Eve Muirhead 'pistol shot' fires Great Britain past Canada

Eve Muirhead 'pistol shot' fires Great Britain past Canada



Team Muirhead have reached the semi-finals of the women's curling after pulling off a huge upset to knock out world champions Canada 6-5.



The Canadians have never previously failed to make the podium in either the men's or women's competitions since curling was added to the Winter Olympics in 1998.



That makes this important win all the more impressive, with Team Muirhead progressing from the round robin with a record of six wins and three defeats. Had they lost, they likely would have been looking at a play-off at best to go through.



The pivotal moment came in the penultimate end, with skip Eve Muirhead staring down the barrel of defeat. Canada were lying three, but Muirhead's 'pistol shot' took out two of them, meaning they were only one down going into the final end, in which they had the hammer.



A two-stone win in the 10th end won the match. Muirhead, who won bronze at Sochi 2014, said: 'That game was massive. I kind of knew the outcome, win or lose, and it would have made it hard for ourselves if we had dropped that game. So as a team, we played a fantastic game, very high-class, and that was always going to be the case for Great Britain (versus) Canada.'



On the key shot in the ninth end, which she celebrated with a leap on the ice, she added: 'That was the big shot and it kind of turned the tables, a little bit. 



As a skip, I guess these are the shots you have to make. Really pleased it came off, and to book ourselves in the semi-final at the Olympic Games is really special. When I threw it, I was just hoping it was going to come off and the angles were going to work out.



'So many people have spoken to me about this jump but I can't actually remember it. All I'm glad about is that I landed safely on two feet.' British coach Glenn Howard, a winner of four world championships for Canada, said: 'I'm not naive enough to think it's all roses. It's tough and it's too b*d that it came to us knocking out Canada.



'I've had the Maple Leaf on my back and I'm proud to wear that, but I was hired two years ago and proud to put GB on my back, and I was 110 per cent here for Great Britain today.'



Earlier, British medal hope Billy Morgan qualified in sixth for the Big Air final.