Whyte carries Olympic frustration into world title tilt

The Winter Olympics were a frustrating watch for Ross Whyte.

Not only did he have to share the pain of some of his closest friends and British Curling colleagues missing out on their dream of gold but he was also denied the chance to be there himself.

As the alternate for Team Mouat at the 2022 Games, he knows how it feels to stand on the podium with a silver medal around his neck.

But he also knows that his own Team Whyte would have been medal contenders themselves in Cortina in February had they been permitted to compete.

At the time, Scotland's second-best rink were ranked the third best in the world. Earlier in the season, only Team Mouat were above them.

Another Scottish rink, Team Waddell - whose skip, Kyle, took on Olympic alternate duties this time - are also in the top 10.

But rules dictating that each country can only enter one curling team in the Olympics stymied what would have been genuine Olympic medal hopes.

"It's hard to see other nations there when you know you're better than their team," Whyte told BBC Sport Scotland. "Some of them were potentially ranked about 20th in the world and, at the time, we were third.

"You see some podiums that have Norway or Germany one, two and three in a certain sport. But you're just sitting there at home.

"It's just it's strange that our sport is so different to any other in the Olympics."

Whyte and his rink of Robin Brydone, Euan Kyle and Craig Waddell will finally get their chance at the impending World Curling Championship, though.

With Team Mouat taking a break after the Olympics, victory over Team Waddell at the Scottish Championship in February confirmed their place in Ogden, Utah.

And Whyte concedes that they will travel to the United States with a bit of a point to prove.

"It's about going out there and showing everyone that we should be getting these chances," he says. "So there is a bit of pressure on us to show that selecting us would not be a risk the next time these decisions come around.

"Ultimately, we will find out at the end of the week whether we are right about that."

Although they have since dropped to fifth in the world - due to their inactivity and the recent performances of others - the Scots will be the second highest-ranked rink competing at the worlds, so they should be strong medal contenders.

A handful of the 10 Olympic teams will be in attendance too, but none of them hold any fears for Whyte and his colleagues.

"We will have a bit of a marker on our backs, being ranked second," he said. "But, if we can be consistent and build towards being top two in the round-robin, we'll be in good place.

"Obviously we're looking to be up there right at the end, but we'd be very excited with a medal. We'd love it to be gold, but it's our first opportunity, so lets have a really good week and see where that takes us."