Britain's bob team see medal hopes slide away

Nicola Minichiello and Gillian Cooke went into last night's final rounds of the women's bobsleigh with their hopes of winning a medal hanging by a thread after they trailed in 10th place following the first two runs.

Minichiello and her brakewoman, the reigning world champions, struggled to get to grips with the track in blizzard conditions and before the final two runs stood almost a second behind Cathleen Martini's German bob in third place.

Minichiello hid that disappointment well, insisting: "Until we cross the finish line after the fourth run we are still shooting for the gold medal. That's what we're going for and that's what we've always gone for." She admitted a mistake on the first bend had cost her dear on both runs. She struggled to regain enough speed after the first bend and ultimately held on to 10th place only 0.19 seconds ahead of team-mate Paula Walker.

In the curling, Eve Muirhead's British women's team were knocked out on Tuesday night after losing 6-5 to hosts Canada.

The men's side passed up a chance to book a semi-final spot in their final round-robin game, going down 9-5 to Norway and were due to face Sweden in a play-off game last night for the chance to take on unbeaten Canada in the last four today. "At least we are not out of it, that's the main thing," said the British skip, David Murdoch. "We have to play Sweden and will, hopefully, win that."