[ritchiebaby]

Once again England had to play without Matthew Waring in the game against Hungary and lost 5-6, despite being 4-2 ahead after 5 ends. Sadly only 1 win out of 5 games tells it's own story.

In the grand scheme of things, United States steamrollered everybody else in winning Gold, the Final against Switzerland at 5-2 being their closest game. Even at that United States were in total control after the 4th end leading 5-0. Poland demolished Latvia 11-4 in the Bronze Medal game.

[ritchiebaby]

It is almost time for the next generation of international curlers to take centre stage as on Tuesday 24 February, the World Junior Curling Championships 2026 get underway in Taarnby, Denmark. The 10 Men’s Teams taking part are: Denmark, Italy, Norway, Scotland, Korea, Japan, Canada, and the 3 qualifiers from December - United States, Switzerland and Poland.

The 10 Teams for the Women's Championship are Denmark, Korea, Germany, Canada, Sweden, China, Switzerland and the 3 qualifiers - Japan, United States and Turkiye.

Round-robin play starts on Tuesday 24 February with the first Women’s game starting at 8am and will conclude on Sunday 1 March at 6pm with the final Men’s game. The semi-finals will follow, with the Women’s starting at 1pm on Monday 2 March and the Men’s to follow later at 6pm. The medal games will take place on Tuesday 3 March at 8am (Women’s) and 1pm (Men’s).

Scotland are looking after themselves in the Finals of the 2026 Men's Junior World Championships, Their team is Orrin Carson (Skip), Logan Carson (Third), Archie Hyslop (Second) and Charlie Gibb (Lead) with Fraser Swanston as Alternate. They play Poland in their opening game tomorrow at 1pm with Switzerland and Italy to come on Wednesday at 8am and 6pm.

[ritchiebaby]

Scotland got off to a great start in this competition, by recording 3 wins. Firstly they beat Poland by 11-5 yesterday and then backed it up by beating Switzerland 7-3 this morning. Tonight's contest against Italy was not quite as straightforward in a high-scoring game, with the advantage swinging one way then the other, eventually resulting in an 11-9 win for the Scots.

Tomorrow they have to play Norway at 1pm, with games against United States at 8am and Canada at 6pm on Friday. By 9pm that night we should have a good idea of their chances of progressing. I would imagine that 6 wins out of 9 games will be the initial target.

[ritchiebaby]

Scotland continued on their merry way by comfortably beating Norway 9-3 after only 7 ends yesterday, then controlled the game against United States after the halfway point, winning by 7-5. In a fascinating game against Canada, Scotland were 0-1 down after 5 ends and staged a recovery to tie the scores at 4-4 at the 10th end. Unfortunately this gave Canada last stone in the extra end, allowing them to beat the Scots by 6-4.

There are now 3 teams on 5 wins from 6 games - Canada, Scotland and United States. Italy and Switzerland are on 4 wins with Denmark on 3 wins. The final session games between Italy and Switzerland as well as Canada and United States might prove to be pivotal in determining the 4 Qualifiers.

Scotland play Denmark at 1pm tomorrow and complete the Round Robin on Sunday against Korea at 8am and Japan at 6pm and will hopefully have qualified before the final game.

[ritchiebaby]

Scotland have continued their great form, demolishing Denmark 10-1 and then cruising past Korea 10-5. The predicted final session nervousness will now not materialise with Canada, Scotland and United States on 7 wins and Italy on 6 wins with all guaranteed qualification. It's just a matter of jostling for position tonight.

The Semi-finals are at 6pm tomorrow with the Final at 1pm on Tuesday.

[ritchiebaby]

Thanks to their runaway win by 11-2 over Japan, Scotland finished top of the tree on 8 wins. And, thanks to their win over Canada by 7-5, United States also finished on 8 wins.

Tonight's Semi-finals are Scotland v Italy and United States v Canada (again).

In the Women's competition, Sweden play China at 1pm this afternoon and Korea play United States at the same time. Their Medal games are at 8am tomorrow.

[ritchiebaby]

Scotland were beaten 6-8 by Italy in a Semi-final that could/(should?) have been a victory, losing 3 shots in the final 2 ends. However they came out fighting against Canada and secured victory with the final stone by 9-8, again losing 3 shots in the final 2 ends.

Well done to the youngsters, who can be proud of their achievement.

Men's Medallists
GOLD - United States
SILVER - Italy
BRONZE - Scotland

Women's Medallists
GOLD - Korea
SILVER - Sweden
BRONZE - China