Winter Youth Olympics: Thomas Muirhead upbeat despite an early exit

By Charlie Talbot-Smith
Published on Wednesday 18 January 2012 02:31

GREAT Britain curler Thomas Muirhead insisted there were plenty of positives to take from defeat after the GB quartet crashed out of the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck.

For the GB team of Muirhead, Angharad Ward, Rachel Hannen and skip Duncan Menzies it was a case of too little, too late as they bowed out of the competition despite three wins in a row.

The damage was done after they lost their first four games in Austria, meaning the GB squad always faced an uphill task to make it out of their group and into the knockout stages.

But Muirhead, whose sister Eve is the reigning European champion, remained upbeat after his side easily disposed of both Russia and Austria yesterday to go out on a high.

“As a team we played superbly well in our last games, we barely missed a shot,” he said.

“Of course, it’s a bit frustrating that we couldn’t find that form at the start of the tournament, but this is something that we will have to learn from.

“We know now that you have to be on your game from the moment the tournament starts or you will get punished because these are some of the best players in the world. But the experience has been a great one, not just in terms of curling but also in competing at a Youth Olympics and everything that comes with that.”

Also in action yesterday was Scottish cross country skier Scott Dixon, from Aviemore, who took part in the men’s 10km classic at the Seefeld Arena.

Dixon, whose father, Mike, represented GB at six different Winter Olympics, normally competes in biathlon and admitted to finding the going tough as he came home in in a time of 35:02.2minutes, good enough for 37th place overall.

“I’m feeling extremely tired but I’m really happy with how it went, I couldn’t have gone any harder at any point in that race, I gave it everything,” he said.

“I’m especially happy considering normally I do biathlon and that was only my second ever classic cross country race on snow.

“It’s a massive change, for a start you’re not carrying a gun in cross country and instead of slowing down for the shooting sections you have to give it everything the whole way through.

“So the tactics are different and it was certainly tough but the conditions were fantastic and a lot of credit to my coach Roger (Homyer), who prepared my skis fantastically well.”

• The British Olympic Association prepares and leads British athletes at the summer, winter and youth Olympic Games. It works in partnership with sport National Governing Bodies to enhance Olympic success and is responsible for championing the Olympic values. www.olympics.org.uk

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