Scotland had to settle for silver after a strong campaign that closed out an epic season after Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat lost out 9-4 to Italy’s Olympic Champions in the final.
The early stages of the match were closely contested, but Stefania Constantini and Anton Mosaner, who had an unbeaten run throughout the round robin stage of the event, just as they had done when winning their Olympic title in their only other major championship in partnership, gained a crucial advantage with a steal of two at the fourth end and then another steal at the fifth to establish a 5-1 lead. 
Olympic Women’s Champion Dodds and reigning Men’s World Champion Mouat then used their powerplay effectively as they rallied to score three at the sixth end and get back to within a shot.
However, their opponents responded well as they built up a powerful position at the next and while Dodds produced a near perfect draw to ask the question of her opposite number, Constantini’s run back removed it from the house to leave Italy lying four, to wrap up the match.
“We’re a bit gutted not to get across the line there, but we’re very proud of our week that we managed to get to the final again,” said Mouat, reflecting on a season that has seen the Scottish pair reach the final of all four international tournaments they have played together.
“We didn’t play our best in the final unfortunately, which can happen.
“The ice felt like it changed slightly, but we weren’t quick enough to pick up on it.”
Following a lengthy and intense stay in Canada that has also seen him lead his men’s team to reclaiming the World Championship title and becoming the first team to win four of the five Grand Slam of Curling titles in the same season, as well as wining the glitzy Battle of the Sexes, he will now have time to reflect on an astonishing 2024/25 campaign and try to work out how to take the lessons from it into an Olympic season.
“We’ll be back and hopefully next year we’ll come back firing, but we’re looking forward to some down time,” Mouat admitted.
“It’s been an incredible six weeks for me and I really enjoyed myself.
“I’m proud of those six weeks and how it’s been. 
“We’ve accomplished a lot of goals that we had, so we’re very proud of how it went.
“I think I’ll try to debrief in the coming weeks, just trying to figure out what made us play so well this season and try to bring that for next year, which is an important year for us, so I’m excited to get going again, but I’m also looking forward to two months of chill.”
Results:
Saturday 26 April
Session 1
Scotland – Netherlands 10-3
Session 3 –
Scotland – China 8-5
Sunday 27 April
Session 5 –
Scotland – Denmark 7-3
Monday 28 April
Session 7
Scotland – Finland 9-2
Session 9 – 10pm
Scotland – Korea 7-10
Tuesday 29 April
Session 11
Scotland – Italy 4-7
Wednesday 30 April
Session 13
Scotland – Sweden 7-6
Session 15 10pm (BST)
Scotland – Germany 7-1
Thursday 1 May
Session 17
Scotland – Canada 8-7 (EE)
Friday 2 May
Qualification Games
Scotland – USA 7-5
Estonia – Canada 7-5
Semi Finals
Scotland – Australia 9-6
Italy – Estonia 7-6 (EE)
Saturday 3 May
Bronze Medal Game
Estonia – Australia 2-9
Gold Medal Game
Scotland – Italy 4-9
Watch streamed games and replays on The Curling Channel
Team Scotland
Jen Dodds
Bruce Mouat
Ross Paterson – Team Coach
Greg Drummond – Olympic Head Coach
Images: Rob Blanchard Photography
