Day 12 preview: Morgan, Nicholls and Coultas ready for big air debuts

Team GB are in action in four sports on Wednesday. After last week’s slopestyle the snowboarders are back in action in an eagerly awaited big air event, a discipline making its debut at PyeongChang 2018.

It's a case of unfinished business for Jamie Nicholls as he aims to sign off his PyeongChang campaign on a high.

Snowboarder Nicholls is one of three Brits, alongside Billy Morgan and Rowan Coultas, who will compete in tomorrow's men's big air competition, starting at 10.00am (1am UK time).

That comes after they all took part in the slopestyle event on the opening day of the Games, with Nicholls the first individual to drop in for Team GB in PyeongChang.

He missed out on the final on that occasion, unable to try and better the sixth place he achieved in Sochi four years ago.

But with the big air event making its Olympic debut in PyeongChang, the 24-year-old was desperate to seize his second opportunity in South Korea.

“What happened in the slopestyle just drives me more for the big air. It makes me more motivated to go out there and do well,” he said.

“I want to go there and do my cab 1400, my back triple and just do what I've been working on for my tricks.

“Big air is slightly easier because you have less to worry about, there's only one jump and in slopestyle there are seven hits.

“You only have to think about two different tricks for the qualifications and you've got plenty of time to practice.”

Two big games lie ahead for Great Britain’s curling rinks. Win and they could find themselves straight into the semi-finals, lose and they may need to go through the tiebreakers to reach the knockout stages.

Kyle Smith’s rink have won five of their nine matches and take on the United States at 2.05pm (5.05am). The USA team are 4-4 in the standings and have to win to stand a change of progressing.

Eve Muirhead’s rink play Rachel Homan’s world champions Canada in another key game. Homan has won three of seven and must win her two remaining games to stand a chance of progression.

Mica McNeill and Mica Moore are currently sitting sixth at the half-way stage, with a combined time of 1:41.72, 0.16 seconds off third place. German pilot Jamanka Mariama currently tops the standings, 0.46s faster than the Brits.

“We're brand new to this track so we're still learning and there's a couple of bits to improve on,” said McNeill, who came into the Games ranked 12th in the world after three top ten finishes on the World Cup circuit this season.

“We've got more in the tank for the start definitely and there's a few little bits to tidy up on the drive.”

The two concluding runs at the Olympic Sliding Centre start at 8.40pm (11.40am).

Wednesday sees the return of the two Andrews - Young and Musgrave - as they contest the team sprint event at Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Centre. Musgrave's Games have so far seen him claim a historic seventh place in the skiathlon as well as 28th in the 15km free event. Young meanwhile was 45th in the sprint and 57th in the free.  Can the boys finish their PyeongChang campaign on a high? They compete in the first of two semi-finals at 17:50 (08:50am UK time).

Sportsbeat 2018