Team GB will have a shot at two curling gold medals at the Winter Olympics after a stunning win by Eve Muirhead’s rink over Sweden in Beijing on Friday.
Muirhead has had an affinity for pulling off Houdini acts and did it again as Britain recovered from a four-stone deficit on the first end to win a captivating semi-final 12-11.
It had echoes of Rhona Martin’s stone of destiny 20 years ago as Muirhead pulled off an inch-perfect final stone for a four at the penultimate end to go up 11-8.
But her opposition skip Anna Hasselborg showed why she is the defending Olympic champion with a stone just as well-placed for a three to force an extra end.
In a nail-biting finish inside the Ice Cube, Muirhead kept her cool to force an error from Hasselborg for a place in the final in her third Olympic semi-final that had looked improbable barely 24 hours earlier.
The team’s reserve Mili Smith summed it up aptly when she called it “the most stressful game of curling I’ve ever watched”. Muirhead, meanwhile, said: “Third time lucky. I was desperate for it as these opportunities don’t come around very often. I was so, so proud of these girls. All week we’ve dug so deep. I’m pretty speechless right now. It sounds amazing to say we’re in the Olympic final. “
On the precipice of bowing out at the round-robin stage on Thursday, the quartet of Muirhead, Vicky Wright, Jen Dodds and Hailey Duff beat the Russian Olympic Committee 9-4 and made it through to the semis by virtue of curling’s draw shot challenge tie-breaker.
But in their semi-final against the Swedes, they got off to the most disastrous of starts to fall four behind and already face a mountain to make a contest of it.
Rather than rattle the British, it created a change in tactics from Hasselborg as they went on the defensive at the next end, a costly error giving GB a reprieve, three stones and crucially putting them within one shot of the lead.
A steal at the fifth end brought parity in the match and capped off a stunning comeback, only for Sweden to get a two to force themselves ahead.
Muirhead’s rink responded with a two of their own and did exceptionally well to limit their opponents to one stone at the eighth end.
But the match shifted dramatically in the penultimate end as Sweden’s red stones found themselves swamped by the British yellows, a stunning final stone by GB’s skip sealing a four and putting them in a commanding position.
Undeterred, the Swedes levelled to force that final end, which Britain edged to set up a final against Japan.
