Team GB’s men’s curlers are set to pit their wits against each other before making any decisions on their Olympic future.
Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Hammy McMillan Jr and Bobby Lammie are all signed up to Rock League, the new curling franchise league that kicks off in April.
The quartet clinched a second successive silver at Milano Cortina 2026 and are yet to make a decision on their future, with attention first turning to the new Rock League after a post-Olympics break.
The new league, which takes place in April, will see the four curlers play against each other for the first time in almost a decade, a strange sensation for such a tight-knit team.
“It is a really exciting prospect, it is going to be very competitive,” said Hardie, who will be skipped by American Korey Dropkin.
“Playing against the boys you have played with for nine years will be different and interesting, a new challenge.
“We will get a nice big break in the summer and decide after that what the future does look like.”
Mouat will team up with Jen Dodds, while McMillan will join Italian Joël Retornaz and Lammie will be skipped by Sweden’s Niklas Edin alongside partner Seol Ye-eun.
For Lammie, it will be the perfect way to refresh after the tension of an Olympic campaign – with internal bragging rights also on the line.
“It will be a little weird at first, it has been a while since we played against each other,” he said.
“It will be quite cool and some change to play with different people, it will give us new perspective.
“It will be interesting to see how that unfolds. It will definitely be competitive amongst us, and we will all want to beat each other.”
The quartet hope the new franchise league will help continue the momentum generated by the Olympics, which saw record numbers tune into the roaring game.
The BBC saw a peak of 5.5 million viewers for the men’s final, where Team GB were narrowly beaten to gold by Canada.
More eyes are exactly what Lammie wants, with the hope that people may even try their hand at the sport.
“We would love to get more people involved in the sport, to try it themselves and tune into these other competitions that we play,” he added.
“Some TV coverage of them would be amazing, giving people an easy way to watch these games.
“We have seen from the Olympics that people do have an interest in the sport, and they do enjoy watching it.
“If people have easier access to it, hopefully more people will tune in and help grow the sport.”
It was no surprise that the British public once again became hooked on curling, with Team Mouat enduring a dramatic path to the play-offs before producing their best performance against Switzerland to guarantee a medal.
Despite defeat to Canada, Hardie was left with plenty of pride after having time to reflect on the result.
“There has not been a lot of sleep, especially that first night,” he said.
“We owed it to ourselves to have a few drinks together and celebrate the week we had as much as it didn’t end in the way we would have liked.
“It was still a fantastic achievement. We are very proud to come back with a medal for Great Britain, especially with all the support we have had back home.
“The whole nation put their support behind us. The amount of messages throughout the week was really heartwarming.
“It makes you appreciate it but also even more gutted that we couldn’t deliver a gold medal for everybody.”
Sportsbeat 2026