How the Gold was won

Two years ago I was able to watch the World Junior final from Eveleth, as a webcast on my computer. Last year, the game was also available as a webcast, a joint venture between the WCF and Curlingkanalen. This year... nothing!

Is this progress? No it is not. We are going backwards in the promotion of the sport. We should all be bombarding the World Curling Federation and telling those in charge that they really should be getting the finger out, and thinking about the junior game, and thinking about us fans!

But Grumpy here is digressing. What brought on this morning's rant was that someone has gone to the trouble to post a video of the last couple of stones of the final on You Tube. Well done, and many many thanks to GoF for this. The link is here. And I've embedded it below. Enjoy.

Jim Law's photo above shows the position after Eve's last stone, and before Kaitlyn's final delivery. The Canadians are in a timeout. The video shows how the Scotland stone got there and what happened next.

Welcome home

In all my years involved with this great sport of ours, nothing gives me more pleasure that to be at the airport when a team comes back home from international duty with medals around their necks. So there I was at Edinburgh this evening to see our teams back from the World Junior Championships in Vancouver. Not all have come home - Eve Muirhead and Isobel Hannen are on their way to Korea for the Mount Titlis World Women's event. However, here are the others, tired yes, but looking great after their trip.

Back L-R: Alan Hannah, Graeme Black, Thomas Sloan, Steven Mitchell, Ally Fraser, Glen Muirhead. Front: Kay Adams, Sarah Macintyre, Vicki Adams, Anna Sloan, Rhona Martin.

Graeme Black, skip of the boys' team, was still disappointed that his team finished in seventh equal place, but he has learned much from the experience. And of course Scotland's junior men have a place at next year's event in Flims. All the team were full of praise for the girls who captured the gold medals.

And here are four of them: Kay, Sarah, Vicki and Anna.

A lot has made made of the fact that Eve Muirhead has won three gold medals at consecutive World Championships - the skip after all tends to get the attention - but let's celebrate Sarah's achievement tonight. The Strathclyde University student has three golds too, from Eveleth, from Ostersund and from Vancouver. Many congratulations Sarah, it is quite an achievement and makes all members of the front end union very happy!

Pics by Bob.

World Junior Champions

Eve Muirhead (skip), Anna Sloan (3rd), Vicki Adams (2nd), Sarah Macintyre (lead), Kay Adams (alternate), Isobel Hannen (coach). We salute you! Well done to you all. Proud of you, we all are!

The results and stats are all here (as well as whole albums of photos, just follow the Sevices link on the sidebar). Read Mike Haggerty's report of the final against Canada here, and the WCF reports are here.

Photos and report of the Championships will be in the April Scottish Curler, courtesy of Jim Law, as is the pic above.

Scotland in World Junior Final

Eve Muirhead, Anna Sloan, Vicki Adams and Sarah Macintyre won their Page 1-2 playoff game in Vancouver. The Scots beat Switzerland's Martina Baumann 7-4 to advance to Sunday's championship final at the 2009 World Junior Curling Championships. Guaranteed silver, they will now meet the winner of the Canada-Switzerland semifinal for gold. Great show, girls!

The linescores and stats are here. Mike Haggerty's report is here.

Scottish Juniors in Page 1-2

Eve Muirhead, Anna Sloan, Vicki Adams and Sarah Macintyre are just one win away from the final of the World Junior Championship in Vancouver's Olympic Centre. The Scots finished their round robin by beating the Czech Republic, and sat out the last round, waiting to see how the other games went. It was Anna Kubeskova's Czech team that was to do the Scots a favour, beating the Russians by stealing three in the tenth end. Sweden, who had not qualified for the playoffs, upset the home favourites and Anna Hasselborg's team pushed Kaitlyn Lawes' Canadians into the Page 3-4, by beating them 7-4.

That left just two teams at the top of the rankings on seven wins and two losses. So, Scotland plays Switzerland in the Page 1-2 game on Friday 7 pm local time, early hours of Saturday here. Canada plays Russia in the Page 3-4. You will find the results, linescores and stats here.

Above is a Jim Law photo from the Scotland v Czech Republic game. Vicki and Sarah are the sweepers on Anna Sloan's stone, with Eve in the house, as Anna Kubeskova looks on. Kay Adams, Isobel Hannen and Rhona Martin are on the coaches' bench behind.

Anna Sloan delivers with Sarah Macintyre and Vicki Adams ready to sweep.

Eve Muirhead
Pics by Jim Law

World Junior Championships

The World Junior Championships get underway in Vancouver's Olympic Centre on Thursday. The event website is here. Eve Muirhead, Anna Sloan, Vicki Adams and Sarah Macintyre, with Kay Adams as alternate, play France in their first game.

So, what can I say about this team? Eve, Vicki, Sarah and Kay were in the winning squad last year in Ostersund, and Eve of course has just won the Columba Cream Scottish Ladies Championship, with her senior team. Vicki, Sarah and Kay were competing last week at the World University Games in Harbin, China, and indeed flew straight to Vancouver from there to meet up with the other team members and coach Isobel Hannen. Anna Sloan skipped her GB team to gold medals at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Poland recently. There was a feature about Anna and her curling connections in Scotland on Sunday here. 'Teenager with an icy determination' was how the article was titled. A good description, as all who know her will testify!

If there is one negative thing to say, it is only that the team has not played that much together this season, given Eve's other commitments to her senior team and with the GB Squad of which she is a member. But I expect that the Muirhead team will be the one that the others will be looking to beat in Vancouver. Who to look out for there? There's no easy games at the Worlds at any level. Canada is represented again by Kaitlin Lawes, who finished with bronze medals last year. Lawes' team will be more comfortable too in her home country. Sweden is strong this year too, with Anna Hasselborg's team. The other teams are listed here.

Graeme Black, Ally Fraser, Steven Mitchell and Thomas Sloan have impressed on the ice all season. Graeme and his cousin Thomas have played together for a number of years. Steven was with them last year when they reached the Scottish semifinal, losing then to the eventual winner Glen Muirhead. Ally Fraser has joined the team this year and the rapport between skip and third can be seen to work well. The four competed in the WCT-e Junior Tour and finished second in the rankings (see here).

This is the first time for the team on the biggest of stages, and Graeme's delight and excitement of having the opportunity to don the Scottish jersey came out in an interview on John Beattie's Radio Scotland programme on Saturday. Graeme identifed the strength of his side as their ability to work as a team. "When we get into sticky situations we fight," he said. And those who saw the team come back in their semifinal game against Blair Fraser at Perth last month witnessed that. His first stated goal is to ensure Scotland's participation in next year's World Championship. Things can go wrong so easily, as we saw in Ostersund last year, but Black's team certainly have the potential to be challenging for the playoffs.

Glen Muirhead is the team's alternate and Alan Hannah is the coach.

The team which finished ahead of Black in the Junior Tour standings will be one of the favourites in Vancouver. The Swedish team is skipped by Oskar Eriksson, who won the ROK Highland Inverness Junior event earlier this season (see here). The current World Junior Champs are skipped by Chris Plys, who is back in the draw this year, his team having won the recent US Junior Championships. Scotland plays the US in the first round. The full draw is here.

Last season at this time I was getting all set to go off moose hunting in Sweden! But with the recent news (here) you will understand I'm not going anywhere far this season. So, I'll be following Mike Haggerty's reports on the Royal Club's website here, and the results, stats and photos being provided by Curlit, see here.

Good luck to both our teams!

Top: Eve Muirhead. Above: Graeme Black. Pics by Bob.

Fifth players for World Juniors

Just a postscript to the Scottish Junior Championships. The fifth player who will go to Vancouver for the World Junior Men's Championship with Team Black is Glen Muirhead, who skipped the team which secured Scotland's place in the event at Taarnby in January. Alan Hannah is the coach.

Kay Adams, who did such a great job as fifth for Eve Muirhead in Ostersund last year, will again take on that role in Vancouver. Note to Vicki - careful on the stairs this year! Isobel Hannen is the coach.

The World Junior Championships website is here.

Top: Glen Muirhead photo by Richard Gray
Below: Kay Adams photo by Bob

Scotland qualifies for World Juniors

Congratulations to Glen Muirhead, Greg Drummond, Scott Macleod and Scott Andrews, and all the support team, who have secured a place for Scotland's junior men at the World Junior Championships in Vancouver. The Muirhead team completed an unbeaten run of games with a 5-1 defeat of France at the European Junior Challenge in Taarnby. All the results, line scores and photos are here. Well done guys, great show!

Scotland's women are already through to the World Junior Championships, and indeed it is the current world champion skip Eve Muirhead, Glen's sister, who features on the home page of the event website, above.

Added later. France now plays Russia, the winner also qualifying for the Worlds. In the junior women's event, the French girls are through, and the Czech Republic will play Italy for the second place at Vancouver.

Final add. Russia beat France, and the Czech girls beat Italy.

Looking north again at the weekend

The second of the new WCT-e Junior Tour events, the Highland Junior International, begins tomorrow morning (Friday, November 14) at the Inverness Ice Centre. The boys play in two sections. Graeme Black and Kerr Drummond are in Section A with Jaap Van Dorp (Netherlands), Joacim Suther (Norway), Mario Freiberger (Switzerland) and Kristian Lindstrom (Sweden). Lindstrom's team were the winners of the first Junior Tour event in Norway.

In Section B, three Scottish teams are skipped by Glen Muirhead, Paul Russell and Jamie Dick. Peter de Cruz (Switzerland), Kristian Rolsvjord (Norway) and Pascale Marco (Italy) are the other sides in the group.

There are ten junior women's teams. Scotland is represented by Eve Muirhead, Hannah Fleming, Jennifer Dodds, Claire Hamilton, Helen King and Claire MacDonald. Foreign sides are skipped by Frida Jonasson (Sweden), Nicole Dunki (Switzerland), Eli Skaslien (Norway) and Quaglio Isidora (Italy).

Ole Ingvaldsen's report on the first of the Junior Tour events in Norway last month makes interesting reading. Find it here.

Elsewhere this weekend, the Royal Club's National Province Championship takes place at the Greenacres Rink in Renfrewshire. The results will be here, and Mike Haggerty's preview of the event is here.

In Switzerland, Tom Brewster, David Edwards, John Hamilton, Logan Gray, David Murdoch and Alan Smith are playing in the Lucerne Curling Trophy, a WCT-e event. The event begins this evening (Thursday 13) and the website for results is here.

Last (but not least), if any Curling Today readers in the UK are thinking perhaps of the Olympics in 2010, then you will be interested in this post on the British Curling website about registering interest in tickets and travel packages. Sooner than that though, the 2009 World Junior Championship, whose website has recently gone live here, will be the test event in the new Olympic venue. The first ice is soon to be laid therein.

World Champions welcomed home!

A goodly crowd of friends, family, supporters and onlookers – some of whom had travelled down from Blair Atholl – met the two Scottish teams on their arrival back on Scottish soil after the World Junior Curling Championships in Ostersund.

First to appear through the international arrivals gate were the support staff followed by the men’s team. The boys were obviously disappointed but upbeat. They are a talented group of curlers and all will doubtless be back on the world stage in the future.

Then came the moment that we had all been waiting for, the return of the World Champion Junior Ladies team! Flags were waved and songs were sung – indeed the odd tear was shed as the girls stepped rather sheepishly into the well-deserved limelight.

STV were there to cover their arrival and Annette Holmes of the RCCC had also organised for the Daily Mail to be there to interview the team. All were tired after a long early-morning flight home from Ostersund via Copenhagen, but all were in good spirits and put up with the inevitable press and photographer interest to the manor born, before splitting up and heading to their respective homes.

Thanks to Robin Copland for this report and the pics!

Top: A professional at work 'Show me the medals!' Above: Kay Adams, Sarah Macintyre, Vicki Adams, Kerry Barr and Eve Muirhead. Photographs by Robin Copland.

Goodbye to Ostersund

Don't they brush up well! The World Junior Champions look good at the final banquet. Stars indeed, all five of them! L-R: Eve Muirhead, Kerry Barr, Kay Adams, Vicki Adams and Sarah Macintyre.

Chris Plys and Oskar Eriksson, the Professor, in the Junior Men's final.

Kristian Rolvsfjord and William Dion in the Bronze Medal game.

The Swedes may have been beaten on the day, but I think we will see more of these young men in the years ahead. Did I mention they won the Globe Trophy at Dumfries last season?

The winners of the Sportsmanship awards were Anneline Skarsmoen of Norway and Matt Hamilton of the USA.

Cissi Ostlund waves goodbye. Her team beat the Scots twice, but they came up short in the final. Such is curling. Good team though, disappointed I would guess, but pleased that they have kept Sweden in the top ten without the need to qualify for next season's World Juniors which will be the test event in the Olympic venue in Vancouver.

Liudmila Privivkova (right), Curling Today's featured curler of the year, is off to Vernon now for the World Women's Championship. Yulia Svetova was the alternate on the Russian team at Ostersund. They would be disappointed to miss out on the bronze medals.

So that's it from the World Juniors. All the results and standings from the event can be found at www.curlingkanalen.se. You can find the WCF news reports and more photos here. And Jim Law's reports are on the RCCC website here.

Now for me it's on to the World Seniors and the World Mixed Doubles in Vierumaki, Finland. Play there has already started, and by Sunday evening Graeme Adam and his team had won two straight, as had Kirsty Letton's side. In the MDs, Dillan Perras and Judith Carr had won one and lost one.

Tomorrow (make that today, Monday) is spent travelling. I'll try pick up here on Tuesday. I wonder if there are mooses in Finland?

Pics above are by Bob. Tom Andrews kindly took the one below! The moose is on the left.

Top of the World

The winning teams in the World Junior Curling Championship: USA (men), Scotland (women).

Pic by Bob

USA wins World Junior Men's title

Chris Plys and his US team won the World Junior Men's Curling Championship in Ostersund this afternoon. The Americans defeated Oskar Eriksson's local heroes, who had been spectacular all week, in the final game.

Key end was the third when the US picked up three and a 5-2 lead. The Swedes stole two singles late in the game to keep it close at 7-5. They lay three shots when Plys went to play his first and the flamboyant skip (he's the one with the earrings and the hats) made the triple takeout for victory!

Canada beat Norway for the bronze medals.

Pics later!

Second Sunday Selection

Eve Muirhead with Cissi Ostlund and Lotta Lennartsson


Eve and Kerry practise their meditation techniques in the final. Lotta again is calling line.

Kay and Kerry with Cissi. Kay has been sleeping on that blue pillow again.

Anna Domeij

Six up!

The anti-doping squad awaited the completion of the final game.

Gently swaying. Full marks to all the fans!

Grimacing Lucy

What do we do now? Pics by Bob.

Gold Women in Sweden

The World Championship Junior Women's Final

With Vicki Adams not fully recovered after damaging her ankle in a fall on Friday, her sister Kay was in the Scottish team again with Eve Muirhead, Kerry Barr and Sarah Macintyre.

The question was if Cissi Ostlund would play as well as she did yesterday in the Page 1-2? That was answered in the second end, when she was heavy with two freeze attempts and Eve drew coolly to the four foot for a two, to go 2-1.

The game was effectively won and lost in the third end. Ostlund missed a double takeout, one that she would have made yesterday. Eve bunged another into the house, forcing the Swedish skip to attempt a draw to the one inch. She was woefully short and Scotland stole two shots and took a 4-1 lead.

Great draws from both skips in the fourth and fifth ends saw these go with the hammer. But Eve, Kerry, Kay and Sarah played the sixth well. Cissi Ostlund faced a house full of yellow stones when she went to play her last.

It was short! After a measure, a big six shots went on the board. The teams were forced to play out eight ends, but there was no point. Scotland are the World Champions ... again!

In the bronze medal game, Liudmila Privivkova's side stole a three against the Canadians in the third end for a 5-0 lead, and the result should not have been in doubt. But the Canadians then brought out the best curling they have played all week. Lucy and her team let it slip.

Russia was one up playing the tenth, without the hammer. When Privivkova hit and rolled too far with her last, Kaitkyn Lawes and her team were celebrating consolation bronze medals.

Linescores are here. Pics to follow.

Saturday off-ice: Mission accomplished!

These moose have been orphaned or have been born at the Moose Garden, near Ostersund.

Making friends. "I'm a bit bashful, but tickle my ear and I'll follow you anywhere!"

This moose prefers blondes!

Check out the Moose Garden website here. There's even a webcam! And you can buy moose paper, made from moose droppings. See the things you learn on Curling Today!

Middle pic by Jim Law, the others by Bob.

Saturday's on-ice selection

Oskar Eriksson skipped his team to the final of the World Junior Championship, beating Canada in the Page 1-2 game.

This was the Men's Page 3-4. USA beat Norway.

Chris Plys again. Now the US are against Canada in the semifinal.

Not a good day at the office as William Dion realises his side has lost to the USA in the semifinal!

Against Sweden in the Page 1-2. Kay Adams in the team!

Kerry sporting the colours!

It was indeed an uphill task for Eve in the Women's Page 1-2.

Canadian third Jenna Loder looks to see if a measure is needed in the Page 3-4 against Russia.

Timeout against Russia in the semifinal. Coach Isobel Hannen gives her tuppence worth!

Liudmila Privivkova beat Canada in the Women's Page 3-4, but lost to Scotland in the semifinal.

Eve in full voice in the semifinal!

The Scottish bench looks somewhat apprehensive in the final end of the semifinal! L-R: Isobel Hannen, Nancy Murdoch and Vicki Adams.

Sarah Macintyre makes a super tick shot in the final end!

Pics by Bob.