Team GB on track to challenge for curling medals after men and women's teams win group matches

Britain’s curlers took a significant step on their quest to match their Olympic medal-winning exploits of four years ago, with both men and women’s teams victorious in their penultimate group stage matches on Tuesday.

Victories against Norway and Japan mean the men and women now have identical records of five wins and three defeats as the initial round robin stage reaches its climax on Wednesday.

Another win in their final matches would guarantee a place in the semi-finals but, depending on other results, they may progress to a play-off with defeat.

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Looking to emulate the performance of David Murdoch’s British team who won silver at Sochi 2014, Kyle Smith’s side had been staring at an early exit after losing three of their opening five fixtures.

However, they put in their most dominant performance of the Games on Tuesday, controlling their match against Norway from the outset and securing a crushing 10-3 win to move joint-second in the table. They face United States in their final game, with the top four teams progressing to the semi-finals.

“It’s a great feeling,” said skip Kyle Smith. “Norway took the silver medal in 2010 in Vancouver. They’re going to be one of the contenders this week. So it’s a great feeling for us.

“Against a team with so much experience and for us to come out and play like that shows just what we’re made of.”

Eve Muirhead guided her side to bronze four years ago and the skip recovered from a shaky start against Japan to seal an 8-6 victory.

The British team had missed a number of opportunities by the halfway stage, but claimed a brilliant three against the hammer in the sixth end, which changed the course of the match.

They now sit third in the standings, ahead of their final fixture against reigning champions Canada.

“It was a really important match,” said vice-skip Anna Sloan. “They are all really important, but we knew we had to win that one.

“I thought we played really well. We controlled the game and that’s important at this stage.”

Elsewhere, Rowan Cheshire belatedly realised her dream of competing in an Olympic final when she finished seventh in the freestyle skiing halfpipe final.

Cheshire was knocked unconscious during training at Sochi 2014, where she was unable to compete, before suffering a series of head injuries in the following years that caused panic attacks.

Nick Buckland and Penny Coomes came 11th in the ice dance as Canadian pair Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue broke the world record to claim gold.