Move over Eve Muirhead, it's Anna Sloan (above) who will be the focus of attention as the World Women's Curling Championship begins in Esbjerg, Denmark, on Friday. Anna, Claire Hamilton, Vicki Adams and Rhiann Macleod won the Columba Cream Championship and, as Scottish Champions, will wear the saltire in Denmark. Only Claire has had the luxury of a rest since then, Anna, Vicki and Rhiann have been busy winning a World Junior title. Their skip, Eve Muirhead, will be with them in Esbjerg as the team alternate.I think this will be odd. It will certainly be a different role for Eve - matching stones for the team in late night practice sessions is just one of her jobs with coach Isobel Hannen. Still, as the experiences of the junior men's team show, it is so important to have a well-qualified alternate on the bench in case of illness. She will not be used as a 'tactical substitute'. This is the official line.
It will be yet more experience for Anna, who skipped the GB team which won the Winter Univesiade curling title in Turkey in January. I am of the opinion that it is just great that Scotland has two young experienced skips to look to for the future. Spare a thought too for Rhona Martin. As head coach at the Juniors, she was on the bench for three games every day, and should get much credit for the success. One day at home - in which she will host a meeting, open to any competitive female curler, at the sportscotland Institute of Sport, Stirling, tonight at 7pm with a view to providing female athletes clarity on the Performance Programme for next season - then she too will be in Denmark as the Institute's Women's Head Curling Coach.
Gordon Muirhead, collecting his first gold as Eve's coach at Perth, gets to relax now awhile. Well done though to the 'Silver Fox'! It's Isobel Hannen who is the Scottish team coach in Denmark.
The World Women's, or to give the event its full title, the 2011 Capital One World Women’s Curling Championship presented by Mount Titlis, will take place in the Granly Hockey Arena, Esjberg, with His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark throwing the first stone in the opening ceremony, scheduled for 18.15 (local/CET) on Friday, March 18. 2011.
It is the first time in the thirty-three year history of the World Women’s Championship that Denmark has staged the event. The twelve teams who have qualified to compete are: Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Korea, Norway, Russia, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA. The twelve teams are listed below. The draw is here.
World Curling TV, the television-making arm of the World Curling Federation, will be onsite producing extensive TV and web coverage for broadcasters around the world. This live coverage can be seen across Europe on Eurosport and will also be available live and on demand on the Eurosport Player. The schedule for TV and Web coverage from the event can be found here.
Here at Skip Cottage, I'll be following the event online, and hopefully enjoying Logan Gray's commentary on the webcasts. He won't have Kenny Edwards with him (shame, I loved their banter at Perth) but I hear David Murdoch will have a mike in Esbjerg. I look forward to that.
The photo below is Logan's commentator's uniform! Loudmouth of course. Should these be de rigeur for the whole commentary team? Yes, yes, yes!
TEAM LINE UPS as of March 11:CANADA (CAN)
Fourth, Amber Holland (Skip)
Third, Kim Schneider
Second, Tammy Schneider
Lead, Heather Kalenchuk
Alternate, Jolene Campbell
Team Coach, Merv Fonger
CHINA (CHN)
Fourth, Bingyu Wang (Skip)
Third, Yin Liu
Second, Qingshuang Yue
Lead, Yan Zhou
Alternate, Xinna Yu
Team Coach, Wei Zhang
CZECH REPUBLIC (CZE)
Fourth, Anna Kubeskova (Skip)
Third, Tereza Pliskova
Second, Veronika Herdová
Lead, Eliska Jalovcova
Alternate, Luisa Illková
Team Coach, Karel Kubeska
DENMARK (DEN)
Fourth, Lene Nielsen (Skip)
Third, Helle Simonsen
Second, Jeanne Ellegaard
Lead, Maria Poulsen
Alternate, Mette de Neergaard
Team Coach, Lasse Lavrsen
GERMANY (GER)
Fourth, Andrea Schöpp (Skip)
Third, Imogen Oona Lehmann
Second, Corinna Scholz
Lead, Monika Wagner
Alternate, Stella Heiss
Team Coach, Rainer Schöpp
KOREA (KOR)
Fourth, Ji-Sun Kim (Skip)
Third, Seul-Bee Lee
Second, Mi-Sung Shin
Lead, Un-Chi Gim
Alternate, Hyun-Jung Lee
Team Coach, Min-Suk Choi
NORWAY (NOR)
Fourth, Linn Githmark (Skip)
Third, Henriette Løvar
Second, Ingrid Stensrud
Lead, Kristin Moen Skaslien
Alternate, Marianne Rørvik
Team Coach, Tormod Andreassen
RUSSIA (RUS)
Fourth, Liudmila Privivkova (Skip)
Third, Anna Sidorova
Second, Margarita Fomina
Lead, Ekaterina Galkina
Alternate, Nkeiruka Ezekh
Team Coach, Olga Andrianova
SCOTLAND (SCO)
Fourth, Anna Sloan (Skip)
Third, Claire Hamilton
Second, Vicki Adams
Lead, Rhiann Macleod
Alternate, Eve Muirhead
Team Coach, Isobel Hannen
SWEDEN (SWE)
Fourth, Anette Norberg (Skip)
Third, Cecilia Östlund
Second, Sara Carlsson
Lead, Lotta Lennartsson
Alternate, Karin Rudström
Team Coach, Magnus Swartling
SWITZERLAND (SUI)
Fourth, Mirjam Ott (Skip)
Third, Carmen Schäfer
Second, Carmen Küng
Lead, Janine Greiner
Alternate, Nicole Dünki
Team Coach, Stefan Karnusian
USA (USA)
Fourth, Patti Lank (Skip)
Third, Caitlin Maroldo
Second, Jessica Schultz
Lead, Mackenzie Lank
Alternate, Debbie McCormick
Team Coach, Neil Harrison
Photos © Skip Cottage
