World mixed doubles champions Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat moved into a share of top spot with hosts China after getting the better of defending champion John Morris and his new partner Rachel Homan, the former women’s world champion skip with a hard fought 6-4 win.
The British pair felt that the ice conditions had improved following their defeat of Sweden, another of the fancied teams in the opening round of matches and they put in a performance to match.
It was, almost inevitably, a tight affair throughout, but having conceded last stone advantage at the opening end, they turned that around with a steal at the third after both teams had forced one another at the opening two ends.
It remained tit for tat until the Canadians opted for their powerplay at the sixth end and, while Mouat produced two high class double take-outs to reduce the danger, Homan responded in kind with the final stone of the end, to claim a two and nudge her team ahead.
Team GB then took their powerplay at the next and while they looked to be struggling to take advantage of it, Mouat produced a perfect draw in behind a guard and after a distraught Homan failed with her attempt to promote that guard stone, Dodds was left with an open draw to the house to re-establish her team’s lead going into the final end. 
Dodds had the better of the two lead stones and while it remained nip and tuck as Mouat and Morris jockeyed for position, the Canadian failed to take out both British stones with his final delivery, allowing Dodds to draw into a nest behind one of her own stones and secure a position that made it all but impossible for Homan.
All that was left was an attempt to raise the British guard onto the two counting shots stones and while she hit her target, Homan was unable to shake things up sufficiently to remove both, allowing Team GB the match securing steal.
“It was a step up from last night’s game,” said Dodds who, statistically, was the strongest player on the ice.
“We were nervous yesterday. You’re always going to have that at your first Olympics, but today we were more settled and we have to get used to this place because we’re going to be here for a while, so hopefully we can produce something similar against Switzerland tonight.
“We were learning the ice last night, but also the ice-makers are figuring things out. I don’t think they had spectators in even at the test event, so it’s even learning for them and they’re doing a great job just now. That ice was great and we couldn’t ask for much more, so we’ll take our learnings from today into tonight and that should put us in a really good spot.
“We figured out ice a bit better and it kinda stayed the same speed through the whole game which gave us a lot of trust that we could really sweep stones to the point we wanted.”
Without having found their very best form, they are delighted with the position they are in at this early stage in the event.
“If you said at the start of the week that we were going to be two and 0 after playing two great teams in Sweden and Canada, I think anyone in the field would take that, so it’s a good confidence boost, but we’ll need to raise the game against Switzerland,” said Dodds.
They are not in any danger of getting ahead of themselves, however, fully recognising that every match will be tough in this environment.
“This field is so deep in talent that it’s really hard to be thinking about the play-offs yet. We’ve got to come out and play really well against Switzerland and that’s our main focus for today now,” said Mouat.
Having missed out on qualifying for the 2018 Olympics by the narrowest of margins he is, however, revelling in this opportunity to perform in an arena that he remembers well from the 2008 Olympics when it hosted swimming and saw Michael Phelps perform heroics by winning a record eight gold medals.
“We’ve seen this venue at an Olympics already and we’ve dreamt of being at an Olympics so long, so to be at a venue where so many athletes have achieved great things, it really feels like an honour to be on the ice and to be part of Olympic history,” he said.
“This does feel different to me. Obviously, Worlds and Europeans are great fun, but it’s always the Olympics that everyone aspires to, especially in curling, so to be here and be living it and winning some games is that dream come true.”
Schedule and results (Beijing time + 8 hours ahead of UK)
2 FebruarySession 1 - GB v Sweden 9-53 FebruarySession 2 - 09.05 - GB v Canada 6-4Session 4 - 20.05 - GB v Switzerland
4 February
Session 6 - 13.35 - GB v Australia5 FebruarySession 8 - 14.05 - GB v Czech RepublicSession 9 - 20.05 - GB v Italy6 FebruarySession 10 - 09.05 - GB v ChinaSession 12 - 20.05 - GB v Norway7 FebruarySession 13 - 09.05 - GB v USASession 14 - 20.05 - Semi Final (1v4 & 2&3)8 FebruarySession 15 - 14.05 - Bronze Medal GameSession 16 - 22.05 - Gold Medal Game
Pic: WCF/Celine Stucki
