Great Britain’s curlers had another disappointing day in Vancouver on Tuesday with both the men’s and women’s teams losing vital games against Norway and Canada respectively. Eve Muirhead’s team are now out of the running for medals, while David Murdoch’s men will need to negotiate a play-off match against Sweden.

Skip Murdoch’s side needed to defeat Norway to clinch their place in the semi-finals but lost 9-5, setting up the all-or-nothing encounter with the Swedes on Wednesday.

If they are victorious, the men’s team will go on to face host nation Canada, who are unbeaten so far in the Winter Olympics, in the semi-finals on Thursday.

"At least we're not out of it," said Murdoch of the men’s chances. "That's the main thing. We play Sweden and hopefully win that.

"If we win we would play Canada. We like playing them, it always brings the best out in us. It is not something we are scared of and if we played Kevin it would be one almighty game."

A loss to Canada in the group stages sealed 19-year-old skip Muirhead’s fate, with her team going down 6-5 in their final group match.

Lightweight hammers from Muirhead handed the advantage to the Canadians, allowing them steals in the first, sixth, seventh and eighth ends to leave Cheryl Bernard's side 5-2 up with two ends to play.

Muirhead’s efforts in claiming two points in the ninth and a vital point in the 10th forced an extra end but Bernard held her nerve to take out the well-placed British stone with her final shot to take the victory.

"I missed a few crucial draws out there that let us down," said a disappointed Muirhead afterwards. "I put the blame on myself because there were a lot of shots that I should be making and they didn't come off.

"You feel really bad, that you've let the team down and let a lot of people at home down.

"But I've had the experience of a lifetime and hopefully for myself, only 19 years old, you can look forward and have many more to come.”