Sophie Jackson and Duncan McFadzean made a painful exit from the World Mixed Doubles Championship in Sweden after dominating large sections of their meeting with their Swiss opponents in the first round of the playoffs.
The Scottish pairing had gone into the match in the Oestersund Arena on a run of four successive wins, facing opponents in Yannick Schwaller and Briar Schwaller-Huerlimann who had lost their previous three matches and it looked as if the match was going to form when Jackson and McFadzean claimed steals at the opening two ends to move into a 2-0 lead.
They then forced their opponents at the third end, but the momentum shifted when they were unable to convert a chance for a multiple score at the fourth, allowing the Swiss to steal and level the match at 2-2 at the midway break.
Another steal of two on the resumption then gave the Swiss the upper hand and while the Scots levelled the match again by scoring a two on their powerplay, the Schwallers then registered a decisive four on their powerplay, ultimately registering an 8-6 win.
“That one hurts, when we played arguably some of our best curling all week,” said McFadzean.
“We played a great first half, but missed at the wrong time which gave the Swiss a foot in and in the second half it was two shots that killed us. 
“It was just one of those games that one or two mistakes made the difference, so it’s tough to take having been the better team the majority of the game.”
There remained some satisfaction, however to earn vital Olympic qualifying points for Team GB after getting through to the knockout stages, which had looked a long way off when they had lost three of their first six matches in the round-robin competition.
“If you look at the positives, we were in a bit of a hole at the start of the week with the ice, but at the end of the week the ice slowed down a touch and allowed us to get a bit of curl and consistency with draw weight and stone positioning,” McFadzean explained.
“We are happy to get GB some Olympic points, but disappointed we couldn’t go further.
“There wasn’t any team out in this field that wasn’t beatable with the way we played in the second half of the week which we demonstrated when we beat Sweden.
“We feel like we should have been fighting for a medal at least.
“Obviously there are learnings from this week when you don’t win, so I think the experience will only help us as a pair.
“Hopefully we can push on next season and have an even more successful season.
“It was a pleasure playing with Sophie this week and season and a big thanks to our coaches Ross (Paterson) and Michael (Goodfellow) and our physio Catriona Sloan for keeping us on track all week.
“It’s been great working with this squad.”
Group A: Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Turkiye.
Group B: Australia, Canada, China, Czechia, Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, Sweden, USA.
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Please click here for more event information and results
Scotland Team 
Sophie Jackson
Duncan McFadzean
Michael Goodfellow Coach
Ross Paterson Coach
Schedule (BST) & Results
Saturday 20 April
Session 2
Scotland – Czechia 7-3
Sunday 21 April
Session 4
Scotland – Korea 4-6
Session 6
Scotland – Australia 7-5
Monday 22 April
Session 8
Scotland – USA 8-4
Tuesday 23 April
Session 10
Scotland – Canada 5-12
Session 12
Scotland – Netherlands 7-5
Wednesday 24 April
Session 14
Scotland – New Zealand 9-3
Thursday 25 April
Session 16
Scotland – China 6-4
Session 18
Scotland – Sweden 8-4
Friday 26 April
Qualification Games
Scotland – Switzerland 6-8
Canada – Estonia 5-6
17.00
Semi Finals
Sweden – Switzerland
Norway – Estonia
Saturday 27 April
09.00
Bronze Medal Game
13.00
Gold Medal Game
Images: World Curling
