The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Russian doping issue hitting winter sports
The Russian doping controversy is starting to become a much bigger issue for winter sports than I first imagined. Slowly, more and more athletes are being found positive. Having already banned six crosscountry skiers, the IOC this week did the same with four skeleton racers.
Even curling is being caught up in it as well.
Last week it was revealed that the former Russian lead Ekaterina Galkina, who was competing with the curling team at the Sochi Olympics, was being investigated for submitting “disappearing positive” samples from a training camp in 2014.
She is a three-time Olympian who was the lead for the Russian team which finished sixth at Sochi and also won World Championship bronze medals in 2014 and 2015 as well as European gold medals in 2006 and 2012.
When it’s your own sport, and someone you have competed against, it makes the whole Russian doping scandal feel so much more real.
Even though the Winter Olympics are only a few months away there is still talk of a team ban for Russia.
I must admit I still can’t see that happening.
But, even if they do send a team to South Korea, you can’t get away from the fact that there is a huge dark cloud over every single Russian athlete who will be at Pyeongchang.
Building momentum
We’ve got to be really satisfied with how things have gone in the European Championships so far.
To book a semi-final spot with two round-robin games remaining is as good as you can ask for.
We bounced back brilliantly from losing our first game against Sweden, which could have gone either way.
We’ve built some momentum game after game and have played some great shots.
The ice conditions are really good and consistent, curling around fiveand-a-half feet and pretty fast (roughly 13.8 hog to hog for curlers who read the column).
The re-set button is hit for the semis and hopefully we can give the Scotland fans here something to celebrate among the noisy Swiss cowbells.
Curling history
There was a bit of Scottish curling history at the weekend.
Bruce Mouat’s team became the first Scottish men’s team to win a Grand Slam event in Canada at the Boost National in Ontario, and he was the youngest male skip to have won one. What a result.
And there was no luck about it. They beat some real class Canadian teams along the way (Jacobs, Koe and McEwan).
It surely makes them favourites to win the Scottish Championships.
It is great for the sport in Scotland that young male curlers are coming through showing proper world-class potential.
If Team Smith can bring home a medal from here in Switzerland it will be one of the best weeks ever for the men’s game in this county.
Australia game all-important
The Russian doping controversy is starting to become a much bigger issue for winter sports than Ifirst imagined
I was following the rugby score last Saturday online and Scotland deserve a lot of credit for making it such a tight game.
Everything is riding on this last match against Australia. Lose and the narrow defeat to the All Blacks will mean very little.
Win, and the autumn series will be looked upon as a big success going into the Six Nations.