STOP AND GO
Perthshire curling star Eve Muirhead is targeting double delight this time next year.
The 30-year-old skip aims to lead a team at a fourth Winter Olympics and to be part of Team GB’s mixed doubles pairing at the same event.
The 2022 Winter Olympics is scheduled to take place between February 4 and 20 in Beijing, China.
“Other Olympic sports provide opportunities for athletes to go for more than one medal in different disciplines and I think it is such an exciting opportunity to be able to target two medal opportunities,”said Muirhead.
“Whoever gets that fantastic opportunity would need to prepare and plan it right but to be able to compete in both Olympic disciplines, I for one would absolutely love that.
“I love a challenge and the chance to mix it up a bit and I would throw my right arm at it and do everything I could to make it work.”
It has been different trying to earn Olympic qualification in a
Liam Gordon plans to bring Livingston’s 14-game unbeaten stretch to a grinding halt - and help St Johnstone build a run of their own.
The Perth club’s Betfred Cup final opponents have been in tremendous form to put themselves right in contention for European football.
The teams meet in West Lothian on league business tomorrow and centre-half Gordon is keen to kill their momentum.
“You want to go into the final in good form, of course,” said Gordon. “We’ve got big games coming up with the chance to do that.
“We’re more than capable of putting a wee run together ahead of the final.
“I take my hat off to Livi, but we know we can go there this weekend and get three points. We’re well aware of their threat.
“It’s at their place on the plastic pitch so it will be a different spectacle than what you’ll get at Hampden.
“It would be great for us to go there and stop their run, especially going into the final.
“But we’re fully focused on the league currently and the next game is Livingston. We want to get into that top six.”
Saints will make the trip to the Tony Macaroni Arena on the back of a solid performance against Rangers at Ibrox on Wednesday.
Perth players certainly made the league leaders work extremely hard for their narrow 1-0 victory.
“The first half we were a little bit backs against the wall and tried to hit them on the counter,” Gordon said.
“We were up against good players who moved the ball. But I felt that we defended well.
“We rode the storm well and gave ourselves a good opportunity going into the second half. We’re obviously disappointed to then lose the goal in the fashion we did.
“But we gave a good account of ourselves, especially in the last half hour. We took the game to Rangers with plenty of attacks.”
The big talking point in the game arrived in the first half when Kemar Roofe went over the top of the ball and caught Murray Davidson with a nasty challenge.
Only a yellow was shown by referee David Munro and Gordon said: “I don’t think he has went in with the intent to hurt Murray. But I don’t know how that is not a red card.
“We want Murray back in the team as soon as possible but, if he’s not available, we have plenty of good players to come in.
“We know in the changing room that we have no passengers. We know anyone coming in is going to do a job.
“With the changes made, there was no surprises about the performance. We’re just bitterly disappointed not to take anything.”
Millwall loan signing James Brown made his first appearance for the club.
And Gordon added: “It was probably the hardest game you’ll get but it was a good debut. He looked solid.”
●See inside for Craig Bryson’s reaction to the Rangers defeat. training environment that has been transformed by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Muirhead’s experience has allowed her to concentrate on what she can control in seeking to make the best of those circumstances.
“It has been a weird year leading up to the final stages of preparation for the Winter Olympics,”she admitted. “The Olympics is the pinnacle of my sport, it is what I dedicate my life to, to be able to perform at my best during that week every four years.
“Lockdown has provided advantages to me.
“It gave me the chance to step back and really look at what I do and focus on getting fitter and stronger - and for