Mouat goes for fourth curling Worlds medal - watch on BBC

Bruce Mouat has won World Championship gold, silver and bronze in 2023, 2021 and 2018 respectively

Men's World Curling Championship

Venue: Temple Gardens Centre, Moose Jaw, Canada Dates: 29 March-6 April

Coverage: Watch selected Scotland matches on the BBC Sport website & app

Scotland skip Bruce Mouat believes the pain he still feels from missing out on a medal at last year's World Championship is a good thing to take into this year's competition.

His rink top the global rankings and will start as favourites when the event gets under way in Moose Jaw, Canada on Saturday.

Speaking to BBC Scotland last October, he admitting to taking himself away from curling and being "embarrassed" by how he played after his rink lost to Italy in the bronze medal match a few months earlier.

But now the 30-year-old thinks the experience could help as the team look to win a fourth medal at world level.

"That pain is not necessarily a bad thing to still feel," said Mouat. "It is almost a good thing to remember how that situation felt at the time. To be able to grow from it is the more important part.

"Not wanting to feel that again is quite important for us and we know that we are good enough to get to those latter stages and at the latter stages we just want to perform a little better than we did last year."

Mouat's rink already has a remarkable haul of medals, among them Winter Olympic silver and world gold from 2023, the last time the competition was held in Canada.

Despite their impressive list of achievements, the skip admits having the chance to play in Canada at a worlds again "fills every single curler with excitement regardless of where you are from."

He explains: "The only thing that would be better for us would be winning a World Championship in Scotland. Unfortunately, we have not had that opportunity yet, but fingers crossed at some point.

"Canada is definitely the next step down I suppose. The crowd understand the sport, they love all the curlers. It's maybe (like) Wimbledon for tennis. It's pretty cool."

While targeting top spot in Moose Jaw is the priority, there are also implications for next year's Winter Olympics in Italy.

After the event the top eight nations in the Olympic standings are assured of their spots at the Games.

Those who fail to secure their place will have another chance to do so via a qualifying tournament at the end of the year.

Having finished fourth last time, Mouat and his team are well placed.

"A lot of teams are going in the hope to not only win but to also qualify their country to the Olympic spot so there is going to be that extra excitement on the ice," said Mouat.

Scotland round-robin matches on BBC

Sunday 30: Japan (14:00 BST)

Monday 31: Canada (19:00)

Wednesday 2: Switzerland (14:00)

Thursday 3: Sweden (14:00)

Friday 4: Germany (14:00)