Great Britain’s men’s curling team finished fifth after being knocked out of the Winter Olympics in a play-off with Switzerland.

Victory was needed to advance to the semi-finals and Kyle Smith’s rink began well, only for the Swiss to claim the ninth end 5-0 and take an unassailable advantage.

Kyle Smith, his brother Cammy Smith, Kyle Waddell and Thomas Muirhead were competing in their first Games.

“We gave it our best shot but that’s the dream over,” the British skip said.

“It’s a sore one, we gave ourselves the chance of making the semi-finals but we couldn’t make it happen.”

Britain's Dave Ryding was ninth in a dramatic men's slalom
Britain’s Dave Ryding was ninth in a dramatic men’s slalom (Mike Egerton/PA Images)

Andre Myhrer of Sweden won a dramatic men’s slalom which saw two of the favourites fail to finish.

Myhrer won by 0.34 seconds from Ramon Zenhaeusern of Switzerland in silver, with Michael Matt of Austria taking bronze. Briton Dave Ryding was ninth.

Austrian favourite Marcel Hirscher skied out on the first run, failing to finish a slalom for the first time in two years – and Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway made a similar mistake on the second run after Myhrer had taken the lead.

Hirscher, regarded as one of the best ski racers of all time, finally ended his quest for Olympic gold here, with victory in the giant slalom and combined, but a win in his favoured event remains elusive.

“I had already a really bad feeling about the whole situation,” said Hirscher, who says he did not train well here or expect to perform well.

“It is disappointing but on the other side it is pretty OK for myself after really bad training days here.”

Switzerland’s Michelle Gisin won the women’s combined as Lindsey Vonn of the United States failed to finish her final Olympics race.

Vonn led by 0.74 seconds from Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway after the downhill, with Mickaela Shiffrin of the USA 1.98 behind in sixth.

Gisin, the third fastest after the downhill, posted the fourth quickest slalom run to claim gold by 0.97 from Shiffrin, with Wendy Holdener of Switzerland taking bronze.

Vonn did not complete the slalom event, so completes her Olympic career with one gold and two bronze medals from four Games.

Austria’s Anna Gasser took gold in the women’s Big Air competition with her final effort.

Gasser, the highest qualifier, was last to go down the ramp and knew she needed to score well to overhaul USA’s Jamie Anderson.

And she did, scoring 96.00 for a total of 185.00, as Anderson finished with 177.25. Bronze went to Zoi Sadowski Synnott of New Zealand with 157.50.

David Wise won men’s ski halfpipe gold ahead of USA team-mate Alex Ferreria.

Sochi 2014 gold medallist Wise saved his best till last, scoring 97.20 with his final run.

And Ferreria could not overhaul him, his best of 96.40 securing silver ahead of New Zealand’s Nico Porteous.

Emily Sarsfield qualified in 22nd of 23 skiers in the women’s ski cross ahead of the racing rounds on Friday. Canada occupied the top three places, led by Marielle Thompson.

The women’s ice hockey final saw the USA take gold ahead of rivals Canada after an epic contest.

After three periods, plus overtime, the outcome of the match was settled with a shoot-out in the USA’s favour.

Four years ago they lost out in overtime to Canada, but now they have ended their 20-year wait for gold.