Winter Olympics 2026: What do curlers do when they’re not at the Games?

The ten Scottish players representing Team GB in Cortina are now professional athletes.

From the beginning of July until the end of April – when they are not competing somewhere in the world – they will report to the National Curling Academy in Stirling every weekday morning to start training at 08:00.

Each day includes two 2-hour ice sessions and one in the gym.

Over the course of the week, three of those exercises in the gym are strength-based and two are conditioning exercises. Most athletes will add another one on the weekend, just to keep themselves sane.

They are supervised – no sitting on a bench next to the weights while passing this set – and are designed specifically with the curling game in mind.

“We do Olympic weightlifting — cleans and jerks, snatches, squats, a lot,” says Hammy McMillan, captain of the men’s team. “And we use ski machines, rowers and assault bikes to really condition our bodies.”

“The numbers we put up, I don’t think people expected them,” adds Bobby Lammy, who along with McMillan is credited with changing the physicality expected of sweepers.

“It allowed us to separate ourselves a little bit from the rest of the world.”

The same can be said for the women’s game, where 2022 gold medalist Jane Dodds – one of the best players in the world with the brush – lifts just as much as some of the men.

“To be more fair than I am,” admits skip men’s deputy Grant Hardie.

“Jane is incredible in the gym,” adds Team GB women’s team skip Rebecca Morrison, who takes a slightly different view on physical work.

“You need a lot of core strength to stay upright on the ice,” she says.

“We may not be throwing ourselves off massive jumps or sliding down a track at 80 mph, but it’s a lot harder than people realize to even keep your balance.”

Add to that tactical and analytical sessions, meetings with sports psychologists, nutritionists and physiotherapists, and the days quickly become full.

In May and June, most of these demands disappear, but strength and conditioning work continues every weekday morning.

At some point during that period, a few weeks of vacation are allowed, but then the curlers go back to it.

“It’s a full-time, year-round job,” says BBC sports critic Vicky Wright, who won women’s Olympic gold in Beijing four years ago and is married to coach Greg Drummond.

“May and June are supposed to be your recovery time – and you’ll get a break at some point during those months – but you’ll never really get a break from it. You’re walking around 44 weeks a year easily.”