Aileen Neilson

Neilson comes from a family that curls, so it was only natural for the talent to trickle down to her.

She was instrumental in bringing Scotland to the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games, where they competed as Great Britain but were unable to progress beyond the round-robin matches.

However she returns to skip Scotland at their home 2019 World Championship in Stirling, where they hope to better their bronze medal from 2017.

Reaching the 2017 Worlds was a sign of changing times for the programme. Neilson skipped Scotland out of the World Championship B-Pool into the A-Pool. With changes to coaches and a return to basics in curling, along with Neilson remaining as team skip, Scotland fought their way to the World Championship bronze medal and secured qualification for PyeongChang 2018. It was her third Paralympics as team skip.

Neilson first tried the sport at 15 years old, but it was not until 2005 that she started playing competitively. She attended the 2005 World Championship held in Glasgow, where Scotland won the gold medal. It was then that she realised she would rather play than be a spectator.

Part of the team that won bronze at the 2007 Worlds, Neilson was later handed skip duties and helped guide Scotland to the final at the 2011 World Championship. But her side had to settle for silver against Canada.