Snoop requests selfie after GB curlers shine again

Snoop Dogg might have taken most of the attention in the Cortina Curling Stadium early on Friday, but Team GB’s duo delivered a big-ticket performance of their own to maintain their 100% record in the Winter Olympics mixed doubles.

The swaggering rap legend – in the high-end Italian mountain resort as a Team USA hype man and “honorary coach” – even felt the urge to claim a selfie with Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat after their fourth win of the competition.

“He’s just asked for a photo with us, so I’m feeling pretty good about myself,” Mouat told BBC Sport, before Dodds disclosed that Mr Dogg “said he’d heard about Bruce”.

If he and Dodds continue this form, he won’t be the only one who has.

It was another day, another victory for last year’s world silver medallists; this time the fancied Sweden – who beat them to bronze in 2022 – who were the victims.

The Scottish duo delivered a display that showed as much gallus as guts, their 7-4 win takes them top of the standings as the only unbeaten team and within touching distance of the semi-finals.

The curling cognoscenti reckon six wins in the nine round-robin games could be enough to earn a place in Monday’s last four, and the GB duo are well on the way.

Mouat has been calling himself all the bad swears during three patchy opening games amid the Dolomite mountains in the north of Italy, but one of the sport’s leading lights lifted it against the Swedes.

And in Dodds, he has a partner who has been consistently superb so far. Only Sweden’s Isabella Wranaa had been statistically better but she was no match here.

When Dodds asked her questions, she struggled to find answers. Indeed, at one stage, she battered her brush off the side of the sheet after an errant throw as the sibling bonds between her and partner Rasmus began to fray.

“The difference was the two girls. Isabella wasn’t making shots, but Jen was,” said BBC Sport pundit Jackie Lockhart.

At that stage, the GB pair were four points up – a second consecutive night without much sleep after a quick turnaround from Thursday’s win over Czech Republic proving no impediment – but the lead was narrowed to 4-3 at the break.

Another two in the fifth end cleaved open the advantage again before the teams traded points in the next two to leave Sweden needing four in the final end to win.

They got none, as the end was blanked. A stunning Mouat throw proved decisive, evincing a first-pump from the restrainted Scot and earning him an audience with Snoop moments later.

Up in the Italian Alps, snowboarder Txema Mazet-Brown was the first Team GB athlete in action at the Livigno Snow Park.

Making his Olympic debut, the 19-year-old placed 21st in big air qualifying with a score of 151.75, with only the top 12 progressing to Saturday’s final.

“I’m happy with the riding, it could have been a bit better with the cleanliness of one [run], but not bad overall,” Mazet-Brown told BBC Sport.

“Standing up there, you realise that this is one of the biggest events in the world. I’m proud, for sure. You get a little tingling, some butterflies, but that’s a good thing – it’s really special.”