CARSTAIRS -- The Russian curling team competing at the upcoming World Men's Championships has been practising at the Carstairs Curling Club.
Skip Sergey Glukhov and his team are staying in a motel in Didsbury and practising twice a day at the Carstairs rink in preparation for the Worlds, which goes March 30 to April 7 in Lethbridge.
Glukhov, who lives in Sochi, said they were enjoying their stay in Mountain View County. The curlers arrived on March 21 and will practise until March 27.
"It's very nice here," Glukhov told the Gazette. "There are some great places here. A lot of nature."
Glukhov said the ice was a little straight and the rocks didn't curl much but he was glad for them to get the chance to get some practice in before facing the world's best curlers in Lethbridge.
"We want to qualify, that would be a good result for us," he said. "We definitely want to finish in the upper half."
Craig Vatcher, communications director for the Carstairs club, said he received an email from the Russian team and they were able to set up some times.
"They found my email off our website I assume," said Vatcher. "They asked if we had ice available and we did. I can't confirm but my guess is not a lot of clubs have ice at this time because of year-end wrap-ups for lots of leagues and bonspiels for many places.
"We happened to have a soft booking for this weekend so it worked out."
Vatcher said it was a pretty cool opportunity for local curlers and curling fans to see one of the world's top teams at work with the practices being open to the public.
Joining Glukhov on Team Russia are third Artur Ali, second Dmitry Mironov and lead Anton Kalalb. The team is coached by Alexander Kozyrev.
Representing Canada at the Worlds will be the Kevin Koe rink, which participated in a curling clinic in Didsbury in January. The Koe rink curls out of the Glencoe Club in Calgary.
Koe's team advanced to the world championship after winning the 2019 Tim Hortons Brier earlier this month in Brandon, Man.
Canada opens up play against Korea, while Russia faces Scotland, both at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 30.
