CURLING: The class on the ice from Norway's 2018 Olympic mixed doubles bronze medallists proved too good for Australia, as they used a sensational start to win 10-4 with two ends to spare.
Facing a 6-0 deficit at the beginning of the third end, Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt elected to use their powerplay and came away with one point.
Nothing quite went the way Australia wanted until the fifth end, when they clawed back three points, but this Olympic experience will be invaluable.
Tahli Gill, 22, is the youngest player in the mixed doubles curling field in Beijing and Dean is only 27. Coach Pete Manasantivongs has been pleased with their determination to succeed.
“We've been resilient. We've had to build our resilience over the course of the competition. I’m very proud of them.”
Norway, who had lost three of their first four games, produced their best match of the round robin series to secure the win. They were represented by Kristin Skaslien, an Opening Ceremony Flag Bearer, and Magnus Nedregotten who are the PyeongChang 2018 mixed doubles bronze medallists.
Tahli and Dean have been primarily coached by John Morris and Pete to qualify for Australia’s first ever curling appearance at the Olympics.
John Morris, a PyeongChang 2018 mixed doubles gold medallist from Canada, has once again been selected for Canada. With the 43-year-old’s focus now entirely on competing for his home nation, who has a match coming up against Dean and Tahli on Sunday night, it’s left Australia down a coach.
“I'm trying to do two jobs solo on the coach's bench. But we have a range of different resources that we are tapping into when we're away from the field of play,” Pete said.
“John and I have complementary coaching skills that we use to support Dean Hewitt and Tahli Gill. So I'm never going to be able to compete with a double medallist, but I don't have to because he's very much providing insights around strategy and technique, having been at the Olympics two times before.
“My background is in communication and data analytics, so I do quite a bit of that. John and I, we complement each other perfectly. We would have loved to have had him with us for this event, but his country's calling.”
Australia has three games remaining in round robin play, which continues this afternoon against Italy at 5:05pm AEDT.
Jeff Dickinson-Fox
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