Butterfield and Kean will learn lessons from opening defeat

Jo Butterfield and Jason Kean will take the lessons from their opening defeat to Estonia in Great Britain’s curtain raiser at Milano Cortina 2026.

Opening matches are traditionally tense affairs, and it was no different for the two Winter Paralympic debutants who lost 10-7 to the experience of Ain Villau and Katlin Riidebach in the mixed doubles.

It saw the discipline also make its debut at the Paralympics before the opening ceremony had even got underway but it was not the start either had hoped for.

“At this stage now, it’s not the result we wanted and it’s not the performance we wanted,” said Butterfield.

“We didn’t play our best and we probably got the result we deserved, to be honest. We’ll go back tonight and have a chat and come back stronger tomorrow.

“It’s a tough one because coming out to that arena was epic. We’ve never been in that kind of environment before. The crowd and the cheers were really good.”

It marks customarily high standards for the 46-year-old who previously competed in the club throw in the summer Paralympics, winning gold at Rio 2016, before switching to wheelchair curling in 2022.

Butterfield and Kean got off to a slow start in Italy, but a fantastic take-out from the latter turned that around in the second end to level scores at 2-2.

First game nerves would rear their head, however, as a couple of errors gave a steal to Estonia that saw them lead 5-2 at the halfway mark.

“First half unfortunately shot execution for me just wasn’t up to scratch. I was just making stupid mistakes which was uncharacteristic,” reflected Kean, who also picked up curling just four years ago.

“Came back, had a chat with the coaches at half time and gave myself a shake a little bit and felt like I played a bit better in the second half.

“But I absolutely loved the moment of coming out and getting underway at the Paralympics. It’s the dream come true.”

And as Kean returned ever the optimist at the break, it was certainly not down and out for the Brits.

A powerplay in the fifth end saw them move within reach at 5-4, before a superb three-point score put them 7-5 ahead as the Estonians faltered in the sixth end.

But it was a rare blip in a brilliant showing from Ain Villau and Katlin Riideback who returned to form when the pressure was on, matching the Brits’ 3-0 before stealing two in the eighth end to seal the win.

“We had a really good half end chat where we went back to basics and said, ‘What is it we need to do?’” added Butterfield.

“The ice got a lot slower, and we knew that and they capitalised on that better than we did.

“We’ll learn from it. There’s a lot of curling left to do.”