Statement win underlines GB curlers' golden claim

Team GB's men's curlers reinforced their credentials as Winter Olympic gold medal favourites in Cortina with a statement 6-3 win over the Swedish rink that consigned them to silver four years ago.

After a mismatch against China in their opener, Bruce Mouat and his rink knew they would face a more significant test in their second game. But the Scottish quartet controlled this heavyweight meeting from the outside.

Mouat has beaten Niklas Edin in eight of their last 10 meetings, and the Swede could not disturb that trend high in the Dolomites in northern Italy.

It continued the Scot's recovery from his mixed doubles medal disappointment and leaves the Swedes - who lost their opener against the hosts and face another medal contender in Canada next - in a perilous position.

Seven wins from the nine round-robin matches will guarantee a place in the semi-finals - fewer may well still be sufficient - and the British rink have started well in the race to reach that mark.

"All four of us were really shooting well," Mouat told BBC Sport. "We've not trained together for a month so to come back and the flow to be where we want it to be is excellent."

The men are back on the ice on Friday, in what should be another top-tier contest against the Italians at 08:05 GMT - live on the BBC.

Before then, the GB women's rink will start their campaign against world bronze medallists China at 18:05.

Swedish skip Edin is considered one of the greatest to have played the game, and comes alive in the Olympic arena. But Mouat and his boys have had his number since Bejing and that agonising extra-end defeat in the 2022 Games.

These two are arguably the best rinks in the competition, with the Canadians, Italians and Swiss also likely to be in the medal conversation, and this was a high-grade contest.

However, Mouat, Hammy McMillan, Bobby Lammie and Grant Hardie won the hammer - the right to throw last and, in theory, control the game - and dictated from there on.

Edin failed to pull off a high-tarriff double takeout in the first end, allowing Mouat to claim two points and establish a lead that the GB rink would keep throughout.

Missing became a theme for the feted Swedish skip, the 40-year-old repeatedly failing to ask the questions that Mouat posed. As a result, the British team led 4-1 at halfway, and eked that advantage out to 6-2 with three ends remaining.

Sweden needed something big but could only find something small. They were restricted to one in the eighth and Edin decided he had had enough, offering a hand to Mouat and ending this contest with two ends to spare.

"Everyone keeps reminding us they beat us in Beijing so we had that motivation," Hardie told BBC Sport. "They had an off-day and we took advantage of that.

"We were quite relentless - all four of us were near the top of our games - and we made them play shots they didn't want to play."