It is dangerous to write off the ability of top teams to recover in sport, but neither is it easy to fight-back when you get off to such a catastrophically bad start as the Americans did in the opening moments.

A superb, if slightly fortuitous, final stone from Canadian skip Mary Fay knocked the final US one out of the circle, meaning all five Canadian stones scored.

The US fought-back immediately by claiming two points with the hammer in the second end.

But Fay and her team-mates Tyler Tardi, Karlee Burgess and Sterling Middleton were good enough to always keep their opponents at arms-length.

The final result thus never looked in doubt.

They scored two points in each of the third and fifth ends and a single point in the seventh, at which point the US conceded the game.

It completed a 100 per cent tournament record for the gold medal winners, who add the Youth Olympic crown to their male and female victories at Sochi 2014.

“It's just hard to believe, it's hard to wrap your head around the idea that you brought the gold medal home for your country," said Fay.

"I feel so lucky to live in Canada, it's an amazing place, so many amazing people.

"It's so amazing, I can't really put it into words.”

Switzerland, gold medal winners at Innsbruck 2012, collected bronze with a similarly comfortable 11-3 victory over Russia.

They scored three points in the first end and were able to maintain a comfortable lead thereafter, with respective steals of one and three points in the fourth and seventh ends.

Former International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge was among those watching the action, along with World Curling Federation President, Kate Caithness.

Attention now turns to the mixed doubles competition starting tomorrow, where one male and one female athlete from different countries will be paired together.