TEAM GB WOMEN CONTINUE TO CLIMB STANDINGS AFTER DEFEAT OF DANES

Easing past Denmark to claim a second successive victory in Beijing’s Ice Cube has taken Britain’s women into a share of third spot in the standings at the Winter Olympics.

Eve Muirhead, Vicky Wright, Jen Dodds and Hailey Duff had found themselves in a challenging situation when they lost two of their first three matches in the round-robin section of the competition, but are now firmly back in contention for a place in the weekend’s semi-finals with a record of three wins and two defeats.

“After a great win last night against unbeaten USA, to carry that momentum into this match was ideal,” said skip Muirhead. 

“I can’t complain one bit. I thought we were great from start to finish.

“It’s one game days for us throughout the round-robin now, so I think it is important that we get that momentum going and start each day as a new one. That works out pretty well for us, but it’s important that we keep it going now and I’d love to even step it up more.”

They claimed the upper hand against the Danes early on, starting with the hammer and registering a two at the opening end and maintaining that advantage to the midway point as both teams were then forced to take singles after blanking the second and fourth ends.

It remained cagey for the next three ends, another single apiece sandwiching another blanked end, but the onus was building on the Danes to try to find a way of closing the two shot gap as they reached the penultimate end and the risks they took backfired, leaving skip Madeleine Dupont with tough draws to try to save the end, which she failed to do, allowing Team GB to register the three that ended the match.

Having had to plot a recovery from a difficult start, Muirhead belies her team is benefiting from having had to undergo the nerve-wracking process of qualifying for the Olympics at a time when international competition was otherwise shut down.

“I do think that having the Olympic Qualification Event was maybe a little bit of a blessing in disguise, because it did give us that extra high quality competition against some of the teams that are here,”she observed.

“So, coming off the gold medal win at the Europeans and then carrying that into the Olympic qualifier, helped us I think.

“We had some great matches under our belt coming into the Games, which some people didn’t but in terms of preparation we also can’t forget the high quality conditions and the great facility we have back at Stirling and we’re grateful to the National Lottery for the funding to allow us to do that.”

Aware of the time difference as she is, Muirhead took the opportunity to thank supporters at home for getting up at all hours to watch them.

“As a team every time we get Great Britain on our back we’re very proud to represent the country and it’s great to know how many supporters we have back in Britain,” she said.

“A lot of our family and friends are up all hours of the night to support us, but when we come out here we know all we can do is our best. We’ve practised very hard to get here, we’ve trained very hard and we’re proving on the ice that we are capable of putting out some great performances.

“I love that people set their alarms for all hours of the night to watch us. It makes me very proud and I know it’ll make the team very proud as well.

“We’ve got some nervous family members at home. I know what it’s like watching. I hate it. Like, watching Jen last week I had sweaty feet, sweaty hands… I’d rather be on the ice any day of the week, so I know what it’s like for them at home.”

They are also appreciating the noise generated by supporters in the venue, however partisan it may be.

“Vicky and I spoke yesterday about how nice it is to have some fans here and hear some cheering,” said Muirhead.

“As much as they’re behind China I still think it’s fantastic. We are all used to playing in arenas with packed crowds and you’ll always have people for you and people against you. That’s just curling.

“When the home nation are playing, they’re with them, but I think it’s great that there are supporters out there and I think it adds extra buzz to the Games.

“I don’t ever find it a distraction. When we’re on the ice we’re very focused. It doesn’t bother me one bit, the noise.”