One British woman soared and a group of Scotsmen flew, with both Zoe Atkin and the curling rink of Bruce Mouat setting themselves up for shots at gold medals on Saturday.
For a variety of reasons there will be more excitement around the possibilities of Atkin, primarily because the American-born Brit qualified for the freestyle skiing halfpipe final in first place by a snowy mile. Secondly? Well, curling is an acquired taste.
But Mouat and his team of Bobby Lammie, Grant Hardie and Hammy McMillan have achieved something quite improbable here, culminating in their semi-final win over Switzerland on Thursday night.
The Swiss had been exceptional in the round-robin, qualifying for the knockouts in first place, and Mouat’s Brits only survived by virtue of results elsewhere.
And yet they have made the final against Canada or Norway via a 8-5 victory after belatedly remembering they are world champions.
Such an epiphany appears to have arrived in timely fashion after a mediocre campaign and, suddenly, they are presented with a chance at Britain’s first male curling gold since 1924. A Scottish farmer named William K Jackson was Mouat’s equivalent back then.
Great Britain are guaranteed a medal in the men’s curling after beating Switzerland
Bruce Mouat could hardly believe it as his side advanced to the gold medal match
The Swiss put up a brilliant fight and it all came down to the final stone
As for Atkin, the thrills are easier to spot and so is her dominance. The Stanford student, sister of Team GB’s 2018 bronze medallist Izzy Atkin, qualified for Saturday’s final in ominous form.
Already the champion of the X Games and world championships, the 23-year-old laid an instant marker on the competition by scoring 91.5 points, a full 6.5 points clear of second, occupied by Fanghui Li of China. Eileen Gu, Li’s team-mate, went through in fifth.
Earlier, Sophie Jackson’s efforts to emulate Eve Muirhead with a gold medal in the women’s curling ended when her rink were dumped out in the round-robin.
Having beaten Italy earlier in the day, their slim chance of survival to the semi-finals was eliminated after the United States beat Switzerland in a match that came down to an extra end.
A stunning final shot from Team USA’s Tabitha Peterson secured Jackson’s departure by a matter of millimetres.
Sophie Sinclair, part of a British team that lost four of their first six matches before a belated recovery of three straight wins, said: ‘Gutted. Absolutely gutted.
‘I think we were the best team out there at the end of the round robin, but we just left it too late.’
