The World Wheelchair Championships is coming home next month and the hosts have announced the teams that will represent Scotland at Auchenharvie Leisure Centre in Stevenston, North Ayrshire.
For two time Paralympian Hugh Nibloe, this opportunity is doubly special with the chance to compete at his second home World Wheelchair Championships, as well as being selected to represent Scotland in two events at a World Championships for the first time, the team event (1-8 March) and the Mixed Doubles (11-16 March).
The squad’s only remaining member from the team that claimed silver last time the World Championships were held on home ice at Stirling six years ago, the native of Scotland’s south-west is relishing the opportunity to compete in the event being held a proverbial stone’s throw from Ailsa Craig, which famously provides granite for curling stones that are delivered to the world. 
“We shouldn’t need any extra motivation, but competing at a Worlds in Scotland, will give us all an edge,” said the 43-year-old from Stranraer.
“Being selected for team and mixed doubles was something I wasn’t expecting but I am delighted and really looking forward to competing on both fronts, especially getting the honours in front of a home crowd.
“I am the only one from the 2019 team to be selected again so I have a second chance to play in front of home support and friends and family and it is a huge honour.
“But it will be my first time at a World Mixed Doubles which is a challenge I am looking forward to and we want to make the home crowds proud and deliver medals the way we did in 2019.
“Competing at the Worlds in 2019 was amazing, getting silver and the whole atmosphere, having Scottish crowds cheering us on and my parents there watching me made it extra special and close to that Paralympics experience.
“It is the best Worlds I have played in and I expect this will be the same and I know Scottish Curling will be working hard to make it a world class event.”
Charlotte McKenna will also play in the mixed doubles, while in the team event Austin McKenzie continues his exceptional progress since turning up for his first TryCurling session in 2023, before joining British Curling’s performance foundation programme last year.
More familiar faces include Paralympian Gary Smith, a squad regular in recent years and Nibloe is particularly pleased for long-time teammate Gregor Ewan, a stalwart of Great Britain and Scotland teams for more than a decade and the only current squad member to have medalled at the Paralympics in Sochi in 2014, but who missed out on that Stirling success.
“Gregor has been involved in curling for some time but never had that 2019 experience and I know how much it means to him to have that chance as we don’t know when this will happen again in Scotland,” said Nibloe.
The event throws up the intriguing prospect of facing British Curling colleagues representing England at the Worlds after they came through the qualification event earlier in the season.
“It has been great having the England team in our squad this season and they did incredibly well to go to the World B Championships and get promoted to the Worlds. I hope we played a part along the way as their training mates, but I think it is fair to say there is now a friendly divide in the National Curling Academy,” Nibloe said with a laugh.
“That result should give them plenty of momentum going to the Worlds and for the next two weeks we are Scotland and England, but it will be good to come together again as one squad in April with all four teams hopefully having done well in our events. 
“Then of course we will be vying for selection for ParalympicsGB in Milan Cortina, but first and foremost it is about those Worlds coming up and ensuring Paralympic qualification.”
Selection for this World Championship meanwhile represents another step towards 2016 Rio Paralympic gold medallist Jo Butterfield’s bid to break new ground, while demonstrating her extraordinary resilience in recovering from a cancer diagnosis around 18 months ago.
“Sitting here selected for another World Championships is exactly where I want to be,” said the 45-year-old who originally hails from Yorkshire, but has long been based in Glasgow.
“The goal has always been to be the first GB Paralympian to win a summer and winter Paralympic gold medal, but the road to Paralympic success is never straightforward and there are always ups and downs and last year was a big speed bump.
“Chemo put my body through it and it was weaker than before, but mentally it was also a struggle and I didn’t enjoy sitting watching a team perform at a World Championships last year, not being able to be part of it.
“That wasn’t part of my plan, but I am thankful that that speed bump has now gone and we are now working really hard to be successful at this World Championships and put that plan back in action to qualify and get to Milan Cortina.”
Part of the Scotland team that claimed bronze at the World Wheelchair Championships in Canada two years ago, her greatest sporting successes have been enjoyed on foreign soil, so she is revelling in the prospect of competing at a major event in front of friends and family.
“Very, very few times in my career have I been able to perform in front of people that have helped me on this journey and helped me to achieve things,” said Butterfield.
“My Paralympics have been in Rio and Tokyo, so this is a great opportunity to have a World Champs at home and being able to perform in front of the people that have been with us every step of the way will make it that little bit sweeter.”
Scotland Team
Jo Butterfield (Glasgow)
Gregor Ewan (Stirling)
Austin McKenzie (East Kilbride)
Hugh Nibloe (Stranraer)
Gary Smith (Edinburgh)
Scotland Mixed Doubles Team
Charlotte McKenna (Bridge of Allan)
Hugh Nibloe (Stranraer)
Images: PPA/Graeme Hart
