SCOTLAND'S men, skipped by Perth's Kyle Smith, took gold in yesterday's World Junior Curling Championship final in Sochi, Russia, beating the hosts 6-2.
But despite fighting all the way to an extra end, Lockerbie's Hannah Fleming failed to defend her crown, as the women's team were beaten 5-6 by the hosts.
On their way to their first-ever appearance in a men's junior world final, Russia had inflicted Scotland's only loss in the round-robin stage, but this time faced a team eager to earn gold after a bronze medal last year. "We've got the right colour of medal this year," the jubilant skip said.
With last-stone advantage the Scots blanked the first end then took two in the second with Smith delivering a perfect nose hit on an open Russian stone. Scotland stole a single in the fourth and added another in the fifth, for a 4-0 half-time lead.
The Russians finally got on the scoreboard in the eighth, but, by this time, the Scots were keeping everything clear and eventually scored one in the ninth for a 6-2 lead.
With his first stone of the final end, Smith cleared the house and ran Russia out of stones. "We've just had a really good week and a good year. I was a wee bit nervous, but that's only natural," Smith added.
While the men celebrated, though, Fleming's women were eventually outgunned by the hosts in the second half of their final. In the eighth end, a perfect draw by Russian fourth player Yulia Portunova forced the Scots into a double take-out that failed, giving Russia a two-point steal and the 5-3 lead for the first time in the game.
After forcing an extra end, the Scots placed their front guards too close together, and with her last stone Portunova delivered a perfect nosehit on a Scottish stone sitting at the front of the house for the one point needed to complete the win. "We had been playing well all week, but just weren't firing as well in the final as we have been. I think overall we deserved to win, but we just didn't show it in the final," said Fleming.
Canada won the men's bronze medals, beating Sweden by 6-4, while Japan took women's bronze, beating fellow losing semi-finalists Czech Republic 8-4 .
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