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

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 12 (Reuters) – Bruce Mouat's Britain defeated defending champions Niklas Edin's Sweden 6-3 on Thursday in an early showdown between gold medal favorites in the men's curling tournament at the Winter Olympics, a rematch of the Beijing 2022 Olympic final.

Edin struggled to find his rhythm as Britain secured their second straight win in the round-robin stage, following a victory over China in their opener on Wednesday.

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

Mouat and Edin have faced each other multiple times in recent competitions. The Scot defeated Sweden 8-4 at the Players' Championship in January, while Edin took an 8-5 win in the semi-finals of the European Curling Championships in November.

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

Elsewhere in men’s curling, Yannick Schwaller's Switzerland routed the United States 8-3, with American curler Rich Ruohonen becoming the nation’s oldest Winter Olympian at 54. Germany, led by 2024 European champion Marc Muskatewitz, narrowly defeated Norway 5-4 in a game that went down to the final end.

Women’s Tournament Kicks Off

In the women’s competition, Canada started their bid for a first Olympic gold since 2014 with a 10-4 win over Denmark. Beijing bronze medalists Sweden, skipped by Anna Hasselborg, opened with an 8-4 victory over Japan and later defeated Tabitha Peterson's United States 9-4.

Sophie Jackson’s Britain suffered a 7-4 loss to China, while hosts Italy lost consecutive games against Switzerland and South Korea. Britain are the defending champions, but Jennifer Dodds is the only remaining player from the gold-winning Beijing lineup, following Eve Muirhead’s retirement.

Teams play nine round-robin matches, which continue through Thursday. The top four teams will advance to the semi-finals next week. -Reporting by Aadi Nair; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Ken Ferris/Reuters