DAN IS THE MAN FOR ALBION
Young snaps up exciting winger from Fifers
Olympic golden girl Vicky Wright has called time on her career after she revealed she will retire from elite curling.
The Stirling-based curler established herself as one of the outstanding success stories of the British Curling programme and now the Olympic champion has announced her decision to retire from full-time competition.
The 28-year-old, originally from Stranraer, steps away from curling after an extraordinary season that saw her play as vice-skip to Eve Muirhead as the four-time Olympian led Wright, world mixed doubles champion Jen Dodds, Hailey Duff and alternate Mili Smith to a career-crowning triumph in Beijing.
Earlier in the season they had already made history when, along with Bruce Mouat’s men, they became the first curlers to win the European Championships for Scotland in both the women’s and men’s game for the first time ever.
The women’s success was all the more remarkable because of the challenges that faced them coming into the 2021/22 season.
Wright – a staff nurse at Forth Valley Royal
Hospital – had been part of the Scotland team that missed out on earning Team GB a place at this year’s
Olympics when they failed to claim a top-six place at last season’s
World Championships.
That consequently forced a major rethink within British Curling, leading to the innovative creation of a nine-player squad system at the beginning of this season.
Wright, who had previously won two Scottish Championship titles, but none on the international stage, was one of those who emerged from that career-transforming opportunity to claim a place in what would become the Olympic team.
In making her decision to leave the elite game while at the very top, her devotion to nursing was a key factor.
“On the back of what can only be described as the most incredible experience winning Olympic gold in Beijing, it is with much pride I announce my retirement from full time curling to fully invest my time into my nursing career and family life,”she explained.
“Having a strong perspective on life is something I pride myself on and I am incredibly proud of how I achieved my curling goals, particularly in this last year when I kept up my shift work .”
Stirling Albion manager Darren Young has made Danny Denholm his fourth new signing of the summer as he continues to build his squad for next season.
The 31-year-old winger, left, moves to Forthbank from East Fife and is a player Young knows well from his time in charge of the Methil club. Denholm has amassed plenty of experience since beginning his senior career a decade ago following a spell with Stirling University.
He had two stints with Forfar Athletic and also played for Livingston before joining Arbroath in 2017 then East Fife in 2019.
The midfielder made 30 league appearances for the Fifers in the season just ended – 23 starts and seven as a substitute – and netted four times in League One.
Denholm will join up with his new team-mates when pre-season starts next month.
Young has also brought in striker Robert Thomson from Stenhousemuir and defensive midfielder Ross Davidson from East
REBUILD CONTINUES AT FORTHBANK
Fife while Aaron Dunsmore’s loan move from the Fife club has been made permanent.
Denholm’s arrival at Forthbank comes as winger Nathan Flanagan leaves the club. He joined from Annan Athletic last summer and was a regular for most of the campaign.
He scored a double on his debut against Cove Rangers in the Premier Sports Cup and also netted the winner in the New Year derby versus Stenhousemuir at Ochilview.
Young is likely to make further additions to his squad ahead of the new campaign, which begins with the group stages of the Premier Sports Cup on Saturday, July 9.
The draw takes place on Wednesday at 1pm. It will be shown live by Premier Sports via their Freesports channel.
The 40 clubs will be drawn into eight groups of five on a seeded basis. Seeding pots will be confirmed, but there will be no regionalisation following six years of a north/south split.
•Numbers drawn on May 18 for week 91 of the Stirling Albion Supporters Trust lottery were 5, 7, 20 and 30.
There were no jackpot winners so next week’s jackpot is £3,000. Three lucky dip winners each receive £20.