Olympics-Curling-Britain finds its stride as U.S. stumbles

VANCOUVER Feb 17 (Reuters) - Britain found their stride in Olympic curling on Wednesday with a 19-year-old women's captain leading her team to victory over world champions China and the men thumping France to even up their record.

After her Olympic debut win, all eyes were on Scottish teen Eve Muirhead as she prepared her team to take on another curling heavyweight, Sweden, the gold medalists in the 2006 Games. The Swedish women are 2-0 in the tournament.

However, it was another rough day for the United States, who stayed winless despite a noisy, supportive crowd at the Vancouver Olympic Centre.

Britain's women logged a tough 5-4 win over China, which shocked the curling world when it triumphed over Sweden last year in the World Championships. It made for a superb introduction to Olympic competition, Muirhead said.

"China are world champions and to get off with a win against them, I'm delighted," she told reporters. "They're fantastic shot-makers and I think it was good for us to catch them early before they really build during the week."

Muirhead, who confessed to early nerves at the raucous arena, finessed a tricky takeout to win in extra ends.

China captain Bingyu Wang -- speaking to reporters for the first time since training began at the venue -- said she was pleased with her team's performance, despite the loss.

She said she did not feel extra pressure as 2009 champions. Hers was the first Asian team to win a world curling title.

"That's finished. That's last year's thing. This is the Olympics -- we just want to enjoy it here and hope we can play well," the 25-year-old said.

The British men led by David Murdoch piled up a 9-4 lead over the French, clinching the game in nine of the 10 regulation ends. That improved the world champions' record to 1-1 after Tuesday's surprise loss to Sweden.

"I think you saw a difference in our performance today. It was far more like how this team plays," the 31-year-old Scot told Reuters. "We were just a lot sharper. We're getting the rocks in the places we want them to be."

His team took some inspiration from Muirhead, he said.

"She's got a tough day," he said. "To start with the world champions and the Olympic champions with a win on the board already it's a fantastic position to be in."

Prospects were less bright for U.S. teams, who came to Vancouver on a wave of publicity with celebrity endorsements and light hearted gimmicks like curling-themed condoms.

The women, led by Debbie McCormick, lost a 6-5 contest against Germany, dragging their record to 0-2. John Shuster's men's team sank to 0-3 after he narrowly missed two key last-rock shots in a row in a nail-biter against Switzerland.

Shuster bristled at reporters' questions over whether it was still possible to rally back from such a deficit.

"You guys keep asking this. It is, absolutely. We're a great curling team and we've won 6-0 before. Six in a row will be good enough. You can mark my words that 6-3 will get into the medal round," he said.

(Editing by Miles Evans; To query or comment on this story emailsportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)