Scotland 1 finished top of the rankings at the end of the Euro Super League competition in Stirling’s National Curling Academy, but performances across the board offered encouragement for the British Curling programme ahead of this week’s World Wheelchair Championship selection.
Two Scottish teams and one from England, who have also qualified for this season’s Worlds, which will take place on home ice at Stevenston (March 1-16), but the selectors also have an eye on the internal competition that is unfolding for places in the GB squad for next year’s Paralympics in Milan/Cortina.
The Euro Super League event, which also featured current World Champions Norway, Paralympic hosts Italy and Sweden, was consequently an ideal opportunity to weigh up progress and the indicators were excellent with Scotland 1 and England among the teams finishing tied on three wins and two losses, the Scots claiming the honours thanks to superior performance in the pre-match draw shot challenge.
“We had three good wins and two tight losses – one at an extra end so it was good to finish top when there were four teams that will be at the World Championships in six weeks time,” said Scotland 1 skip Hugh Nibloe.
“Obviously at this stage we don’t know who will be chosen for Scotland in the team and mixed doubles events yet, but that was Sweden, Norway and England’s first choice teams, so it was really good to put a marker down.
“Considering the experience level in our team compared to Norway’s World Champions is vastly different, we can take a lot of encouragement from that and hopefully have them looking over their shoulder now and give them something to think about.”
An example of the way that domestic competition for places has developed was the performance of Keith Gray, a recent newcomer to the sport, in that Scotland 1 line-up.
“Last year I came in as a replacement player for the mixed doubles, so to come in as part of Scotland 1 team and win today is brilliant from a development and progression point of view,” he said.
“This result won’t do us any harm at all and is a confidence boost ahead of the Worlds.
“I took up wheelchair curling just over a year ago and I have put in a lot of hard work to get here, but credit to the longstanding squad members who have helped us on this pathway and the senior figures and the many new faces who have contributed to a good culture and environment to help us progress.
“We will continue to work on that in this very important year building towards Milan Cortina.”
For British Curling Head Paralympic Coach Sheila Swan, that increased strength in depth has been potentially transformative and she paid tribute to the work done over the past two years by Paralympic Pathway Manager Cheryl Lappin in drawing new recruits to the sport.
“It is always what I have asked for so that decisions within selection meetings are to be really challenging for all the right reasons,” said Swan.
“Everybody this weekend has worked really hard and it shows you how competitive wheelchair curling is at the moment when five of the six teams end up tied on a 3-2 record and it comes down to draw shot challenge to determine the winner this weekend.
“I’m pretty satisfied with our weekend’s work and we would have liked that extra win to have won the title outright, but we’re really pleased with how we have performed this weekend.
“Our results at last year’s World Championships were really disappointing so we have a big job this year to make sure we are in the top eight and challenging for those knock-out places.
“In addition we have done a lot of hard work in the last two years to improve our pathway, to get more people into to the sport and grow our squad, so this is a great reward for Cheryl’s hard work developing that pathway and getting newcomers in that could now be challenging for places at the World Championships and we are really proud of that.”
She noted, too, that the rapid development of members of the British Curling squad provides evidence of the opportunity the sport is now providing for wheelchair users.
“Paralympic sport and curling can provide that opportunity to travel that performance pathway very quickly and in curling specifically we have not done enough work in that area in the past,” Swan acknowledged.
“However, we can now increase not only our squad but the number of athletes in our club network and build really strong clubs in Scotland.
“We know that we must step up to another level now to be in the mix in Stevenston, there is the added pressure of a home Worlds but it is also a great opportunity for the team that gets selected to experience the many advantages and we are super excited about the event taking place in Ayrshire.”
Results:
Draw 1
Scotland 2 – Norway 3-7
England – Sweden 2-10
Italy – Scotland 1 4-12
Draw 2
Italy – Sweden 2-5
Norway – England 4-6
Scotland 1 – Scotland 2 9-7
Draw 3
Scotland 1 – England 6-7 (EE)
Italy – Scotland 2 8-5
Sweden – Norway 6-7
Draw 4
England – Scotland 2 6-5
Sweden – Scotland 1 5-6 (EE)
Norway – Italy 6-7
Draw 5
Norway – Scotland 1 5-3
England – Italy 5-7
Scotland 2 – Sweden 3-7
