Scotland’s men had to settle for silver medals at this year’s World junior Curling Championships in Flims, when they lost the final 5-6 to hosts Switzerland.
The Scots came into this game as defending champions and, although they took the early lead by scoring one in the first end, they gave up steals in both the third and sixth ends on the way to being 3-6 down after eight ends.
They fought back in the last two ends, scoring singles in each of them, but they had left themselves too much to do and Switzerland took the gold. On the next sheet, Norway beat Canada by 7-5 for bronze medals.
Scottish skip Kyle Smith, of Perth, said: “We didn’t play our best by any means. It was just shots here and there. We didn’t quite get the rub. You can’t take anything from them as they played very well.”
The Scottish women, skipped by Edinburgh’s Gina AItken, had finished their campaign earlier to rank eighth overall.
* Great Britain’s wheelchair curling skip Aileen Neilson will use a video on her phone of her Olympic counterparts receiving their medals to help inspire her team to similar heights at the Winter Paralympics.
Neilson will lead her team into their first match against favourites Canada on Saturday with the achievements of Eve Muirhead’s and David Murdoch’s rinks in Sochi fresh in her mind.
The 42-year-old Scot watched as much of their action as her training commitments would allow last month and is hoping the nation’s curious love affair with the sport can continue for another 10 days.
She told Press Association Sport: “Having watched the Olympics, we’ve been really inspired by Dave’s and Eve’s teams doing so well, getting silver and bronze (respectively).
“I have a video on my phone of them getting their medals that we can look at to inspire us. Watching them receiving their medals was a real special moment.
“It’s something that will definitely motivate us when we go on the ice.”
Both of Britain’s Olympic rinks came unstuck against Canada Muirhead’s in the semi-finals and Murdoch’s in the final meaning the Paralympic team have chance to exact immediate revenge in their opening round-robin match against the two-times Paralympic champs.