GB’s Treacy crashes out but curlers’ hopes stay alive

Team GB’s Niall Treacy suffered his third crash in as many short track speed skating events as his Winter Olympics ended when he failed to progress from the 500m heats.

The only British representative in short track, Treacy surprisingly reached the 1500m final on Saturday but crashed out and then also fell in the 1,000m heats.

The 25-year-old says the shortest distance is his least favourite, declaring himself to be «not a natural sprinter».

Treacy had a wobbly start as he was clipped on the opening corner by South Korea’s Rim Jong-un – an 18-year-old high school student who won bronze in the 1,000m – to require a restart.

But there was no reprieve for Treacy, as he skidded out midway through the full race under no pressure.

It ends British interest in short track, and the sport has struggled since losing £4.8m in UK Sport funding after failing to win a medal at PyeongChang 2018.

GB sent a team of five to short track events eight years ago – but that is down to one in Milan.

Dutchman Jens van’T Wout, who has already won both the 1,000m and 1500m, remains in the hunt for a golden treble after avoiding a mass pile-up to win his heat.

The remainder of the 500m competition – with two further knock-out rounds before the final – takes place on Tuesday.

Team GB’s women curlers delivered their best stuff in the biggest moment as they beat Denmark 7-2 to keep alive their semi-final hopes at Milan-Cortina 2026.

Having lost three of their opening four matches, Rebecca Morrison’s rink woke up on Monday not just in northern Italy but also in must-win territory.

Realistically, they need victories in at least four of their final five matches to have any chance of salvaging a place in Friday’s last four – and they began that quest well.

An aggressive start was rewarded with an early 2-0 advantage and the British rink maintained that to lead 3-2 at the break.

Another fine two-point haul in the sixth, followed by a steal in the seventh, opened up a four-point gap with three ends to play.

The Scottish quartet managed the rest of the contest admirably to close out the game with two ends to spare and add to their previous win over world champions Canada.

The women are back on the ice against the Swiss at 18:05 GMT, but before then the men resume their round-robin campaign against Norway at 13:05.

Bruce Mouat’s world champions have won four of their opening six games – having lost to unbeaten Switzerland in an epic on Sunday – but know a couple more victories in their final three matches should see them through to the last four.