Beijing 2022 women's curling final: Preview, schedule and stars to watch

After two breathless semi-finals, the women’s curling final at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is set.

Japan and Great Britain will do battle for gold in the National Aquatics Centre aka ‘The Ice Cube’ on Sunday (20 February) at 09:05 Chinese Standard Time (CST).

It will be a match not without its baggage.

At PyeongChang 2018 Team GB, skipped by Eve Muirhead, met Fujisawa Satsuki’s Japan for the bronze medal match, both teams having been side-lined by eventual gold and silver medallists Sweden and Republic of Korea.

After Muirhead's last draw came up short, Japan won 5-3 to win their country its first ever Olympic curling medal.

It was unparalleled joy for the Japanese and heartbreak for Muirhead and Britain.

Now with a new rink full of fresh faces, the well-loved British skip will finally have a chance to redeem herself on Sunday, in what is her first Olympic final. Prior to PyeongChang, her best performance was bronze at Sochi 2014.

“I've got almost every gold medal apart from the Olympic gold medal,” said Muirhead. “It's always been a dream of mine.

"It's against the same girls. We love the Japanese girls. They're so much fun and we get on so well with them. They just love curling and that's fantastic for the sport."

And there is more than just her pride at stake.

After her male counterpart Bruce Mouat and his men fell short against Sweden in Saturday's men’s final, all hopes of a British gold medal in Beijing rest with Muirhead.

The skip will try to emulate Rhona Howie, then known as Rhona Martin, who won Britain’s last curling gold at Salt Lake City 2002 as recalled in the documentary film 'A Brilliant Curling Story'.

For Japan, an Olympic curling final is also uncharted territory,

Before Fujisawa’s rink - known fondly as ‘Loco Solare’ - won bronze in Korea, Japan had never finished higher than fifth.

“The God of ice was on our side,” said third Yoshida Chinami after her team's historic win over GB caused interest in curling to explode in her country.

The journey to Beijing 2022 was anything but easy for Loco Solare.

In September's national playoffs, Team Fujisawa trailed 2-0 in a best-of-five decider with Yoshimura Sayaka's rink.

But they managed to win three in a row to win the right to represent Japan again at the Olympics.

They may have lost their round-robin clash to Britain, but the Japanese boast victories over Canada and the United States in Beijing as well as their semi-final triumph over Switzerland making them worthy finalists.

Beijing 2022 women’s curling preview: stars to watch

When it comes to skips delivering clutch shots when it matters, look no further than Fujisawa.

In the semi-final against Switzerland, the 30-year-old masterminded the four-point end that have the Japanese an all-important early lead.

Then, when it looked like the world champion might return the favour, two exceptional double take-outs from Fujisawa hauled pulled her team from the brink. She successfully denied Switzerland a possible score of four, restricting them to just one.

Be sure to also keep an eye on vice-skip Vicky Wright of Team Muirhead.

The third, who works as a nurse for the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK when she is not training, has been a stalwart for Team GB.

Not only has she been a calm and steadying presence for Muirhead to bounce ideas off, but she is also consistent when it counts. Wright was top of the shot success rankings for thirds after the round-robin competition on 81.5 percent.

Schedule: How to watch the women’s curling gold medal match between Great Britain and Japan at Beijing 2022

The women’s curling final will take place at 09:05 CST on Sunday 20 February.

For those in Britain that is a start time of 01:05 GMT.

For those in Japan that is a start time of 10:05 JST.

To find out how and where you can watch the final, and all the action from the Winter Olympics in your region, click here.