Cleared curler out of Einarson lineup
Canadian curling athlete Briane Harris, recently cleared following a doping suspension, received news this week that her team is leaving her out of the four-player starting lineup at next month’s Canadian women’s team championship.
“To maintain consistency and after careful consideration, we will remain with the lineup we competed with at the Grand Slam of Curling Masters this past week,” Team Einarson said in a Friday statement.
The statement lists skip Kerri Einarson, third Val Sweeting, new second Karlee Burgess and lead (and former alternate) Krysten Karwacki.
The statement goes on to “reiterate happiness” at Harris’ recent clearance from an 11-month provisional doping suspension, but states that “due to the uncertainty of not knowing the timing and final result of Briane’s appeal, we had locked in our fifth player for the Scotties before hearing her news.”
“We will be announcing our fifth player in the coming days.”
The statement appears to also leave Harris out of consideration for the team’s alternate player spot at the Tournament of Hearts, which runs Feb. 14-23 at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ont.
In a recent interview with TCN editor George Karrys, Harris spoke of her desire to return to Team Einarson following her wrenching experience on the sidelines.
“I feel really good and I think I could (compete) if I was given the chance,” Harris said. “But it’s ultimately what’s best for the team and what they think is best going forward.
“If I had an opportunity to be part of the team again for this year, I would totally take it and I would be very excited … and over the moon. But yeah, we have to have some conversations when they get back from the Slam and figure out what’s best going forward.”
Harris, who also spoke of the support she received during her time away from the sport, even joked with Karrys about the strangeness her limbo status with the team over those months.
“Yeah, it’s weird,” Harris said.
“It was weird, thinking ‘I’m on the team but I’m not’ … it was a weird position to be in… it’s so weird.”
Harris won four consecutive STOH titles with Team Einarson from 2020 through 2023.