Kyle Smith (curler)

Kyle Smith
Curler
Born	(1992-07-09) 9 July 1992 Perthshire, Scotland
Team
Curling club	St Martin's CC[1]
Skip	Kyle Smith
Third	Thomas Muirhead
Second	Kyle Waddell
Lead	Cammy Smith
Alternate	Glen Muirhead
Career
World Championship appearances	0
European Championship appearances	2 (2015, 2017)
Olympic appearances	1 (2018)
Medal record Curling Representing  Scotland European Curling Championships 2017 St Gallen World Junior Curling Championships 2013 Sochi 2014 Flims 2012 Östersund Representing  United Kingdom Winter Universiade 2013 Trentino 2015 Granada

Kyle Smith (born 9 July 1992) is a Scottish curler from Guildtown, Perthshire.^[2] He is a former World Junior Champion skip.

Junior career

Smith skipped Scotland in three straight World Junior Curling Championships, earning a podium finish in each tournament. At the 2012 World Junior Curling Championships he led his team of Thomas Muirhead, Kyle Waddell, Kerr Drummond and Hammy McMillan Jr. to a bronze medal finish. The team finished the round robin with a 7-2 record, but went on to lose to Norway in the 3 vs. 4 playoff game. However, they avenged this loss in the bronze medal game when they defeated the same Norwegian team to finish third. At the 2013 World Junior Curling Championships, he led teammates Muirhead, Waddell, brother^[3] Cameron and McMillan to a gold medal. The team topped the round robin table with an 8-1 record, and would go on to defeat Canada and Russia (skipped by Evgeny Arkhipov) in the final to claim the championships. Later in the year, Smith led Great Britain to a silver medal at the 2013 Winter Universiade (representing Scottish Agricultural College). Smith with teammates Muirhead, Waddell, Cameron Smith and Derrick Sloan would lose in the final to Sweden's Oskar Eriksson. Later in the season, at the 2014 World Junior Curling Championships, Smith led Muirhead, Waddell, Cameron Smith and Duncan Menzies to a silver medal. The team would finish the round robin in a four-way tie for second place with a 6-3 record. They then defeated Norway in their first playoff match, sending them to the final, where they lost to Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller, settling for silver.

Smith skipped Scotland at the 2014 European Mixed Curling Championship. He and teammates Hannah Fleming, Billy Morton and Alice Spence finished fourth.

In 2015, Smith again skipped the British team at the Winter Universiade. At the 2015 Winter Universiade, Smith, Grant Hardie, Muirhead, Alasdair Schreiber and Stuart Taylor, representing Scotland's Rural College would claim the bronze medal.

Men's career

Smith would play in his first international men's championship when he skipped Scotland at the 2015 European Curling Championships. There, he led Thomas Muirhead, Waddell, Cameron Smith and Glen Muirhead to a 5th-place finish.

On the World Curling Tour, Smith has four event wins to his credit, the 2015 Edinburgh International, the 2016 Oakville OCT Fall Classic,^[4] the 2016 Dumfries Challenger Series and the 2017 European Masters.

Over the course of the 2016-17 curling season, Team Smith played in four Grand Slam events, making it to the final of the 2016 GSOC Tour Challenge, where they lost to Niklas Edin. They also made it to the semifinals of the 2017 Players' Championship. In June 2017 it was announced that British Curling had selected Smith's rink to compete in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, after they were ranked as the top British team in the 2016-17 World Curling Tour.^[5]

The 2017-18 curling season would not be as successful for the Smith rink as the previous season. The team began the season by failing to qualify for the playoffs in the first two slams of the year. They found success at the 2017 European Curling Championships, where they went 6-3 after the round robin, and beat Switzerland's Peter de Cruz in the semifinal before losing to Sweden's Niklas Edin rink in the final, to win the silver medal. At the 2018 Winter Olympics, Smith led Team Great Britain to a 5-4 round robin record, putting them in a tiebreaker against Peter de Cruz of Switzerland. This time de Cruz would get the best of the Smith rink, advancing to the playoffs while Great Britain would have to settle for fifth place. After the Olympics, they faced off against Scottish champion Bruce Mouat and his team for the right to represent Scotland at the 2018 World Men's Curling Championship. Mouat won the event, and would go on to win a bronze medal. The Smith rink ended the season by making it to the quarterfinals of the 2018 Players' Championship. They did not win any tour events that season.

Personal life

Smith is the son of 1991 World champion David Smith^[6] and the nephew of curler Peter Smith.^[7] In addition to curling, Smith is a farmer.

Grand Slam record

References

External links

• Kyle Smith on the World Curling Federation database
• Kyle Smith on the World Curling Tour database
• Kyle Smith on the CurlingZone database