13 January 2026

Milano Cortina 2026: Team Great Britain

In the lead up to the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, we are featuring one National Olympic Committee (NOC) a day who will compete. Next is Team Great Britain.

Team GB will be represented by three teams: Team Morrison (women’s), Team Mouat (men’s) and Team Mouat/Dodds (mixed doubles).

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Bruce Mouat’s life changed the day his parents took him and his brother Colin to Gogar Park Young Curlers, on the outskirts of Edinburgh.

There, he met many new faces — including a couple who coached the junior club — and their daughter Jennifer, three years his senior. Little did they know that one day they would be world champions.

“He hates me saying it, but I just remember how small he was,” said Jen Dodds, recalling her first memory of Bruce.

“I think he was probably only about seven and the brush was taller or the same height as him. He has grown, so that’s good.”

Friendship on and off the ice

Within five minutes of speaking to them, their easy humour and deep friendship shine through. For Mouat, Jen’s family made him feel welcome from the start, encouraging him to play. This friendship blossomed when Mouat joined the British Curling programme in the early 2010s, grateful to have a familiar face to talk to in the gym.

On paper, Mouat — a two-time world champion and Olympic silver medallist in men’s curling — and Dodds — an Olympic women’s curling champion — may not seem like natural mixed doubles partners. But he competed in the discipline long before focusing more on four-person curling.

As a teenager, he found success with Gina Aitken, winning the Scottish Mixed Doubles Championship four times and representing Scotland internationally before moving into the men’s competition where they “both kind of collided”.

He narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2018 Olympics with Aitken, then shifted him focus to men’s curling. When the British Curling programme required all funded players to compete in mixed doubles, Mouat and Dodds teamed up. They won their first national title together in 2020 and added another in 2023.

Aberdeen breakthrough and Beijing highs and lows

Behind closed doors during the COVID-19 pandemic, the pair would go onto win the 2021 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Aberdeen. Mouat called it “one of the most bizarre championships I’d ever played” as there were no fans. Their result secured them a spot at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

Heading into these Games as one of the favourites representing Great Britain, the pair struggled to replicate their Aberdeen form. A semi-final loss to Norway meant a bronze medal showdown against Sweden’s Almida de Val and Oscar Eriksson. Their opponents played very well, leaving Mouat and Dodds fourth.

“I think myself and Bruce four years ago would say it probably wasn’t our best week,” said Dodds.

“The semi-final, I think that was the one that hurt the most. We were one up at half-time and we just kind of let it slip away a bit. 

“I remember Vicky [Wright], my teammate, came into my room with two tubs of ice cream and we just sat there and chatted.

“We both felt good going into that bronze medal game, but Sweden played amazing. I think Almida was at nearly 100%.

“So when you’ve got a team on the day playing that well against you, it was almost easier to take than the semi-final, because they had played so well.”

“I just remember feeling like we were in control of it and I think that was probably what we were most disappointed in: that we didn’t come away having won that game, having felt that we had controlled it,” added Mouat on the semi-final.

Importantly, she bounced back help her team win the Olympic gold medal, the day after Team Mouat took silver in the men’s final.

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Meet the teams

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Fighting back after Beijing

Mixed doubles proved tougher in the following seasons. They would compete at the 2023 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, but lost to eventual winners Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin (United States) in the qualification game. But a resurgence saw them claim silver earlier this year, losing to the Olympic champions Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner from Italy.

“After Beijing and the couple of seasons after, we just weren’t quite ourselves and not to the standard we would like to be playing,” added Dodds, who said their dynamic “instils confidence”, as does playing alongside a player of Mouat’s quality.

“A couple of summers ago, we sat down and had a conversation about what we need to do and how to get us back to where we want to be.”

Both of their teams winning European medals at the tail end of 2025 bodes well too, with Dodds stating they have also been their “most consistent” in mixed doubles over the last season and a half.

Two medals and three playoffs in three World Championships and fourth in the Olympic Games is a great level of consistency.

Chemistry that wins championships

“Obviously, we take the sport very seriously, but we also enjoy just having the ability to laugh on the ice when things are serious and pretty stressful, but we still want to make sure that we’re having fun as well,” Mouat said.

“We want the best for each other, but we expect each other to be working hard as well.

“And I love Jen’s ability to be able to have a laugh in the serious moments, to separate the stress and just be able to crack a joke within 10 seconds of throwing like a crazy run back to try and score.”

“We respect each other so much and so much trust comes with that,” added Dodds.

“I think that’s so important in a very small team; you have to rely on each other.

“You know exactly what you’re getting with Bruce. He’s the most supportive person, most competitive person on ice, which I love. He is authentically himself. It’s just amazing to see him living his life the way he wants to live it.”

Her only gripe?

“He’s just good at everything,” she said, laughing.

“He’s just one of these people who can put his hand to anything and pick it up so quickly. He’s got a first [class degree] at uni. Like how can you be good at uni and good at curling? Come on.”

“We respect each other so much and so much trust comes with that.”

Jen Dodds, Team GB

Milano Cortina 2026 on the horizon

As they look toward Milano Cortina 2026, both are determined to right the wrongs of Beijing. For Mouat, it’s also about sharing the experience with loved ones.

“I think it’s just having people there, like having a bit of an atmosphere in the ice rink and having friends and family that have been on this crazy journey, giving them the opportunity to see us play at an Olympics, getting them the opportunity to feel what an Olympics is like,” he said.

“We never took that fourth place as a huge disappointment, it was actually more of a reassurance that we’re doing a lot of good things.

“We’ve taken that and ran with it and now we’re going to this Olympics in the hopes that we can actually both get two medals this time.

“It’s just been a great journey and I’m looking forward to hopefully putting a gold medal stamp on it.”

Before the women’s final in Beijing, the pair had a moment to embrace each other and celebrate their success, knowing they were both Olympic medallists. Both had grown so much since their first encounter.

Not bad for two kids from Gogar Park.

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Team GB Stats

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