Holly Wilkie-Milne: The tears of joy and unmatched feeling of winning the World Junior Curling Championships

Holly Wilkie-Milne was seven when she first started to acquaint herself with the ice down at the Dewars Centre.

The main mission as a young kid from Perth was to become competent in the sport - enjoy it of course - and simply reach the status of being a “good” curler.

There would be knowledge of the older generation who shared the same facility. Those who had moved on to play in the Winter Olympics, consolidated their position as legends of the game and been crowned world champions along the way.

That kind of stuff never really crossed the mind of former Perth Academy student Wilkie-Milne.

But any sort of dream she may have held certainly became reality last Saturday morning when, representing Scotland with Team Henderson, she won World Junior Curling Championships gold.

“I started curling at Perth when I was seven and was with the Perth Junior Curling club for years, alongside Laura, my now team-mate,” said Wilkie-Milne (19).

“I remember watching the older kids when I first started - among them was Olympic champion Mili Smith - and hoping that one day I’d turn out to be a good curler too. But having a world title would never have crossed my mind.”

It would be fair to say from Wilkie-Milne’s reaction, both immediately on the ice after the 9-7 triumph over Japan and when quizzed by this reporter, that the achievement of becoming a master of her craft will take a while to sink in.

“It hasn’t fully sunk in yet, even with the medal around my neck,” she laughed.

“Our entire season had built up to this event. To even get to the gold medal match was unreal - but to win and be named World Junior champions is just amazing. I can hardly imagine a better feeling.

“Being named World Junior champion is the biggest accolade in junior