Winter Olympics 2026: Hammy McMillan Jr says Team GB curlers 'had some open and honest conversations' before much-needed USA win

Great Britain overcame the United States 9-2 to cap off their round-robin campaign and boost their chances of securing a top-four position. After three successive defeats, Team GB's medal hopes hang in the balance but victory over the USA put them third in the standings for now, although Italy and Norway can still both deny them a semi-final spot. Watch Milano Cortina live on discovery+.

Hammy McMillan Jr said that Team GB’s curlers had some "open and honest" conversations to prepare for their must-win match against the United States at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games

Bruce Mouat was in fine form as Team GB secured a dominant 9-2 victory, a much-needed result after three successive defeats which left their medal chances hanging by a thread.

Team GB currently sit third in the standings as they hunt for a place in the semi-finals, but they now face a nervous wait for Norway and Italy to cap off their round-robin campaigns.

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"We are very good at having open and honest conversations," McMillan said. "We talked last night and had a practice last night and figured a few things out.

"I think we played a good first end, even though it was a little bit scary with them having a shot for maybe three or four in that first end.

"We got the mistake, we capitalised and then forced them into a mistake in the third end to go 6-0 up.

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Video credit: TNT Sports

"So it was a strong performance from us today. Our round-robin is now done, we need a couple of results to go our way. I’ll be watching and I’ll be jumping up and down."

Team GB can qualify for the next stage if either Norway or Italy lose their final games. They are set to go head-to-head with Canada and Switzerland, respectively, on Thursday.

Mouat insists his side were focused on getting over the line despite needing other results to go their way.

"We were feeling good, that was one of the feelings, I guess, but we were also thinking about how we could make sure we were really clinical and then that fifth end was the scary one," he added.

"But we were absolutely fine, we knew that even if we gave up two or three there we were probably OK.

"We were just trying to keep our focus and make sure that we were dialled in on our game, even though we were hoping for other results to go our way as well.

"We are pretty positive people, I think we never really count ourselves as down and out until the writing is on the wall.

"The boys and I have worked so hard for this, we have put in so many hours on the ice and in the gym just to get to this point again, so we don’t want to give up. We want to keep playing, we just have to hope for a few results to go our way."

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