lausanne 2020

Mirren Foy and Amy Robery are both well in contention to reach the last four of the mixed country 3-on-3 ice hockey event after another successful day on the ice at Lausanne 2020.

Foy (Team Blue) and Robery (Team Black) are involved in a three-way tie at the top of the women’s standings alongside Team Yellow, all with a record of four wins and one loss from their five matches. Fifteen-year-old Foy suffered her first taste of defeat during this evening’s session, after going down 8-5 against fellow contenders Team Yellow, while Robery’s Team Black are the current form team, winning both of their matches against Team Yellow (7-2) and Team Orange (7-3).   

Jessie Taylor’s Team Green currently occupy the fourth and final qualification position, helped greatly by their most recent 9-4 victory against Team Grey, but are also involved in a three-way fight with Team Grey and Team Brown to secure that semi-final berth. Elsewhere, Abby Rowbotham’s Team Red recorded their first victory of the competition with an 11-7 triumph over Team Brown.

Evan Nauth’s Team Brown are sitting nicely in third place in the men’s standings despite a mixed day of competition. They started the day with a convincing 14-5 victory over Team Orange, but then suffered an 11-5 defeat at the hands of teammate Mack Stewart’s Team Red. Stewart himself sits in fifth position, just outside the all-important top four qualification spots after back to back victories, so will hope to capitalise on any opportunity that opens on day four.

Carter Hamill’s Team Blue continue to struggle in the men’s competition and are still left searching for their first victory, following defeats to Team Green (11-6) and Team Yellow (13-8) today.

The seven Team GB athletes head back to the Vaudoise Arena for the last two preliminary matches tomorrow, before the semi-finals on January 14.

It was the first day of competition in the speed skating, with teenager Theo Collins taking to the frozen lake at St. Moritz in the 500m race. Collins, who today became the first Brit to compete in an Olympic speed skating event since 1992, recorded a personal best of 40:59 on the way to a 28^th place finish and was pleased with his day’s work:

“I’m happy with how the race went, in general. I officially skated 0.2 seconds under my personal best on ice that wasn’t the greatest, while other people were over a second off their PB. I’m really happy with how I skated, especially my technique.

“It [these Games] were about skating well personally and doing good times. I’ve achieved all my goals in the 500m, so I’m pleased with what I’ve done.”

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s 1,500m and the rest of the week, Collins said, “I just need to be as confident as possible and if I take the lessons from the 500m, I should be able to do just as well in the 1,500m and the other two races. I haven’t really got any goals position wise, but I’m hoping to skate as close to my PB as possible and skate with good technique again.”

Team GB’s curlers were unable to bounce back from their defeat against Turkey yesterday as Norway proved to be too strong for them. The Norwegian’s drew first blood going two up after the first end but some tidy play in ends two and three saw the match level. However, Norway turned the screw and eased away, and despite an additional point for the Brits, they ran out eventual 8-3 winners.

The loss means that Team GB will likely need to win their remaining two fixtures starting against Slovenia tomorrow evening at 5pm GMT.

It was a difficult day at Les Diablerets ski resort for Team GB’s alpine skiers, with Daisi Daniels and Sophie Foster both recording DNFs in the giant slalom. Both skiers were well ahead of their starting bib positions after the first run, sitting comfortably in 23^rd and 31^st respectively, however faced difficulty on the second run and were unable to complete the course.

The pair return to action on Tuesday in the slalom, before finishing off their Games in the parallel mixed event on Wednesday.

Results:

Alpine Skiing – Giant Slalom:

• Daisi Daniels – DNF
• Sophie Foster – DNF

Curling – Mixed Team:

• Norway 8-3 Great Britain

Ice Hockey – Women’s Mixed NOC 3-on-3:

• Mirren Foy (blue) – won 5-3 versus (green) and lost 5-8 versus (yellow)
• Amy Robery (black) – won 7-2 versus (yellow) and won 7-3 versus (orange)
• Abby Rowbotham (red) – lost 5-8 versus (grey) and won 11-7 versus (brown)
• Jessie Taylor (green) – lost 3-5 versus (blue) and won 9-4 versus (grey)

Ice Hockey – Men’s Mixed NOC 3-on-3:

• Evan Nauth (brown) – won 14-5 versus (orange) and lost 5-11 versus (red)
• Mack Stewart (red) – lost 9-13 versus (grey) and won 11-5 versus (brown)
• Carter Hamill (blue) – lost 6-11 versus (green) and lost 13-8 versus (yellow)

Speed Skating – 500m:

• Theo Collins – 28^th