curlers

But it is the coalescence of their personalities that amplifies all that sporting talent. And underpinning the team are two key things – total honesty and trust.

As McMillan puts it, “If one of us is in the wrong, the rest can say so”, while the more measured Mouat describes it as “knowing the different things to say to get the best out of each other”.

Individually, they are all very different.

Hype man McMillan is lively enough for all four of them; Hardie is the logic guy, an engineer by trade; Mouat is thoughtful, reflective and calm; Lammie is the quiet, reliable presence; and Waddell the experienced head in the background.

It might be labelled as ‘Team Mouat’ – as per the convention of naming a rink after its skip – but this is very much a collective. In fact, Mouat is keen to share the spotlight.

“Bruce is very different from a lot of skips,” explains BBC Sport pundit and 2022 gold medallist Vicky Wright. “A lot of them are clearly the leader but the GB team operates so well because they function on a level playing field.

“The dynamic they’ve got works because they all bring a different aspect to the table and they all respect that. That’s a massive part of why they’re so successful.”

It is instructive to see how comfortable they are in each other’s company and with the position in which they find themselves.

All five have been right in among it in Cortina these past couple of weeks, be it stopping for a chat in the street or in restaurants, meeting friends and relatives, watching other British athletes compete.

Or – in Mouat’s case – going pillowcase shopping and “spending far too much money” on the morning of the semi-final.

Even in the moments before the final, McMillan and Hardie were sharing a laugh with a journalist; Mouat was picking out familiar faces in the crowd for a smile and a wave, and Lammie and Waddell were casually studying the Canadians warming up.

This is their stage – but for how much longer?

Mouat’s rink have an excellent record against Brad Jacobs’ team, and beat them in the last four of the worlds last spring.

But the Canadians knew they could improve their own chances – and inflict a little revenge – and they started strongly, opening a 3-1 lead after three ends.

The British team are considered the world’s best, though, and righted themselves. Capitalising on a slight drop off by their opponents, they took two themselves in the fourth and another two in the six to lead with four to play.

However, the clank of granite went against them in the seventh, an unfortunate bounce leaving Canada the chance of three, which they gladly took.

Mouat and his team needed to respond. They couldn’t. Instead, they gave up a steal to leave themselves with a three-point deficit with two ends to play.

It was a deficit that they could not overcome. And now, their aspirations of upgrading their silver medal from Beijing are no longer in their own hands.

GB’s women are also in a perilous position, and also must beat the United States on Wednesday (08:05), as well as Japan later in the day (18:05) and Italy on Thursday (13:05) if they are to scrape into the last four.

The Winter Olympics medal hopes of Team GB’s men’s curlers have been cast into doubt after a shock 8-6 defeat by Norway left them scrambling to make the semi-finals in Cortina.

Bruce Mouat’s world champions had lost two of their opening six matches, and were expected to beat the Norwegians for their fifth victory of the competition.

Leading 4-2 after six ends, they appeared to be in good shape. But a few untimely errors, combined with a disciplined display by their unheralded opponents, left them 6-4 down with two ends left.

Mouat’s attempted triple takeout in the penultimate end was a fraction out, but still yielded two to level the scores going into the last. However, Norway held their nerve with the hammer to close out an unexpected victory.

Given results elsewhere,, external five wins might still prove to be enough to reach Thursday’s semis.

But the British rink will need to beat both Canada on Tuesday and the United States the following day (both 18:05 GMT).

“We need to win our next two to make sure we’re definitely in the semis,” lead Hammy McMillan told BBC Sport. “We’re doing a lot of the right things, we just need to find that extra inch.”

The women’s rink are not well-placed, either, but they did deliver their best in the biggest moment to beat Denmark 7-2 and keep their hopes alive.

Having lost three of their opening four, Rebecca Morrison’s rink need victories in at least four of their final five matches to have any chance of salvaging a place in Friday’s last four – and they began that quest well.

An aggressive start was rewarded with an early 2-0 advantage and the British rink led 3-2 at the break.

Another fine two-point haul in the sixth, followed by a steal in the seventh, opened up a four-point gap with three ends to play and the Scottish quartet closed out the win.

They are back on the ice against Switzerland at 18:05 GMT in another must-win contest, live on the BBC.

Team GB’s men’s curlers took a step closer to securing a Winter Olympics semi-final place as they compiled an accomplished victory over Germany.

Bruce Mouat’s world champions have now won four of their opening five matches in northern Italy, with six victories almost certain to guarantee a place in the last four and a shot at the medals.

The Scottish quartet beat their German counterparts in both the European and the World Championships last year and were rarely in danger here.

Level at 2-2 after three ends, the British rink moved smoothly into a 5-2 advantage at the interval, then accelerated clear with a further steal of two in the seventh end.

Germany were floundering at that stage and, although they cut the deficit, Mouat closed out another couple in the ninth end to secure the win.

The men are back on the ice later on Sunday, against the unbeaten Switzerland (18:05 GMT).

Before then, the GB women will play their fourth match, with the fancied Sweden their opponents (13:05) as they try to revive their own semi-final hopes.