David Murdoch and his Team GB rink settled for silver as they were outclassed from the start in a one-sided Olympic curling final with Canada.
Murdoch, alongside Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow, knew they could not afford to make any mistakes against skip Brad Jacobs, whose win means Canada have claimed both curling golds in Sochi.
But they missed too many shots and allowed Jacobs to steadily build a healthy advantage, picking up a three in the third end and even stealing in the fourth, to underline why this would not be Murdoch's day.
Great Britain had never lost a Winter Olympic final in a team event - with curling victories in 1924 and 2002 and an ice hockey win in 1936. And it was exactly 12 years to the day since Rhona Howie's stone of destiny secured gold in Salt Lake City.
But Jacobs and his world number one rink were the form team of the tournament and were always going to be strong favourites to defend the title won by Kevin Martin four years ago in Vancouver.
Murdoch, watched by a large contingent of team-mates, including skeleton gold medallist Lizzy Yarnold, said the curling Gods were finally looking down on him after a brilliant tiebreaker win over Norway and semi-final victory over world champions Sweden.
But he'd clearly used up his share of luck as Jacobs continued to relentlessly apply the pressure, securing gold 9-3 with two ends to spare.
"It feels like a kick in the teeth but once we recovered I will look at what we've achieved. I've chased this medal for such a long time and I'm so proud of the guys for everything they've done," said Murdoch.
"If you look at the games we've won to make this final and how we've got the nation behind us, it's just really special. A silver medal is still super cool.
"We had to force some pressure early and we let them gain confidence. We didn't have a very good third end and that was the game changer. Maybe our adrenaline was pumping too much. It's an Olympic final and we're a young team. We felt confident but it wasn't to be.
"Maybe this is the start of something special for this team. Now I've had the silver maybe I should come back and try for a gold."