Team GB’s mixed doubles curlers moved to the brink of the Winter Olympics semi-finals with three matches still to play, as a statement victory over heavyweights Canada maintained their 100% record.
US honorary coach, hype man and rapper Snoop Dogg was not in the house on Saturday, but Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds made their own headlines, roaring into a 5-1 lead after just three ends before closing out a 7-5 triumph.
The sense is six wins should be enough for a place in the last four and the British pair have already hit that mark to sit top of the round-robin standings.
Only the US – who GB play at 13:35 GMT live on BBC Two – had beaten Canada’s Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman so far. But the husband-and-wife team could not compete with childhood friends Mouat and Dodds.
Three points in the opening end set the tone – and sent a cascade of noise rolling down from the wooden bleachers in the quirky Cortina Curling Stadium – and a series of judicious shots ensured the Scots kept their opponents at arms length.
The GB pair led 5-2 at the halfway interval, before two more fabulous closing throws by Dodds left it at 7-3 with two ends remaining.
Canada were done at that stage, and looked poised to concede as Dodds lined up a final stone to take a point in the seventh. But a rare overthrow instead gifted them two and extended the contest.
Mouat and Dodds did not falter, though, blanking that final end to all but seal a semi-final spot.
Muir qualifies third for slopestyle final
Elsewhere, Kirsty Muir enjoyed a confident start to her Olympic campaign, placing third in freeski slopestyle qualifying.
Muir, one of Team GB’s best medal hopes, scored a best of 64.98 from her two runs in Livigno.
That put the 21-year-old behind Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud and China’s Eileen Gu – the gold and silver medallists from Beijing 2022 respectively – in the standings.
Gu, a triple medallist from four years ago, is one of the biggest global stars at these Games but avoided an early shock after crashing off the first rail of her opening run.
After almost a year out with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, Muir has won three World Cup golds in the past year, including two in slopestyle.
The Olympic final takes place on Monday from 11:30 GMT.
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