Following their victory in the recent nationals, Youth Olympic gold medallists Tia Laurie and Ethan Brewster will represent Scotland at the World Junior Mixed Doubles Championships in Edmonton in May.
The pair started working together after their respective successes at the Winter Youth Olympics in 2024, where Laurie was part of the four player line-up which won the mixed team event, while Brewster won the mixed doubles event with Callie Soutar and combined brilliantly at this year’s Scottish Junior Mixed Doubles, going through the event unbeaten, rounding things off with a 6-3 defeat of Laurie’s Youth Olympic teammates Holly Burke and Archie Hyslop in the final. 
“We had a great competition managing to go undefeated and are delighted to have won the title and the opportunity to represent Scotland,” said British Curling Performance Foundation athlete Laurie.
“It’s a first Scottish title for both of us which makes it even more special.
“We had a semi-final finish at the Scottish Junior Mixed Doubles last year and built on that over the last year in training, then competed in the Matt Murdoch Memorial Mixed Doubles Competition winning it in December last year.
“It was a great competition for us to practice and play against some of the teams we played in the championship.”
This season has been their second playing together after Laurie recognised their potential to form a successful partnership.
“I contacted Ethan before last season and he agreed to play together,” she said.
“We work well together, have a great team dynamic and work especially well in those pressure and close games, not panicking when we are down and maintaining composure.
“We are both competitive players and strive for success together.”
Laurie believes they both benefitted hugely from that Youth Olympic experience in Korea’s Gangwon Province years ago, but that they have also made real progress since. 
“I think we all gained a huge amount of experience and learnt a lot from the Youth Olympics,” she said.
“It gave us experience of playing for our country and playing on the international stage at a young age.
“We played against some of the world’s best junior curlers which was a great opportunity, but I think we have all improved greatly from then through all the hours of training we put in every week.”
Having enjoyed such success far from home at the Winter Youth Olympics, Laurie is now thrilled to have earned the chance to broaden horizons and represent her country again.
“It’s an honour to be going to compete for Scotland at the World Junior Mixed Doubles Championships,” she said.
“This is an amazing opportunity to play on the World stage and we are both delighted.
“Ethan and I have worked hard and put many training hours into getting to this stage and are delighted to see our hard work paying off.
“I have never competed in Canada before so I am very excited to be going there for the first time and I am delighted to be playing for Scotland for the very first time.”
The World Junior Mixed Doubles will be hosted at the Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton which also staged the inaugural event last year, with the IOC currently evaluating the possibility of this being the first qualifying event for the mixed doubles at the next Youth Olympics in 2028.
Please click here for more information about the World Junior Mixed Doubles Championships in Edmonton, Canada (5-10 May).
YOG Images: Team GB
