Edinburgh's Bruce Mouat determined to go one better next time after silver medal at Winter Olympics in Beijing

Because there will be a next time for Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan, who return from Beijing with a medal and cast-iron motivation for Milan-Cortina in 2026.

The youngest team in this Olympic curling tournament was its second best, because there can be no doubt that Sweden and Niklas Edin deserved gold and a 5-4 victory.

"This result drives us forward, we've put in so much work over the last five years, we won't let that go to waste," said Mouat, 27.

"We'll be driving even harder to get that gold medal next time. Niklas has had such an impressive career and he's one of the best in curling history, he's an example of what we can do in four years’ time.

"We just need to get to that point again but make the result different. It was pretty close but we gave them too much of a head start."

Sweden did indeed boss the game from the start. Britain began with the hammer thanks to their higher round-robin placing but could only lie one in the opening end.

In the next Edin managed to lodge two stones at opposite sides of the house and the rolling double takeout proved beyond Hardie and Mouat as they went 2-1 down.

The skips went rope-a-dope in the third with Mouat nailing a terrific triple takeout with his first stone but then failing to put enough juice on a draw to the button, allowing Sweden to steal.

Any early nerves in the British ranks looked most evident in Lammie, the youngest member of the group at 25, who forgot the mask required for the pre-match parade.

The Stranraer star shot 71% through the first four ends of play, comparing unfavourably to an Olympic average 86% - a tournament-high for a second.

Perhaps the world’s strongest sweeper, Lammie’s brushstrokes helped avoid another steal as Mouat