Aberdeen curler Ethan Brewster has claimed a historic gold in the mixed doubles event at the Winter Youth Olympics in Gangwon.
The 16-year-old and skip Callie Soutar, 15, who is from Forfar, beat Denmark 7-6 in the final to claim Team GB’s first-ever gold medal in the mixed doubles event.
The duo’s gold medal comes a week after their compatriots claimed Team GB’s first ever Winter Youth Olympic gold medal in the mixed curling team event, when an all-Scots team also beat Denmark.
Brewster and Soutar had experienced defeat in their second round-robin match, before going unbeaten through the rest of the event and beating Denmark in a tense final.
The triumphs in South Korea mean Team GB and Scotland are currently reigning women’s Olympic Champions, men’s world and European champions, women’s junior world champions, and men’s World University Games champions.
Brewster, who is the son of 2014 Sochi Olympic silver medallist Tom, was delighted to win Team GB’s second curling gold medal.
He said: “The team event was great to watch last week and their final when the Danish stone rolled off and Great Britain were left lying to win gold, honestly it was an amazing feeling
“Seeing them win gold I think it inspired me a lot to try and do the same.
“Our campaign didn’t start off too well but towards the end of the competition I was feeling more inspired with other Team GB athletes winning medals and watching the figure skaters winning their bronze and knowing that we too could win a medal here was exciting.
“This really is a dream come true.”
Aberdeen curler hails skip Soutar and coach Andrews after gold medal
Brewster hailed the display of his skip as he described Soutar’s final stone as “brilliant”.
The Aberdeen teenager added: “Practice didn’t go too well, but we brought it back and honestly winning that semi-final was wonderful, just knowing that you were getting a medal.
“Going into that final was a nerve wracking experience and my stomach was going a little bit, but we kept our cool.
“To be honest I wasn’t too composed at that last end. I was seeing the Danish stones build up more and more and it was getting a little bit nerve wracking.
“However, Callie with her last stone made an absolute brilliant pistol and that is all you need.
“One shot needs to be made and she made it and – boom – we won gold.”
Brewster also pointed to the role played by their coach, Scott Andrews, whom he has known since infancy.
Scott Andrews played in two World Championship finals when Brewster’s dad Tom was his skip, before both were in the Team GB quintet that won silver at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
“Its been an amazing experience knowing you were going to a place like Korea, so far away with a coach like Scott, somebody you already know so well.
“To be honest I couldn’t imagine having a better coach and coaching us so well and giving us words of wisdom, from the start the whole trip has been fantastic.”
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