EVE MUIRHEAD: No World curling medal for Scotland

It’s been a tough week for the Scottish team at the curling World Championships in Canada.

They’ve not made the play-offs for the medals.

There’s no disgrace in that as the quality of competition has been very high this week.

Team Morrison have showed that they do have the capability to compete with the top teams in the World.

Beating the reigning champions, who had been on a 42-game winning streak before they lost to Canada, is the ultimate proof of that.

And they deserved to win.

But the Worlds is all about finding a level of consistency.

I’m sure the girls would be the first to admit they haven’t quite achieved that.

Every game matters, though.

This is the first of two World Championships that count for Olympic points.

Italy will get a place as host nation.

Then another six countries earn their spot on the back of how they do this week and next year.

So, finishing in the top seven is the obvious first goal.

The stress of an Olympic qualifying event is still fresh in my mind.

And, even though we ended up getting through it and then won our gold medals, it’s certainly not a route you’d choose.

Before the tournament started, Canada, Switzerland and Sweden would have been my top picks to win.

But there’s no doubt that Canada are the form team and Rachel Homan the form skip so far.

Rachel is playing as well as she’s ever done in her career.

She’s averaging 90% this week and looks like she’s in a really good rhythm.

I’ve written in the past that it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for her but she’s shown that she can be a strong frontrunner at the Worlds – winning gold in 2017 without dropping a single game.

Anna Hasselborg is coming on strong, as she so often does, but I think that Canada are the team to beat now.

New Zealand won their first ever game at a World Championships.

Unfortunately, it was at Scotland’s expense but that can happen – I lost to Turkey near the end of my career who are another emerging curling nation.

That’s sport.

New Zealand have earned their spot and are very competitive these days.

Glenn Howard’s Canada losing to New Zealand a few years ago was a sign that they were on the up as a country.

Players come over to Scotland to improve – I’ve played alongside Courtney Smith, their third, in the Perth Super league!

And if they can somehow qualify for an Olympics, then the snowball would really start to roll with the increased funding and exposure that could come with it.

Dame Laura Kenny didn’t need to give all her reasons for retiring.

It was written all over her face that she’s arrived at a place where she knew her race was run.

No two retirement stories are the same but the phrase ‘you’ll just know’ is a familiar one to lots of us.