WYOG 2012: Hannen the highlight for Team GB in Austria

From Charlie Talbot-Smith, Sportsbeat, in Innsbruck

AFTER A disappointing first week for the GB curlers at the Winter Youth Olympics Rachel Hannen finally gave them something to shout about with a victory in the mixed doubles event on Friday.

HIGHLIGHT: Rachel Hannen is through to Saturday's quarter final in the curling mixed doubles event in Innsbruck

In the pairs event all competitors are teamed up with a curler from another Olympic country and Hannen and partner Marek Cernovsky from the Czech Republic came through in the round of 32.

Despite their lack of a common language the pair produced an impressive performance to take down the duo from Italy and New Zealand 5-2.

And Hannen, who was part of the GB quartet that crashed out of the team competition after the group stages earlier in the week, admitted that this win went some way to repairing the damage

"I'm very pleased to have won," she said. "I was very relaxed coming into the doubles event and that probably helped my performance.

"My and partner and I are still trying to get to know each other and understand each others' games and he speaks a little bit of English but not much so we are still learning as a pair.

"The game is different to the team event, I would say a bit more exciting and if we play the way we did in our first match then we've got a good chance of progressing in the competition."

It was less good news for Tom Muirhead, brother of reigning European curling champion Eve,  who found the language barrier too much to overcome in his match with Japanese playing partner Mizuki Kitaguchi.

Despite a promising start the duo eventually lost out 9-5 to a pair from Canada and New Zealand and Muirhead admitted it had been pretty tough going.

"We couldn't really communicate with each other, a lot of it was hand signals and gestures but it was a great experience nonetheless and we did quite well," he said.

"The Canadian boy played really well and on the third end we lost out in a big way and that cost us in the end."

Angharad Ward came agonisingly close to making Saturday's quarter final but she lost out on the final stone with playing partner Markus Skogvold from Norway to a pair from Sweden and New Zealand.

Over in Patscherkofel alpine skier Rachelle Rogers finished off her competition with the slalom event, but in what has become a familiar story for the 16-year-old, she missed a gate and ruled herself out of overall contention.

But Rogers remained upbeat after a Youth Olympic debut that was highlighted by a 24^th place finish in the Super G last weekend.

"It's so frustrating not to finish as I was skiing really well. I had a very good top section while lots of the other girls were struggling there," she said.

"But overall, the Youth Olympics has been a really great experience and I won't forget it for as long as I live.

"I've learnt so much from the culture and education programme and from just talking to other people from other countries. I've learnt what it's like being at an Olympic event and being an athlete."

The British Olympic Association prepares and leads British athletes at the summer, winter and youth Olympic Games. It works in partnership with sport National Governing Bodies to enhance Olympic success and is responsible for championing the Olympic values.www.olympics.org.uk

© Sportsbeat 2012