Norway’s skip Jostein Stordahl paid tribute to organisers and Stirling’s National Curling Academy after his team won the first Euro Super League of 2023 on what he considers to be ‘world championship ice.’
In what was a tight event throughout, only the Norwegians finished with an overall winning record after registering four victories. Hosts Great Britain and newcomers to Stirling’s National Curling Academy Korea both broke even, winning and losing three games apiece, while last season’s World Championship and Paralympic finalists Sweden finished last with just two wins. 
“I’m very satisfied,” said Stordahl, as he assessed his weekend’s efforts along with teammates Rikke Iversen, Ole Fredrik Syversen and Ingrid Djupskas.
“I think we played very well during the whole competition and this event is very important for us, because we have very few competitions this season. This is just our third before the World Championships and the ice here is like World Championship ice, while the facilities here are world class, so it’s just fantastic.
“I’m very happy with how we’re performing. This is not our full team because we have an injured player at home, so we had a rookie, Ingrid, in as a substitute and we are very happy with how we performed.”
For the hosts the competition provided an opportunity for Paralympic Head Coach Sheila Swan to experiment as she attempts to increase competition for places at international events and Hugh Nibloe, who skipped the team to a victory over Norway that meant they had beaten all three visiting sides, felt he and fellow squad members - Jo Butterfield, Meggan Dawson-Farrell, Gregor Ewan, Gary Logan, Charlotte McKenna, Robert McPherson – responded well.
“It was really good to finish on a win,” he said.
“Winning the event would have been nice, but the goal here was to try different combinations and it was a really good training competition for us. 
“With selections coming up, Sheila wanted to look at players in different positions, so we’ve gained a whole lot of experience and we’ve come away with a lot of good things to work on.
“These are challenges we might have to face, though and everybody will be better for that experience.
“We all train and buddy and skip and call shots for each other, but it was really good to get on ice with everybody getting game time.”
Like Stordahl, the two-time Paralympian acknowledged the importance of getting such competitive opportunities and getting to do so at the National Curling Academy, ahead of major events.
“The fact that Korea have travelled all this way for this competition testifies to the quality of the facilities here at the NCA and they know they’re getting good competition too with ourselves, Sweden and Norway,” Nibloe noted
“It’s a great competition. We went out to Canada and America and you’re playing some club sides that aren’t at world level, so having three teams here that will be challenging for medals at the World Championships is brilliant for us and it lets you see where your game is. 
“The way the draw’s worked out we’ve ended up with a late night and an early morning, which is something we’ll have at World Championships, so it’s good to experience that.
“Bearing in mind that the squad’s new this season, I think we’re in a decent position.
“We’ve all got lots to learn and we’ve still got 40-odd days, which doesn’t sound very far away, but it’s enough.
“It tends to be tweaks at this stage. People aren’t missing by miles and we showed by beating all three of our opponents this weekend what we’re capable of, so it’s exciting to think what we could do at the World Championships.”
Results:
Draw 1
KOR - NOR 6-7
GB - SWE 8-6 (EE)
Draw 2
GB - KOREA 5-6
SWEDEN – NORWAY 3-10
Draw 3
KOR – SWE 4-5
NOR - GB 10-5
Draw 4
SWE - GB 6-5
KOR - NOR 7-6
Draw 5
NOR - SWE 7-4
GB - KOR 6-3
Draw 6
KOR- SWE 9-2
GB – NOR 6-5 (EE)
British Curling Squad:
Charlotte McKenna
Gary Logan
Gregor Ewan
Hugh Nibloe
Jo Butterfield
Meggan Dawson-Farrell
Robert McPherson
#curling #ESL2023
