Team GB’s curlers, Duncan Menzies, Angharad Ward, Thomas Muirhead and Rachel Hannen, found their form on day four of the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck as they secured two convincing wins over Russia and Austria to finish the competition with three wins and four defeats.
In the early morning game Team GB beat Russia 6-3, with the Russians conceding defeat after seven ends. In the afternoon the Briton’s really upper their game to thrash host nation Austria 9-1. Team GB raced into a 9-0 lead after 5 ends and Austria conceded defeat following the sixth end.
Unfortunately for the GB Team, other results did not go in their favour so they will exit the mixed team competition with their heads held high.
Skip Duncan Menzies said, “It took us a while to get to grips with the ice over here in Austria but I could still easily be standing here with only one loss to our name. Every game except one either went to an extra end or was decided by one shot so if things had gone our way we would have gone through. But the team played fantastically well at the end, we made pretty much all of our shots and left me with very little to do so at least we go out on a high.”
Cross country skiers Sarah Hale, who lives in Dalarna, Sweden, made her Youth Olympic Games debut for Team GB in the 5km Classic medal race at Seefeld Arena.
Hale, who finished 32nd in a time of 17 minutes 44 seconds said, “I’m really tired now but it was a lot of fun, the first lap I felt really good but by the second I really had to fight my way up the last hill. I got really tired so I probably pushed a little too hard on the first lap and that cost me a bit but even so I’m pleased with how it went out there. The conditions were fantastic, wonderful tracks and good weather.
“I didn’t really have any targets coming in about where I wanted to finish, I just wanted to push as hard as I could all the way up to the finish line. I would have liked to have gone a little bit faster in the second lap but you learn from these things and I’m already looking forward to the second race on Thursday.”
Team GB ice dancers Millie Paterson and Edward Carstairs completed their free programme in front of a big crowd at the Olympiaworld Stadium. The pair put in an impressive performance to score 40.35, giving them an overall score of 71.05 and eleventh position.
The also dealt very professionally with a technical hitch that saw their music cut out for a few seconds mid-routine.
Reflecting on the performance, Millie Paterson said, “I’m really pleased with it overall. We could have done our rotational lift a bit better as I didn’t grab my leg straight away but overall it was good. The music fault was difficult but you’ve just got to get on with it, you can’t stop and make a big deal of it. I was a bit worried that it wasn’t going to come back on and I was upside down in a lift at the time!
“We scored 71 points overall which is really good, we’re very pleased with that. The Youth Olympics have been really good fun and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. I’m going to try and get to as many other sports as I can now to support the other Team GB athletes.”
Lizzie Flint, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine
