There were no slip ups from Forfar curler Callie Soutar as Team GB’s mixed pair stormed to a crushing 18-0 victory in their Gangwon 2024 Youth Winter Olympics opener against Nigeria.
15-year-old Callie and Aberdeen’s Ethan Brewster were in superlative form to brush aside the history-making Africans on the Gangneung Curling Centre ice.
The match got underway at 1am on Saturday UK time.
And any fears of a shock defeat for the young Scots were dispelled with a five in the opening end on sheet C of the impressive ice facility.
For Callie’s supporters back home who got up to follow the action the early start was well worth it.
Young Scots keep focus
From that first end Team GB were in total control.
Another five in the fourth end put the match well beyond doubt.
And it was over as a contest at the end of the sixth when another two completed the rout.
The win took Team GB – under chef de mission and Scots curling legend Eve Muirhead – to the top of the mixed doubles group A pool alongside Canada and the Czechs.
But after the nerve-settling opening triumph the young Scots came up against tougher opposition on Sunday.
And they suffered an 11-2 reversal at the hands of the Republic of Korea.
Next up in the round robin competition for Soutar and Brewster are the Czech team on Monday.
School prelims before jetting out
The Angus teenager’s own team is one of the rising rinks at Scottish Under-17 level.
And Callie had to cram in a pile of Nat 5 exam prelims before flying off to join her Olympic teammates at the start of this week.
She is the youngest member of the Team GB curling squad.
On Thursday, the mixed team delivered a stunning comeback victory in the gold medal match against Denmark.
Their extra end win was the first curling gold for Team GB at a Youth Olympics.
African pride
Nigerian opponents Oluwanimifise Wale-Adeogun and Roy Daniel will have won many more fans for a team which is one of the stories of the games.
The Broomzillas are the first African nation to qualify for a youth Olympics curling event.
They trained for Gangwon on a carpet in a Lagos apartment block and faced a huge financial challenge to make it to South Korea.
And the outfit hope they will inspire a generation of Africans into the sport – just as the Broomzillas tag is
“The best thing is just playing a game and seeing people around the world clapping and cheering for Nigeria,” team member Fatiu Danmola told Olympics.com earlier in the event.
