ELATED TEAM MOUAT SAVOUR VICTORY OVER DEFENDING CHAMPS AND SET SIGHTS ON OLYMPIC FINAL

Bruce Mouat and his men guaranteed Team GB its first medal of the 2022 Winter Olympics when they battled back from an early deficit to get the better of the USA’s reigning champions in a tension-packed semi-final in Beijing’s Ice Cube.

The world’s number one ranked team will now meet increasingly familiar foes Team Edin for the third time in a major final inside a year when they contest Saturday’s gold medal match after the Swedes edged out Canada’s Team Gushue.

A final score line of 8-4 misrepresented the closeness of the battle between the world’s number one ranked team and the title holders as Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan went toe-to-toe with the flamboyant title holders, who looked to have struck a huge blow early on when they stole two shots at the second end.

The response was instant as they forced opposing skip John Shuster to attempt a tough double takeout with his final stone at the next end and, when he removed just one stone, Mouat was left with an easy draw to put his team 3-2 in front. 

Twos were exchanged at the next two ends of what looked set to be a high scoring encounter as the midway break arrived with the British quartet 5-4 ahead, but instead it turned into an arm wrestle, both teams refusing to give anything away until the ninth end when a British steal put them two shots in front playing the last.

They then controlled the last end, finally leaving Shuster little more than a hit and hope attempt to salvage a two by promoting a guard into the house, but the angles never looked favourable and he instead left Team GB lying two more shots.

Vice skip Grant Hardie took blame for letting the Americans jump in front early on, but was full of praise for the way his teammates supported him through that, the way they responded and, in particular, the way their skip had applied the pressure at the key moment in the ninth end when they established a telling two point lead.

“We started pretty well and we were looking for a two at the second end when I had a miss and the end just turned very quickly,” said Hardie.

“But it was great to see us stick together, dig in and respond with a three straight back and all those blank ends ultimately suited us.

“Looking at the percentages of when we win, if we’re one up we’re pretty happy and that draw Bruce made in the ninth end was just world class. To put it right there and force them to throw their stone away really gave us control and we knew if we made our eight shots at the last end we were going to be in the final.”

That key moment was a draw of such quality that American skip John Shuster felt unable to attack the head with his final stone, choosing instead to throw it down the side of the rink which reflected the change in mood on the ice.

“The USA wear their hearts on their sleeves,” Hardie added.

“They’re a charismatic team and they’ve won this before, so we knew they were going to be coming out with a top performance and it was great to keep them quiet towards the end of the game.”

All the noise at the end was coming from the British camp with the normally cool, calm and collected Mouat explosively demonstrating his relief at winning a medal after finishing fourth in the Mixed Doubles last week and at beating the Americans for the first time in five attempts at major championships.

“Our celebration at the end was pure elation,” he said.

“The yell I gave out was a kind of release. People back in Scotland might have heard that to be honest.

“To be so close last week, it’s been a total roller-coaster for me. I’m so happy with how I’ve bounced back from that moment and it was down to the support of this lot.

“They all texted me as soon as we missed out in the Mixed Doubles bronze medal match and I went round to see them and said ‘We’ve still got a great opportunity, we’re playing really well, we won the Europeans back in November,’ so we knew we were in a good spot. I just didn’t want to let that loss affect what we had potentially coming up this week. 

“I’m really happy to be stepping into that gold medal match with these four guys that are next to me.

“As soon as I got into this team I knew we had something golden and hopefully we get that golden moment on Saturday.”

They can be the first British men in almost a century, dating back to the 1924 Olympics, to win a gold medal and are aware that the only skip to lead a British team to curling gold in the interim, Rhona Howie, is in the commentary box at these Games which mark the 20th anniversary of her success in Salt Lake City.

“We have the chance to win a first gold since Rhona’s team won it in 2002 and that’s such a big moment for curling back home,” said Mouat.

“We really want to be able to replicate something like that. I think that if we go out and play our game, as we’ve done all this week then we’ll be very close to being able to have a moment like that.”

However, the significance of simply winning a medal was in itself not lost on them, in particular Hammy McMillan, whose father, also Hammy, was a multiple World and European champion, but failed to medal in three trips to the Olympics.

“It’s obviously nice to get one up on my dad,” he joked.

“He’s still got that World Championship gold, though, but this is about these guys I’m standing here with now. Standing on that podium is what we set out to do, but hopefully we’ll be standing on the top of it on Saturday.

“Grant and I are cousins and I grew up in the same hometown as Bobby when he had an Afro and curly hair, so I know him pretty well.

“We knew Bruce through juniors, then getting him on board… I couldn’t think of three boys I’d rather be standing here with.”

The lack of previous British medal success at these Games also serves to underline the scale of their achievement. 

“There are so many great athletes here that have come close or have had PBs, for us to get GB on the board with at least a silver and hopefully a gold means everything to us,” said McMillan.

As they prepare for the final they will meanwhile be look to British Curling’s Olympic Head Coach David Murdoch to provide them with an idea of what to expect.

“He’s helped us a lot and can share his past experience,” said Lammie.

“We’ve also had some ourselves at Worlds and Europeans, but this is that step up and he’s been a great help along with our team coach Alan Hannah who works with us day-in, day-out and does all the work behind the scenes. They got us best prepared for this match.”