World Mixed Doubles Championship: Holders Scotland 'gutted' to miss out on third straight title

Bruce Mouat is fresh from his success at the men's World Curling Championship

Scotland are "obviously gutted" to have missed out on a third straight World Mixed Doubles Championship following defeat by the United States.

American pair Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin beat Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat 8-6 to set up a semi-final with Canada.

Norway defeated Estonia 8-5 to set up a last-four meeting with Japan.

"We just started slow unfortunately and that's what killed us. We did manage to mount a bit of a comeback, but it just wasn't enough," said Mouat.

"We're obviously gutted with our overall performance in that game. It wasn't what we envisaged for ourselves for the week, but we'll bounce back and hopefully be back at a Worlds again."

Dodds and Mouat won the title in 2021, with compatriots Eve Muirhead and Bobby Lammie defending the title for Scotland last year.

"They didn't miss much today," said Dodds of the Americans. "There's a wee bit we can work on going forward. We didn't have our best week here and had our ups and downs.

"We're pretty happy where we are generally, but I just think there's another step we can go up to be world leading at this point. We're not pushing that hard for the top yet, so we're going to have to work on a few things to make sure we get there next year."

The Scots won seven of their round robin matches with England's Lina and Michael Opel, a father-daughter combination, finishing last in Group B with nine consecutive defeats.

Czech Republic and hosts South Korea won their relegation play-off matches with Germany and Austria, respectively.

Meanwhile, Aberdeen will host the 2023 event in October after agreeing a two-year deal with the World Curling Federation.