The hunt for a first British medal at the Winter Olympics looks set to carry into the 12th day of competition after Kirsty Muir and Katie Summerhayes failed to make the podium in the women’s slopestyle.
Team GB’s last Winter Games without a medal was in 1992 and, with five days remaining, their chances are fast running out.
The team are predicted to come away with just one medal in the men’s curling, who were taking on Sweden in their latest round-robin match this afternoon.
Scottish schoolgirl Muir, at 17 the youngest member of the team, had impressed in the Big Air and enjoyed a second top-10 finish on her Olympic debut, finishing eighth in the slopestyle. But her best run of 71.30 points was some way off the standard set by gold medallist Mathilde Gremaud, of Switzerland.
China’s Big Air gold medallist, Eileen Gu, took silver, with Estonian Kelly Sildaru completing the podium. Summerhayes, meanwhile, finished a place behind Muir in ninth.
“I’m just happy to be in the final but a little disappointed making a couple of little mistakes,” said Muir. “All the girls have been smashing it, but I would have hoped that I could have been in the running. The sport is moving at a really fast rate, so I’ve got a lot to do to keep up with it, but this gives me motivation to keep working.”
There was disappointment for James ‘Woodsy’ Woods in the men’s slopestyle qualifying. Woods had been dosed with painkillers after his back seized up and he did not take to the starting ramp on medical advice.
There was better news for Britain’s female curlers, who dominated throughout a crucial 10-4 group game win over Japan. Skip Eve Muirhead, who had overseen three wins and three defeats, was on song from the outset and never looked in danger of succumbing to another loss.
Team-mate Vicky Wright said: “That was a really solid performance. We knew what we had to do — go out and win — and we were on it after one shot. We still have a long way to go. We have to play solid this week and every game is so hard. You have to keep putting big performances in and that was this morning.”
In the women’s downhill, Sofia Goggia capped off a remarkable comeback from a sprained left knee, cruciate ligament damage and a fractured fibula just three-and-a-half weeks ago to take silver. But she was edged out for the gold medal by Switzerland’s Corinne Suter by 0.16seconds.
Winter Olympics medal table
|
Country |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total |
1 |
Norway |
12 |
7 |
7 |
26 |
2 |
Germany |
8 |
5 |
2 |
15 |
3 |
USA |
7 |
6 |
4 |
17 |
4 |
Austria |
6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
5 |
Netherlands |
6 |
4 |
3 |
13 |
6 |
China |
6 |
4 |
2 |
12 |
7 |
Sweden |
5 |
3 |
3 |
11 |
8 |
Switzerland |
5 |
0 |
5 |
10 |
9 |
ROC |
4 |
7 |
9 |
20 |
10 |
France |
3 |
7 |
2 |
12 |
- |
Great Britain |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
