WOMEN TAKE BRONZE, MEN FINISH FIFTH AT WORLD SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS 2024
Scotland were being represented by Team Kennedy and Team McMillan at the World Senior Curling Championships 2024, hosted in Östersund, Sweden from 20 to 27 April 2024. The women’s team bagged the bronze medal while the men’s team finished fifth overall.
Scotland’s senior women’s team (Karen Kennedy, Gail Thomson, Alison Cunningham, Gillian King, Margaret Richardson) got their campaign off to an excellent start, flying past Denmark 14-4 in their opening fixture. They edged out United States next before stopping a late comeback attempt from England to make it three wins on the bounce. With a fourth consecutive success, comfortably seeing off Australia, the Scots were already guaranteed a spot in the play-offs, but, just for good measure, added another victory in their final pool fixture versus New Zealand to win Group C unbeaten.
On to the play-offs and the quarter-final versus Japan. A tense game was all square with one end to go, but Scotland stole a crucial point to take a 5-4 win and progress to the semi-finals. Up against Canada though, the Scots fell to their first defeat of the week. The eventual gold medallists were first on the board with a big four points and while the sides were equally matched for the next four ends, the Canadians sealed the deal with a three in End 7.
Still, a medal was up for grabs in the bronze game versus Switzerland. Scotland had the upper hand throughout the match and wrapped up a 6-3 win to take home the spoils.
It was a tough start to proceedings for Scotland’s senior men’s team (Hammy McMillan, Murray McWilliam, John Agnew, Gerald Baillie, Alistair Henry) who came up just short versus New Zealand before missing out to Germany. However, the Scots bounced back in style from there. Edging out Poland, they got their first win on the board and another one followed when they got the better of Ireland. In their final pool fixture, Scotland dominated versus Nigeria to finish second in Group B and sneak through to the play-offs at the last minute.
Facing Germany again in the quarter-finals, there was nothing separating the sides after five ends. When Germany scored a big five points in End 6 though, the Scots opted to call it a day on 9-4. With that, they finished the tournament ranked fifth overall.
WOMEN’S COMPETITION
Scotland Team: Karen Kennedy (S), Gail Thomson (V), Alison Cunningham, Gillian King, Margaret Richardson
Fixtures:
Sat 20 April, 11am BST: Denmark 4 – 14 Scotland
Sun 21 April, 7am BST: Scotland 6 – 3 United States
Mon 22 April, 3pm BST: England 6 – 9 Scotland
Tue 23 April, 7pm BST: Australia 3 – 10 Scotland
Wed 23 April, 7pm BST: Scotland 9 – 1 New Zealand
Thu 25 April, 6pm BST: Quarter-final: Scotland 5 – 4 Japan
Fri 26 April, 6pm BST: Semi-final: Canada 10 – 3 Scotland
Sat 27 April, 9.30am BST: Bronze Medal Game: Switzerland 3 – 6 Scotland
MEN’S COMPETITION
Scotland Team: Hammy McMillan (S), Murray McWilliam (V), John Agnew, Gerald Baillie, Alistair Henry
Fixtures:
Sat 20 April, 7am BST: New Zealand 5 – 3 Scotland
Sun 21 April, 3pm BST: Germany 8 – 4 Scotland
Mon 22 April, 11am BST: Poland 5 – 8 Scotland
Tue 23 April, 3pm BST: Scotland 7 – 3 Ireland
Wed 24 April, 7am BST: Scotland 11 – 4 Nigeria
Fri 26 April, 12pm BST: Quarter-finals: Germany 9 – 4 Scotland
