National Curling Academy ideal for Olympic training '“ Kyle Smith

Olympic skip Kyle Smith has praised the brand-new National Curling Academy, which was officially opened yesterday at '¨Stirling Sports Village.

Kyle Smith has spent a month testing the new facility at Stirling. Picture: Getty.

The £3.15 million project was financed jointly by sportscotland and Stirling Council and, although the facility will not be available to the public until 4 September, Smith and former world champion Eve Muirhead have spent the past month testing the ice.

“We’ve trained four weeks in a row at the new rink, and the ice conditions there are more reliable,” said Smith “The building is for performance athletes only in August, so it’s 
perfect for us.

“It’s definitely sunk in that we’re going to the Olympics. We’re enjoying training, but we’re really looking forward to competing again.”

Smith will return to the scene of one of last season’s triumphs when he opens his 2017-18 campaign at the Oakville Tankard in Ontario next week.

The ex-world junior champion won the Oakville Classic at the same venue last year to begin an outstanding run of results which led to his Olympic selection in June.

“We’re not playing that one this time because it clashes with a Grand Slam event (in Regina, Saskatchewan), so we’re prioritising that,” he explained.

Smith and his team-mates Thomas Muirhead, Kyle Waddell and Cammy Smith have received a first-round bye at the Oakville Tankard, while three other Scottish teams, led by Tom Brewster, Bruce Mouat and Greg Drummond, will also be in Ontario.

Muirhead and her squad begin their season the following week at the Grand Slam tournament in 
Regina.