Team GB’s childhood friends fired up for revenge

Four years is a long time to wait to right a wrong.

In Beijing in 2022, Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds forfeited a lead in their mixed doubles curling semi-final against Norway. Gold was gone. Silver too.

Even bronze evaded them against an inspired Sweden the following day.

On Wednesday, in the snowy splendour of Cortina d’Ampezzo in northern Italy, the chance will come for the Team GB duo to make amends as they face the Norwegians again in the first of nine round-robin matches at the 2026 Games.

In the first action of this year’s event, the childhood friends from Edinburgh will reprise their rivalry with the husband and wife team of Magnus Nedregotten and Kristin Skaslien, who took silver four years ago after claiming bronze in 2018.

“That first game that we played at the mixed doubles was the most nervous either of us have ever been in a game,” Mouat said earlier this week.

That experience comes in the shape of an Olympic medal each. Dodds was part of the women’s team that won gold in Beijing, while Mouat’s men claimed silver.

“Our friendship really helps out too,” Dodds added of a relationship that stretches back 24 years. “We’ve got 100% trust and support from one another and that creates a really safe environment for us.”

When they arrived on Tuesday for their first look at the quirky Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium – which was built for the 1956 Games – both excitedly spoke about finally getting on the ice, their selection having been confirmed last June.

They will now only have to wait until 18:00 GMT on Wednesday to do so, in a contest that will be live on the BBC iPlayer as well as the BBC Sport website & app.

Gold is the aim again for the Scottish rink, who are one of four recent mixed doubles world champions competing in Cortina.