C&B's Gina Aitken Wins Bronze at the European Curling Championships!

What a fantastic and gutsy performance by Team Scotland, with our own Gina Aitken playing third, in last week's European Curling Championships in Ostersund, Sweden. Team Scotland started the competition off strongly with good wins against Turkiye and Latvia. The team was under pressure from the start because they were "supposed" to win both those games, and win them they did. Their next two games were against strong opposition in Italy and the on-form Danish team. Two losses and it could all have gone horribly wrong - but how they bounced back with a huge win against one of the pre-tournament favourites, Anna Hasselborg's Swedish team. In a week of ups and downs, the Scots girls lost their next two games against the experienced German team under skip Daniela Jentsch and the Swiss World Number One team, skipped by Silvana Tirinzoni. After a comprehensive 10-1 win over Hungary, the Scots were left with a must-win game against Norway. Two things had to happen in this round of the competition: first, the Scots had to win their game and then second, other results had to go their way. It all came together and they were semi-final bound!

Gina concentrating hard during the Bronze play-off game v Italy (picture credit to Celine Stucki and the WCF) In the semi-final, the Scots girls came up against the hot team of the week, Madeleine Dupont's Danish team. Madeleine and her sister Denise have been on the circuit for many years. They have played well on occasion, but never really threatened. Well they threatened this week - and some! The Scottish girls had played positively against them in their round-robin game so went into the semi-final with some hope. Sadly for them a few rubs and some great Danish play in the first five ends saw the Scots eight points down and the game already out of their reach. They conceded as soon as they could in order to better prepare for their Bronze Medal game.

(from left) Skip Rebecca Morrison, Second Sophie Sinclair, Lead Sophie Jackson and Third Gina Aitken discuss the position late on in their game against Italy. Not in the picture is Fifth player Hailey Duff and coach Nancy Smith (picture credit Celine Stucki and the WCF). In the Bronze Medal game itself, the first half was a cagey affair and the two sides were tied, but come the second half of the game, the Scots donned their party clothes and played outstandingly! A two, followed by a stolen two, then a stolen single had them five shots clear playing the ninth end. They managed a force and the deflated Italians shook hands in what is surely the worst game of the week to lose. Congratulations to the Scottish team and particularly to Gina.