Stewart Pimblett and Rosemary Lenton have been selected as England’s standard bearers at the World Wheelchair Mixed Doubles Championships which will run at the same time as the World Wheelchair Championships hosted at the Richmond Curling Centre in British Columbia, Canada next month (4-12 March 2023).
Pimblett has been a member of the England squad since 2014, but was more recently selected to the British Curling squad, so will be up against some of his regular training partners and is relishing the challenge.
“I am honoured to be given this opportunity as I sadly missed out on the chance at the World B’s in the team event due to injury, so I will cherish this opportunity and go all guns blazing at this event as I feel as though I am making up for lost time,” he said. 
“Playing against Scotland will be interesting as we are very competitive and we all want to win and I can’t see that being any different to how competitive we are with each other in the National Curling Academy, as we are all after the same goal and we all want to win.
“Week-in and week-out we are training alongside each other in the NCA and they are great squad mates.
“We are the best of friends when we are off the ice but when we are in the zone and when we are up against each other it will be interesting and obviously I hope that we win.
“Of course I want to see them do well as well and I hope they feel the same way for me too. But there will be no compromise on the ice. So let’s hope between us England and Scotland can bring three medals home from the worlds and I hope we can show everyone what we can do.”
Lenton is also no stranger to the big arenas having played in a number of World Championships for England while, dual-qualified on nationality, she has previously represented both Scotland and Britain.
Away from the ice, she won a gold medal at lawn bowls for Scotland at 2022 Commonwealth Games, playing in the women’s pairs B6-8 category with partner Pauline Wilson.
Lenton’s husband Tony coaches the England team and he expects to reap benefits both from the experience Pimblett has gained in joining the British Curling squad and from their own increased funding as they contest the World Mixed Doubles Championship for the first time.
“England are highly delighted to see Stewart’s inclusion in the GB squad both for him as an individual, but also for the added benefit that his inclusion and experience will hopefully bring to the England squad,” he said.
“The recently achieved support from Sport England for the England Wheelchair Curling Team is greatly appreciated, as we strive to achieve a regular place at the “top table” of World Wheelchair Curling. The entry into the Mixed Doubles is seen as a stepping stone in this journey.”
England Mixed Doubles Team
Stewart Pimblett
Rosemary Lenton
Participating nations in World Wheelchair Mixed Doubles: Canada, China, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Scotland, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, United States.
Participating nations in World Wheelchair Champs: Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, United States.
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