Curling-Britain beat defending champions Sweden in early battle of favourites

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 12 - Bruce Mouat's Britain triumphed 6-3 over Niklas Edin's defending champions Sweden on Thursday in an early meeting between gold medal favourites in the men's curling competition at the Winter Games and rematch of the Beijing 2022 Olympic final.

Edin struggled to find his range as world champions Britain clinched their second win of the round-robin stage, after beating China in their opener on Wednesday.

"Very consistent from us," Mouat said. "We were pretty relentless and made them play some pretty tricky shots to get into the game. So it's exactly what we wanted to do after a really good performance last night against China."

Mouat and Edin have crossed paths many times before, with the Scot winning 8-4 at the Players' Championship in January, while the Swede took an 8-5 victory in the semi-finals of the European Curling Championships in November.

"Niklas is probably one of the best players that we've ever had in our sport," Mouat said. "We know that we'd have to play well to beat them. His team are just incredible."

Yannick Schwaller's Switzerland beat the United States 8-3, a game in which American curler Rich Ruohonen became the nation's oldest-ever Winter Olympian at 54.

Marc Muskatewitz's Germany, the 2024 European champions, were pushed until the final end by Norway before winning 5-4.

WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT BEGINS

Canada's bid for a first women's Olympic gold since 2014 began with a commanding 10-4 win over Denmark in their opening round-robin match as that competition kicked off.

Beijing bronze medallists Sweden, led by Anna Hasselborg, scored an 8-4 victory over Japan in the morning session, before returning to beat Tabitha Peterson's United States 9-4.

Sophie Jackson's Britain began their campaign with a 7-4 defeat at the hands of China.

Britain are defending champions, though Jennifer Dodds is the only one left from the gold-winning lineup in Beijing, with previous skip Eve Muirhead retiring soon after that victory.

Hosts Italy suffered back-to-back defeats against Switzerland and South Korea in their opening two games.

Teams play nine matches in the round-robin stage, which continues on Thursday. The top four advance to the semi-finals next week. REUTERS