Great Britain Takes First Youth Olympic Curling Gold
Great Britain has won a thrilling gold medal in mixed curling at the Winter Youth Olympics at Gangneung, South Korea.
The foursome of Logan Carson, Tia Laurie, Archie Hyslop and Holly Burke overcame a 4-1 deficit to score two in an extra end over Denmark, who scored the silver.
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Danish skip Jacob Schmidt and teammates Katrine Schmidt, Nikki Jensen and Emilie Holtermann scored a huge four-ender in the third end of play to vault to an early advantage. There was a shot for five available, which would have been helpful as Team GB picked away at the lead and had tied the match with singles by the fifth end.
Following a blanked sixth frame, a jumbled house in the seventh end resulted in another British steal. Schmidt elected to throw his final stone away to be one down with last stone advantage—although to this point, his squad hadn’t scored since that third end.
By the time skip stones arrived in the eighth and final end, GBR lay three. With no centre guards, Carson drew in to lie four. Schmidt played a hit and sat open for shot stone.
Carson played a hit but rolled away, leaving Schmidt the full four-foot rings to draw to for the 5-5 tie. The rock stopped just in time, and the combatants were off to an extra end.
Time out! • IOC YouTube
On his first stone of the extra, Carson made a fine hit and roll behind cover to lie two behind an in-house guard. Schmidt was heavy with his final effort, and Great Britain claimed the 7-5 victory.
Switzerland, skipped by James Dryburgh, won the bronze medal with a wild 10-8 victory over China’s Li Zetai.
In the two-pool 16-team round robin, Great Britain (6-1) and Denmark (5-2) had led the way in Group B while Switzerland, Italy and hosts Korea finished with a 4-3 won/loss record. The Swiss earned the third pool playoff berth.
Over in Group A, China and USA finished top at 6-1 while Japan and Sweden wound up at 5-2, with the Japanese earning the playoff spot.
In qualification matches, the Danes thumped Japan 8-3 and the Swiss edged the Americans 4-3.
The semifinal round saw Great Britain defeat the Swiss by an 8-6 count, while Denmark dropped China 6-4.
Switzerland, skipped by 15-year-old Nathan Dryburgh, won the bronze medal with a wild 10-8 victory over China’s Li Zetai.
The mixed doubles discipline begins on Friday.
