Still only 20, Orrin Carson stands on the brink of making sporting history as the British Curling protégé and his trio of teenage teammates line up to defend their title for a third successive time at the Scottish Curling Junior Championships at Curl Aberdeen this week (18-22 November 2025).
Along with younger brother Logan, Archie Hyslop and Charlie Gibb, the Dumfries skip has dominated the event, matching the all-time record of three successive victories in the men’s event and he fully understands the opportunity that presents itself. 
“It would really mean a lot to us to go and win this title for the fourth time in a row,” said Carson.
“Knowing that no-one has done this four times before is an extra incentive to go out and do a good job this week.
“We know it will be tough but we are as prepared as we can be for the week ahead.”
Having enjoyed success on the Junior tour over recent years, the quartet who are on the British Curling performance foundation programme have, this season, been preparing themselves for the next level in their career development and are looking to draw inspiration from what they have learned in playing against and training alongside the leading Scottish and European men’s teams.
“Our season has been relatively strong and we have qualified (for the knockout stages) at a lot of men’s events and we have done well in a couple of junior events as well, so we feel like we will lean on that experience when we need it this week and hopefully that is enough to get the job done,” said Carson.
“What I think has helped me over the past few years is watching the top guys competing in Europe, either at events or watching the Slams and seeing how the top teams do it because at the end of the day that where you want to get to.
“There will be seven tough teams at the Scottish Juniors and there have been for the past few years, so we know going into this who will probably challenge us most, but we will treat every opponent with the utmost respect and hopefully get the job done in each and every game.
“This is my last year on the junior circuit so I hope that I can go out at this level on a really good week.”
Success this week would earn him the opportunity to finish this part of his career with the ultimate high of winning gold at the World Junior Championships.
“Our team has grown a lot over the last three or four years and the first year when we went to the World Juniors it was an experience we really enjoyed,” said Carson.
“The last two on from that we have really tried to push to win the Worlds but obviously we haven’t yet achieved that goal.
“Hopefully with a really strong week here in Aberdeen that will put us in a good place for that.”
Eight men’s and eight women’s teams will contest the honours in Aberdeen this week and the reigning champions will be on the ice in both events, with 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games Mixed Doubles gold medallist Callie Soutar also looking to lead Eva Hare, Holly Clemie and Alison Hamilton to a successful defence of their title.
“We’ve had a great start to the season and are ready for the big week of the Juniors,” said Soutar.
“The team have worked so hard for this and are so excited for it.
“Winning the Stranraer under-21s was great for us and we hope to continue that level of performance into defending our Scottish Junior title. 
“It’ll be another tough battle out there this year but we can’t wait to take it on.”
Among their leading rivals will be the Dumfries quartet led by Soutar’s fellow 2024 Winter Youth Olympic gold medallist Tia Laurie who is again accompanied by all three of the teammates who lost out in last year’s keenly contested final – Cara Davidson, Kirsty Gallacher and Holly Burke – as well as Amy Mitchell and they, too have enjoyed success on the Junior circuit this season.
“The team is on good form and we are really looking forward to the week ahead,” said Laurie.
“We have been training hard and have had a good season so far, so we will take all of our learnings from that forward into this event.
“The standard is high for this event with many good teams.
“I think having the qualifier event for the first time in many years was good as it shows there is an increasing number of participants in the sport wanting to compete at the championships.”
Games get underway tomorrow from 4pm – follow the results here
Team Carson
Orrin Carson
Logan Carson
Archie Hyslop
Charlie Gibb
Team Soutar
Callie Soutar
Eva Hare
Holly Clemie
Alison Hamilton
Team Laurie
Tia Laurie
Cara Davidson
Kirsty Gallacher
Holly Burke
Amy Mitchell
Images: British Curling/PPA 