Winter Olympics live: Team GB face nervous wait for curling semi-final spot

Team GB’s men will find out this morning whether they reached the semi-finals, needing either Italy or Norway to lose their match LiveupdatedSportWinter OlympicsWinter Olympics live: Team GB face nervous wait for curling semi-final spotTeam GB’s men will find out this morning whether they reached the semi-finals, needing either Italy or Norway to lose their matchFlo Clifford at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium & Luke BakerThursday 19 February 2026 08:05 GMTBookmarkCommentsGo to commentsBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popoverWinter Olympics curling controversy explainedYour support helps us to tell the storyRead moreSupport NowFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreGreat Britain face a nervy wait to find out whether they’ve reached the semi-final stage of the men’s curling tournament at the Winter Olympics, needing one of two results to go their way this morning.Team GB kept their hopes of a top-four spot alive with a dominant 9-2 victory over Team USA on Wednesday afternoon, with Bruce Mouat’s rink delivering a scintillating display to remind everybody of the quality that helped make them world champions.That was their final match of the round robin stage and they must now helplessly watch on to see if a top-four spot will be sealed for them. They need either Norway or Italy to lose their final match this morning, with Italy facing unbeaten Switzerland, while Norway take on already-qualified Canada. Every Brit will become Swiss or Canadian for the morning.Team GB’s women also face an uphill battle to finish inside the top four, but they snatched the most remarkable of 8-7 victories against the USA on Wednesday morning before thrashing Japan 9-3 in the evening to keep their hopes alive heading into the final set of round robin matches this afternoonFollow all the action with The Independent’s live blog below:RecommendedWhat do Team GB need to qualify for Winter Olympic curling semi-finals? Table, schedule and results in fullThe curling twist giving Great Britain hope of Winter Olympics great escapeThe ‘cheating’ accusations, secret filming, and curling scandal engulfing the Winter OlympicsWinter Olympics 2026: Men's curling updatesTeam GB need either Italy or Norway to lose their final round-robin match to reach the men's curling semi-finals – from 8.05am GMTGreat Britain hammered USA 9-2 on Wednesday to keep their hopes aliveThe curling twist giving Great Britain hope of Winter Olympics great escapeTeam GB's women also have a chance of reaching the semi-finals but must win their final match and get help from elsewhereMen's curling: Norway v Canada and Italy v Switzerland updatesRight, the final set of men’s curling round robin matches at this Winter Olympics are about to get underway.Team GB did their job yesterday and now can only watch, hoping either Norway or Italy lose to send them through to the semi-finals.We’ll be bringing you regular updates from Norway v Canada and Italy v Switzerland, which are about to get underway. Je suis Swiss-Canadian...Luke Baker19 February 2026 08:05What do Team GB need to qualify for semi-finals this morning?After Team GB beat USA in their final round robin game yesterday to end with a 5-4 record they now need either Norway to lose their final match to already-qualified Canada or Italy to lose their final match to unbeaten Switzerland. Both those games are on this morning from 8.05am GMT.If either of those two teams get a win, they will finish on 5-4, the same as GB, and would move above the Brits as they hold the head-to-head advantage.Hammy McMillan of Britain and Bobby Lammie of Britain react during the match against United States (Reuters)Luke Baker19 February 2026 08:01Bruce Mouat: 'This is a horrible position to be in'Things couldn’t have gone much better for Team GB’s men’s curlers yesterday afternoon, beating USA and having two other results go their way.GB skip Bruce Mouat discussed the victory and admitted to feeling helpless as they watch on this morning.“It was a bit of a scary first end,” Mouat told the BBC. “But we just turned the momentum straight away and then we forced them into some tricky shots, and he [US skip Daniel Casper] was a bit heavy on a few draws, so we got a few breaks which we probably haven't seen all week. It