Hammy hopes for Olympic gold to complete the set!

THE countdown for the Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina is well and truly on. Team Mouat – including Dumfries’ Grant Hardie and Wigtownshire’s Hammy McMillan and Bobby Lammie – hope to go one better this time round after they earned a silver medal four years ago in China. And Stranraer-born curler McMillan hopes to follow in the footsteps of his dad Hammy Sr and clinch gold to complete the set. McMillan said: “It’s the only medal that we don’t have in our arsenal. We have Europeans, Worlds, Grand Slam titles and an Olympic silver but no Olympic gold. “To go back again and hopefully stand on the top of podium, I couldn’t be happier if that happens.” Meanwhile, Dumfries curler Sophie Jackson will make her Olympic bow at Milano Cortina with a wealth of experience under her belt. The 29-year-old is one of four first-time Olympians in Team GB’s women’s curling squad for Milano Cortina, along with Rebecca Morrison, Sophie Sinclair and Fay Henderson. In their rink, only Beijing 2022 gold medallist Jennifer Dodds has been to a Games before. That Jackson will also be skip is extra special. She only replaced Morrison in the leadership role a year ago, and the rink still brand themselves Team Morrison despite the switch. But Jackson explains: “Just because we changed how our line-up runs, we didn’t really see a need for a change in identity. “We are still the same four. There is no one strong leader. It doesn’t really matter to us too much whose name is on the scoreboard.”