Sochi 2014: Great Britain fail to hit historic medal targets

Team GB endured a disappointing day at the Sochi Olympics after failing to achieve two historic targets.

The male curlers had to settle for silver after losing 9-3 to Canada and Elise Christie was penalised in her 1,000m short track skating semi-final.

Both failures meant the team missed out on the chance to win two golds at one Winter Games for the first time.

Had Christie won GB's fifth medal, it would have been the nation's best total at one Winter Olympics.

Britain have one more realistic chance to rewrite the record books, with the four-man bobsleigh team, who won World Cup silver in December, starting their bid for gold on Saturday.

GB's current medal haul of four equals the total they won at the inaugural Games in 1924.

They hit their three-medal Sochi target thanks to Lizzy Yarnold (skeleton gold), Jenny Jones (snowboard slopestyle bronze) and the bronze won by GB's women's curlers on Thursday.

UK Sport, who set the target, has invested £14m to help Britain's teams at the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The first disappointment of the day came in the men's curling final when the GB team, led by skip David Murdoch, were outplayed by the defending champions.

"We just never got off to a good start," said Scot Murdoch, whose team defeated world champions Sweden in the semi-final. "We were struggling after three ends and when you go 5-1 down to a team of that calibre it's extremely difficult to come back."

The focus then turned to Christie. Many fancied the 23-year-old to win a medal from the 500m, 1500m and 1,000m events at these Games.

However, after penalties cost her the chance to win a medal in the 500m and 1500m earlier in the competition, she suffered the same fate again when she was judged to have impeded Chinese rival Jianrou Li.

"I really wanted to bounce back [from earlier Sochi failures] and was so pumped to do it for everyone and for myself," said the Scot.

"To have the chance taken away - whether I had won a medal or not - is devastating.

"I have been so proud of watching the other team GB guys compete and wanted them to be proud of me."

Elsewhere, Jon Eley exited the men's 500m contest at the semi-final stage.

The 29-year-old, who finished fifth at Turin 2006, came fourth in his semi-final, with only two guaranteed to progress.

Great Britain's short track speed skating performance director Stuart Horsepool said: "We have put together a great short track team and ultimately we came here with medal opportunities.

"I am disappointed, frustrated and quite angry at the decision of the referee [in the Christie race]. You have to respect the decision of the referee but he was wrong."