'My play embarrassed me, but now I want Olympic gold'

Bruce Mouat hopes to get the chance to defend the European title in November

Bruce Mouat took himself "away from curling" this summer after being "embarrassed" by his performance as Scotland missed out on a medal at April's World Championships.

His rink went into the event in Switzerland as defending champions but returned empty-handed after losing to Italy in the bronze-medal match.

"We had put expectations on ourselves to come away with a medal so coming away with nothing, and the way it finished for me personally, I was quite embarrassed with my play," he told BBC Sport Scotland.

"I missed a few shots that I really shouldn't have. So I had two months of really trying to take myself away from curling and just enjoy being around my friends and re-evaluating.

"I knew there were things I could do to be better and we had really good conversations with a lot of people we are very fortunate to work with - that helped me focus on putting curling first rather than distractions elsewhere.

"It helped me focus on why I want to be in this sport. I want to go back to the Olympics and achieve something special there, so I decided I will focus on curling for the next two years."

His team have bounced back from the disappointment in Switzerland with an impressive start to this season.

They have won three of the five tournaments they have contested, the latest in the HearingLife Tour Challenge Grand Slam event last weekend.

It is a run of form that has seen them move to the top of the world rankings, leading Mouat to suggest it "is probably the most consistent we have been".

He is clearly benefitting from his period of reflection and the improvements made in that time - with the ultimate aim of Olympic gold in Italy in 2026.

"I guess there are a lot of small things I could have done better - I really could have eaten better to fuel myself, I could have probably worked harder in the gym," he said.

"Curling has probably got a bad reputation for people thinking you don't need to go to the gym - but you do, for a lot of reasons.

"I am going to Switzerland next week and there is the potential to play 18 games in the space of six days, so that is a lot of impact on your body.

"Each game takes about an hour and a half, you burn about 1,000 calories every time you play – if you are burning up to 3,000 calories every day, you have to eat a lot more to fuel yourself.

"So there were a lot things I needed to educate myself on and I was lucky to work with a nutritionist to get that information and understand why I need to eat more and what I need to eat to get those slow-burning carbs."

While their selection has still to be confirmed, Mouat's rink look set to get the chance to defend their European title in Finland in November.

That marks the start of a huge 16 months he hopes will end with Winter Olympic glory in Milan.

"We have got a few targets," Mouat added. "We want to get back to the Europeans and defend that title, we then want to be the team that is selected for the Worlds and we want to be able to win that like we did in 2023.

"Then we are hopefully going to be selected for the Olympics. We got silver last time, so if we do one better, it would be amazing.

"We are good enough, we are proving that this year, but it is not about accepting we have put in the hard work and it is all going to pay off. We have to continue doing that - then we can definitely aim for that gold at the Olympics."