Olympians Compete at Scottish Curling Championships in Dumfries
Fay Henderson is trading Milan-Cortina for Dumfries this weekend as Olympians including silver medallists Kyle Waddell and Ross Whyte, alongside Henderson, participate in the Scottish Curling Championships broadcast live on the BBC.
Ross Whyte served as the alternate for Team GB men who secured silver at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, while Kyle Waddell was the alternate for Bruce Mouat's rink at the 2024 Games, where they also earned a silver medal for Great Britain. Fay Henderson took on the alternate role for the women's team at this month's event in Italy.
At the Dumfries Ice Bowl, Whyte, Robin Brydone, Kyle Waddell's brother Waddell, and Euan Kyle aim to win a third consecutive national title. Meanwhile, defending champion Henderson will skip a team featuring Hailey Duff, Lisa Davie, Katie McMillan, and Laura Watt.
Broadcast Details
The championships will be available to watch on Friday, 27 February, and Saturday, 28 February via BBC and the website and app. Kyle Waddell's team includes Mark Watt, Angus Bryce, and Blair Haswell.
The men's semi-finals on Friday evening, along with the men's and women's finals on Saturday, will be streamed live on BBC and the platforms.
Reflections on Olympic Performances
Ross Whyte reflected on the recent Olympic experience:
"It was very different watching the boys from home and supporting. It was certainly a devastating finish and we know how much they wanted that gold medal, so to see some of your best mates try and achieve their goals and unfortunately just come up short after a valiant four years really where they fully deserved to get it was tough to watch.
"You could see in their post-match interviews, how much it meant, but the boys spoke brilliantly and really showed that not only are they amazing athletes but they are human as well.
"They left everyone with a great impression of our sport and how we carry ourselves as curlers. It shows what great ambassadors they are and also what good people they are."
Looking Ahead to the Championships
Regarding this weekend's tournament, Whyte stated:
"We are looking forward to the Scottish this week and we will certainly try and go out there and win for a third year in a row.
"No matter how many teams there are in the line-up it is an event that always means a lot to us and being crowned Scottish champions again would be great if we can get over the line this year.
"It has never been won four years in a row so this would be a step towards that if we manage this week the way we want to.
"We have shown that we are one of the top teams in the world and we feel like we have challenged Team Mouat really well throughout this cycle, so to see them perform so well on the world, European and Olympic stage really gives us the belief that we can go out there and put in a really good performance."
Kyle Waddell added:
"The last couple of weeks have been great on the whole and obviously there was immense disappointment after losing the final, but that shows the intent and goals this team had.
"Curling as a whole has boomed yet again at an Olympics and I am very hopeful that in Scotland and in the UK we can grow the sport and provide more opportunities for people to watch more curling and try it themselves.
"For now, I just want to focus on winning a Scottish title."
Fay Henderson's Ambitions
Former world junior champion Fay Henderson shares a similar focus following Team GB women's near miss in Italy, where they narrowly missed the semi-finals.
"To be able to win a third Scottish title at my home rink as well would be great," said the 24-year-old.
"Three in a row isn't something that many skips have been able to do in their first few years out of juniors, so I think that would definitely mean a lot and hopefully it would lead to our selection at worlds third time lucky, so I am really hoping that we can put in a really great performance all of this week and then the results will take care of themselves."
Both the men's and women's events feature five-team competitions. Henderson's rink will open their campaign against the team led by 2024 Winter Youth Olympic champion Tia Laurie, which includes Cara Davidson, Kirsty Gallacher, Holly Burke, and Amy Mitchell.
"Not all of the Olympians will be ruled out of this year's World Championships this season," Henderson added.
"There are still many of the Olympic teams hoping to compete so I think it will be great to test ourselves against some of the teams that I have been watching here at Milan-Cortina as I think the standard has been very high and I am hoping that we can keep that going into this World Championships, providing we get selected.
"It has been great working with Team Morrison this past week and watching them perform so well. That definitely gives us inspiration knowing that we are all on the same programme and we want to perform well to make sure we keep everyone watching curling after the big boost in interest in the game from the past two weeks and we want more people to try it."
