Briane Harris ban lifted: How does that affect curling's Team Einarson?
With Harris likely returning to the team in the near future, decisions need to be made
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The decisions keep on coming for Kerri Einarson and her Manitoba team.
On Tuesday, they learned longtime lead Briane Harris had her provisional suspension for an anti-doping rule violation lifted “with immediate effect” by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
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Briane Harris ban lifted: How does that affect curling's Team Einarson? Back to video
The court found she bears “no fault or negligence” in the matter that has cost the star Canadian curler 10-plus months of participation with the world-class team.
“After what had to have unimaginable stress on Briane and her family, we’re so happy and relieved to see Briane’s case resolved today,” said Team Einarson in a statement Tuesday. “It has been a difficult 11 months for all of us not knowing what was going to happen, so we’re thankful that we can all move forward with some clarity.”
The Winnipeg athlete tested positive for trace amounts of the prohibited substance Ligandrol on Jan. 24 — hours before the 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts was set to open in Calgary. The results came after she was subject to an out-of-competition doping control test taken Feb. 15.
Harris hasn’t curled since, with the provisional ban keeping her from competing, training and even interacting with her rinkmates and coach Reid Carruthers.
“I cannot put into words how happy and relieved I am feeling right now,” Harris told The Canadian Press. “I have been shaking all morning since receiving the news that I thought would never come. I am exonerated, and it feels so incredibly amazing.
“I am so excited to play the sport I love again, and I can’t wait to do so.”
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What does this mean for Team Einarson?
Krysten Karwacki, a longtime alternate for Team Einarson, stepped in for Harris at lead for last year’s Scotties and has since pulled her weight, earning a first-team all-star nod at the national championship last February.
But with Harris likely returning to the team in the near future, decisions need to be made by the decorated team.
The lift of the suspension comes amid Team Einarson’s participation in the Grand Slam of Curling’s World Financial Group Masters, which began Tuesday morning and was deemed as a trial run for the team with new second Karlee Burgess in place.
Burgess, 26, is in for Einarson’s injured all-star second, Shannon Birchard.
“This week, we are treating the WFG Masters Grand Slam event in Guelph as a team dress rehearsal for the Scotties Tournament of Hearts with the lineup we announced earlier this month,” said the Team Einarson statement. “Once this event is done, and after we assess where we’re at, we will sit down as a team for further discussions.
“We will have no further comment on today’s announcement until then.”
Karwacki could be asked to step back into an alternate’s role.
After all, the lineup of Einarson, third Val Sweeting, Birchard and Harris won four straight Canadian titles, so their success together is as unmatched as it gets on the national curling landscape.
But that depends on whether Harris and/or her team feels she is ready to return to full-time lead duties and if the team wants to again reshuffle its lineup after adding Burgess earlier this month.
The Scotties are, after all, only four weeks away.
Harris could also slot in as the alternate for the team at the national championship, so that she can ease her way back into competitive curling mode.
Stay tuned on all that.
The Harris situation?
Ligandrol is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances because of its performance-enhancing properties.
The 32-year-old Harris claimed she was unwittingly exposed to the drug via bodily contact.
Then her B-sample returned positive in March and a hearing with the Switzerland-based CAS was held Aug. 23.
An appeal from Harris and her counsel, sports lawyers Amanda Fowler and Emir Crowne, then followed, with the curler arguing she did not know or suspect her husband had been ingesting Ligandrol or that any intimate contact would cause her to be exposed to the drug.
“The testimonies provided by the athlete and her husband were credible and demonstrated that the athlete was unaware of her husband’s use of Ligandrol and her exposure to the substance,” the document said.
It took many months, but Harris’ counsel received the CAS statement overturning the ban Tuesday morning.
“We are very pleased with the outcome of Briane’s case,” said Fowler in an email to Postmedia. “More importantly, we are thrilled that Briane is now able to move forward and re-join her team in competition.”
How has it been for Einarson and Sweeting?
The curveballs just keep coming at Einarson & Co.
“Yeah … it definitely seems that way,” said the decorated skip.
“We’re currently curling with 50 per cent of our curling team that we’ve had together for the last seven years. So it’s, for sure, been difficult to lose both of our front-end players.”
Indeed, Birchard has been sidelined by an undiagnosed knee injury for most of this curling campaign, so the team turned to Burgess — inviting the Team Chelsea Carey third to join them — to replace Birchard.
Burgess accepted, giving them a full squad heading into the stretch drive for the Scotties, Feb. 14-23 in Thunder Bay, Ont.
“We’ve had everything thrown at us and can’t seem to catch a break,” said Einarson, ahead of the WFG Masters. “But I think we finally maybe caught one getting Karlee. So we’re really excited about that.”
Getting Harris back can be considered another break for the squad.
Along the way, Einarson and Sweeting have managed to limit the damage with talent filling in for Harris and Birchard out of commission.
“Yeah … it just shows our resilience and how determined we are to have success, even though we only have our original two players,” added Einarson. “So … yeah … we’re just going with the flow. And we’re just trying to keep it light out there and not put so much pressure on ourselves. And I think that’s what’s been huge, too.”
Day 1 at WFG Masters
Einarson opened the Masters on Tuesday with a 10-1 downing of Calgary’s Kayla Skrlik in Guelph, Ont.
The first day concluded with Newfoundland and Labrador’s Brad Gushue dropping a 7-6 contest to Norway’s Magnus Ramsfjell. The evening draw also saw Manitoba’s Matt Dunstone edge Italy’s Joël Retornaz 6-5, Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller defeat Saskatchewan’s Rylan Kleiter 10-2 and Germany’s Marc Muskatewitz down Scotland’s Ross Whyte 5-3.
Also on opening day, it was: Ikue Kitazawa 6, Gim Eun-ji 4; Anna Hasselborg 7, Stephania Constantini 6; Silvana Tirinzoni 4, Danielle Inglis 2; Kim Eun-jung 5, Xenia Schwaller 1; Korey Dropkin 8, Mike McEwen 3; Bruce Mouat 4, Jordon McDonald 2; Brad Jacobs 5, John Epping 3; Marco Hoesli 10, Niklas Edin 2; Rachel Homan 7, Ha Seung-youn 4; Momoha Tabata 5, Satsuki Fujisawa 3; and Kaitlyn Lawes 9, Isabella Wrana 2.
Wednesday’s second day of the Masters features draws at 8 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
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