Bruce Mouat’s men have returned to the top of the world rankings, while two Scottish teams now occupy places in the top three for the first time in curling history.
Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan, along with their closest domestic rivals Ross Whyte, Robin Brydone, Duncan McFadzean and Euan Kyle have been rewarded for a fine start to the season at home and abroad. 
The return to world number one status is a result of starting the 2024/25 campaign with 14 successive wins, making history by becoming the first Scots to win the Baden Masters, then going through another unbeaten campaign at the Euro Super Series (ESS) on home ice at Stirling’s National Curling Academy last weekend.
Whyte’s team ran them close at both, picking up valuable ranking points to move up to third place after reaching the semi-finals in Switzerland, then the final at the ESS.
The unprecedented strength in depth in the domestic game is underlined by the presence of another Scottish line-up, Team Craik, inside the top 10, with two more - Teams Bryce and Waddell - at 15th and 16th respectively.
With official confirmation of the rankings arriving as a perfectly timed big birthday present on the day he turned 30, Mouat said the way his team had started the season had been a response to the disappointment of coming up short in their World Championship title defence at the end of last season.
“The World Championships was a reality check which I think is exactly what some athletes need or get sometimes and there was a really tough couple of months for me after that,” said Mouat.
“I felt like I let the boys down a wee bit so was very conscious that I wanted to come back this season and put really everything I had into it. 
“We always talk about having that ‘curling first’ attitude and I am really proud of not only the team but myself in the way we have come to this pre-season and worked extremely hard on the ice and off the ice… nutrition and all the other things that come into curling, so we are very happy with what has been happening so far.”
Their 14-win start to the season mirrors the way the quartet began their first ever campaign together in 2017/18 and Mouat noted that it is no coincidence that their success and that of the Scottish game as a whole has followed the opening of the National Curling Academy, in 2017.
“It made a lot of difference that we are able to get really good ice in one facility and train on it every day,” said Mouat.
“Probably more than any other country, it gave us that consistency that we really wanted and since then the results prove it.”
Team Mouat built on that electrifying start in 2017/18 to make a significant piece of history for themselves a few weeks later at The National, the first of the prestigious Canadian Grand Slams that season.
Since then they have gone on to win more Grand Slam events than any other non-Canadian team, six in all.
“That year we won that first Slam and we were the first Scottish men’s team to win a Slam and we then started to medal at World’s,” Mouat recalled. 
“There have been a lot of other Scottish teams that have now started to win on Tour and we now have four Scottish men’s teams in the top 15 and a fifth just outside of that, whereas four teams getting into the Slams from Scotland was unheard of before.
“We were maybe getting one team in previously and maybe lucky if we were even getting that.
“Having this facility has helped not just ourselves improve but the entirety of British Curling and Scottish Curling and we are seeing a lot of really good things.”
He noted, too, that the wider progress is evidence of what can be achieved when individuals see people from similar backgrounds excelling on the global stage.
“I always said this when I was going through that that success inspires success and with what we have done, other teams can then start to see what is possible for Scottish teams,” said Mouat.
“So, I am proud that we have put our foot down and proved what was possible for other teams and I hope that others have taken inspiration from this and curling can continue to grow in Scotland and Britain hopefully. Roll on Oakville!”
Making this season’s first trip across the Atlantic, Mouat’s rink will defend the title they have won on three occasions at next week’s Stu Sells Oakville Tankard.
They will be accompanied by Teams Whyte, Craik and Waddell in the men’s event, while the women’s features Scottish champions Team Henderson, who won their first ESS event last weekend and their world number 15 ranked compatriots Team Morrison.
Images: PPA/Graeme Hart
