Winter Olympics: Bruce Mouat to skip men's curling team & join Jennifer Dodds in mixed doubles

Image source, Graeme Hart

Image caption, Bruce Mouat and his men's team will make their Winter Olympics debut in Beijing in February

Bruce Mouat will make history at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing when he leads the Great Britain men's curling team and joins fellow Scot Jennifer Dodds in the mixed doubles.

The 27-year-old will be the first British curler to compete in two events at an Olympics.

Mouat joins Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan in the men's Team GB line-up, with Ross Whyte as alternate.

Mouat and Dodds won the mixed doubles world title for Scotland in May.

All six competitors are making their Winter Olympics debut, with the Games running from 4-20 February.

After Eve Muirhead's rink finished a disappointing eighth at the World Championship in May, the women's team need a top-three finish at a qualifying event in December to secure their place in Beijing.

Mouat's rink has been together since 2017 and are third in the world, having won World Championship silver and Grand Slam gold for Scotland this year.

"We've had a lot of success as a men's unit, we've had four years of practice leading up to this and that's why we came together in the first place, to try to get to this Olympic Games," Mouat told BBC Scotland.

"We've won Slams, European and World medals all in our first go, so I don't see why we can't medal at an Olympics in our first try.

"It's also really exciting because Jen is a really good friend and I'm getting to compete at the Olympics with her. We've grown up together playing in Sunday leagues.

"To bring two medals home would be unreal."

The curling mixed doubles event was added to the Olympic programme in Pyeongchang in 2018, but a British pairing did not qualify.

Dodds, who turned 30 earlier this month, said: "To be selected for my first Olympics means so much. It's obviously something we've been striving towards for years.

"It means a lot to be in the team with Bruce as well. We've known each other for so long. We started at the same club, so sharing this moment together is something really special."