Laura Walker to sub on Team Einarson at PointsBet Invitational
Team Kerri Einarson will have Laura Walker filling in for second Shannon Birchard for next week’s PointsBet Invitational in Calgary.
Birchard is taking some time off to recover from a knee injury, the Gimli, Man., team said Tuesday.
“Curling Canada has provided us with an injury leave for our team allowing us to have a spare in Shannon’s place for the event,” the team said. “With that, we are excited to announce that Laura Walker will be competing in the 2024 PointsBet Invitational with us.”
Walker, from Edmonton, has competed at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts four times and skipped Alberta to the bronze medal in 2021. She stepped back from women’s curling in 2022 to focus on mixed doubles.
Walker and Kirk Muyres earned silver medals at the Canadian mixed doubles championship last season. She has also spared on other teams including Kaitlyn Lawes’ Wild Card squad at the 2023 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
The PointsBet Invitational runs Sept. 25-29 at the WinSport Event Centre. Einarson is seeded third in the knockout tournament and is set to face 14th-seeded Team Allyson MacNutt in the first round.