World Men’s Curling Championship: Scotland win silver and secure Olympic qualification
It was an upgrade on the Scots’ previous best when they lost in the semi-finals, then won their bronze medal play-off. And, after a year out of international competition, Bruce Mouat’s rink could draw considerable satisfaction from achieving their first priority of earning Winter Olympic qualification for Team GB.
It was a third successive World Championship win for Swedish skip Niklas Edin and a fifth title overall for the man who has been the dominant figure in the global game since winning his first world title eight years ago.
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Hide AdMouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan had been the men who had ended his four-year winning streak at the European Championships on their debut in that event two seasons ago, however, this time around they had to make do with silver medals.
“There was a lot of pressure this week for multiple reasons,” said Mouat, whose team beat Russia in the semi-finals after the postponement of matches on Saturday following an outbreak of Covid in the Calgary bubble.
“We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to try and get this far and we played so well to get here and I’m sure it’ll feel good in a couple of days that we’ve beaten our own record of a bronze medal.
“There’s been a lot of pressure on us in terms of qualifying Great Britain a spot at the Olympics and as much as we really didn’t want to be thinking about that, it’s always in the back of our minds.
“So, to have that on our backs, then get to a world final just shows the strength of this team. I say it a lot, but the guys are amazing players and I’m just really honoured to be able to be part of this team and to skip it is a privilege.
“We’ll look back on this as a proud moment I’m sure, but we’ve got unfinished business at the Worlds, so we’ll come back fighting.”
The Winter Olympics are scheduled to take place in Beijing next February.