Winter Olympics 2026: The secret to Great Britain's curling success as Team Mouat take on Canada for gold medal at Milano Cortina
Published 20/02/2026 at 21:18 GMT
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Team GB have become a consistent presence on the curling podium at Olympic Games. But why is that? TNT Sports takes a deep dive into the history of the sport that has once again gripped a nation as Bruce Mouat's rink look to go for gold in the men's final against Canada on Saturday night. We spoke with 2022 champion Eve Muirhead about just why Team GB have become such a force.
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As the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina comes to an end, curling's popularity has arguably never been as popular.
There has been controversy, sporting brilliance and, most of all, drama throughout the past fortnight at the Cortina Curling Centre.
And right at the heart of all three was Team GB and their two rinks, led by Bruce Mouat and Rebecca Morrison.
Team Mouat came into these Games as the favourites, unchanged from winning silver in Beijing four years ago, and fresh off the back of winning the World Championships in 2025.
Team Morrison was more of a punt. Only Jennifer Dodds was part of the gold-medal winning team under Eve Muirhead in 2022 and, although they won silver in the European Curling Championships in Lohja, they arrived in Italy ranked sixth in the world.
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There was heartbreak and genuine disappointment for Morrison when her team of Sophie Jackson, Sophie Sinclair and Dodds came within a whisker of reaching the semi-finals, denied only by Switzerland being downed in an extra end by the USA.
There was further disappointment too for Dodds and Mouat, who came fourth in their second successive Olympic Games in the mixed doubles.
Mouat and his team of Bobby Lammie, Grant Hardie and Hammy MacMillan were tested hard in the round-robin but showed true grit and determination to get past Switzerland and reach a second successive Olympic final.
The fact that there has been so much disappointment around those medal misses and a feeling of relief that the British Curling team will bring back at least one medal is testament to just how good they have become.
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A look back at Team GB’s Olympic record
Team GB have been a colossus in curling since the very first time it was included in the Olympics in 1924.
That team of William Jackson, Robin Welsh, Thomas Murray and Laurence Jackson defeated Sweden to take gold in Chamonix and Britain’s Olympic curling dynasty had begun.
For some reason that only the IOC members from the mid-1920s could explain, curling was then abandoned as an Olympic sport for 74 years, not returning until 1998.
Britain’s teams, led by Douglas Dryburgh and Kirsty Hay, finished sixth and fourth respectively, delaying British success for four more years.
Then came Rhona Martin’s 'Stone of Destiny’ in Salt Lake City 2002, bringing GB a first Winter Olympics gold medal since Torvill and Dean 18 years previously.
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Rhona Martin (centre) and her rink won gold in 2002.
Image credit: Getty Images
Britain had become a curling nation.
Turin in 2006 saw heartbreak for David Murdoch’s rink as they were beaten in the semi-final and then again in the bronze medal match, with Martin unable to repeat her heroics and finishing fifth.
In 2010, Murdoch saw his team eliminated in a tiebreaker match by Sweden and the women, skipped for the first time by a teenage Muirhead, finished seventh.
In Sochi four years later, however, there was success again.
Muirhead, aged 24, guided her rink to the podium, defeating Switzerland to bronze, and the men's team went one better, finally winning a medal under Murdoch with silver.
PyeongChang was tough to take for both the men’s team, who were defeated in a tiebreaker, and Muirhead’s rink, who heartbreakingly missed out on a medal with a 5-3 defeat to Japan in the bronze medal match.
While only one bronze medal had been scooped up since Martin’s glorious stone, Team GB had firmly established themselves among the curling elite.
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Eve Muirhead (right) and her rink won gold at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games.
Image credit: Getty Images
In Beijing four years ago, they made the crucial leap from plucky contenders to medallists.
Muirhead secured a dazzling gold alongside Vicky Wright, Dodds and Hailey Duff, demolishing Japan 10-3 in the final.
Team Mouat were almost flawless throughout competition but were undone in the final in an extra end, with Sweden taking a 5-4 win.
Those two medals, with Dodds and Mouat finishing fourth in the mixed doubles event, were Team GB’s only medals of the entire Games and a nation was again hooked on curling.
Now Mouat and his rink will seek to emulate Muirhead by making the jump to gold.
Why have Team GB become so good at curling?
In August 2017, shortly before the 2018 PyeongChang Games, British Curling opened the doors of their elite National Curling Academy in Stirling.
That gave British curlers their own dedicated facility to train and perform on the best ice possible, something that was not available before then.
The results since 2017 speak for themselves, with Rebecca Morrison’s young rink’s heartbreaking sixth place one of only two occasions - along with Kyle Smith's quartet in 2018 - that Team GB’s curlers have failed to reach the semi-finals since.
Muirhead can attest to the benefits of the elite facility.
"The sport has for sure moved on, it moves on all the time, even from when I started in Vancouver," she said.
"We never had a dedicated facility, it was a case of phoning up the local rink and seeing if they had a spare sheet of ice and sometimes they didn’t and sometimes they did.
"In 2017, we got a National Curling Academy which opened in Stirling, so that was a huge change."
But the way in which curlers train, both on and off the ice, has also significantly changed.
Team GB’s curlers now undergo a rigorous weightlifting regime and there will be hours spent daily strategising and planning using video footage.
Nutrition is no longer up to the athletes either, with British Curling appointing a nutritionist.
Every day begins at 08:30 and includes a two-hour session on the ice, as well as significant gym time.
In a typical week, Team GB’s curlers will do three strength-based sessions and two conditioning sessions.
"Just in general the sport has moved on in terms of how much the fitness side of it is now starting to become a huge part," Muirhead added.
"The stronger you are, the more effective you are behind the brushes and I guess the more physically fit, the more mentally fit and I think just your endurance from day one to day 14 or 15 is really important.
"Bruce has been going for 17 days, so I think all the training that we do is all in the lead up to make you last this long."
As Muirhead says, Mouat’s first day off the ice since the Olympic curling began was the day before the men’s final, having played 17 consecutive days, often more than once per day.
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Scenes as Team GB secure place in curling final - 'Cannot believe it!'
Video credit: TNT Sports
Muirhead also believes that Team GB have learnt to perform when it matters.
She said: "I think as a nation we train hard, we have the facility, we have the funding from UK Sport and the National Lottery to allow us to be full time athletes.
"I think we have a good group of coaches and I think what we have done well is from the past, we have passed things onto the next generation, so I think there are lots of aspects.
"I think you can also say the likes of Switzerland for example, they are a nation that have a lot of depth of curlers, Sweden as well, Canada of course.
"But I think when it comes to an Olympic Games, Team GB seem to just step it up and I think it comes to a lot of commitment from the wider team as well, a lot of support and just stepping up and performing when it matters."
Watch every event of Milano Cortina 2026 live on discovery+. Available across all subscription plans, starting at £3.99.
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