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.