Hammy McMillan, Bobby Lammie, Grant Hardie, plus alternate Ross Whyte, landed the necessary shot to win the point and force an extra end, which Sweden had the hammer for.
That forced GB’s backs against the wall and Mouat agonisingly failed to pull off a tough shot with his final stone. However, the silver medal put the team on the medal table for the first time this Games.
Sweden took the initiative when Edin took two in the second end, and under Edin's expert stewardship, it was one they would never quite relinquish.
The Swedes extended their advantage by stealing one in the third despite a brilliant double take-out by Mouat that have given him a glimmer of a greater reward.
Mouat pulled one back in the fourth for 3-2 and after Edin intentionally blanked the sixth and seventh ends to retain the last stone advantage, he made a rare error in the eighth to hand GB a steal and allow them to tie up the score at 3-3.
More clever tactics by Mouat in the eighth forced Edin to settle for one, and a pair of superb double take-outs in the ninth - first by Lammie, then Hardie, set up an intentional blank to allow GB to retain the hammer for the final end.
However, forced to take one in the 10th after some more expert work from Edin, they gave the advantage back to the Swedes for the extra end, and they forced Mouat into attempting an improbable effort which came up short.
An emotional Lammie told BBC Sport: “I don't know what to say. Personally I wasn't at my best today. I'm gutted for the boys. I think we fought back well in the second half, gave ourselves position and couldn't quite get over the line. Right now it hurts.”
🥈Congratulations @TeamMouat on your Silver Medal and bringing home @TeamGB’s first #Beijing2022 medal!
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) February 19, 2022
You should be incredibly proud of your performance this week 👏 https://t.co/YhO2gJgz2Z
MacMillan added: “It's not how we wanted to end it. We'll all look back on this and we will be proud but right now it kind of sucks.
“They started strong they didn't give us an inch. We probably weren't our best at the start but we fought back hard we had a good second half to give ourselves a chance.”
In the early hours of Sunday morning, Team GB’s women’s contenders take their shot at gold with a clash against Japan.
