She was reunited with her former skip last weekend as they received the latest honour that has followed their Olympic gold medal winning triumph, but Hailey Duff’s focus is now on ensuring that Eve Muirhead does not make a winning return to action when the Euro Super Series (ESS) takes place next week (17-20 August).
Along with fellow golden girls Jen Dodds and Mili Smith, the pair attended a ceremony which saw them granted the Freedom of the City of Perth last weekend. 
However, at this season’s opening event in the National Curling Academy in Stirling, Duff’s team will be the first to meet Switzerland’s Team Jaeggi, who have persuaded Muirhead to come out of retirement as an emergency replacement.
“It is really exciting,” said Duff, who remains full of respect for the four-time Olympian who steered their rink to victory in Beijing last year.
“I did ask Eve what position she would be playing to see if I would be going direct head to head with her, but she is not sure yet.
“We saw each other on ice last season as we were both playing in Perth Super League, so we were playing on ice next to each other.
“She was playing with her brothers and still making all the shots as always, so I am pretty certain she will be a great asset to Team Jaeggi and we’re really looking forward to it… bring it on!
“It will be a really fun game, a good one to settle in and good to have that little bit more competition for me personally, just because I know Eve is there. 
“It would be just great to beat her and have one up, so that will be a really great game.”
As they head into the new season, Duff believes that she and teammates Fay Henderson, the reigning World Junior Champion skip, Amy MacDonald and Katie McMillan are shaping up well for the challenges to come.
“Training has been really good, with a new team which is progressing well,” she said.
“We’ve been working out everyone’s roles and playing around with line-ups and working out each other’s strengths, so pre-season has been going well.
“I think ESS will be a great start to see where we are at with a new team and then we can build from that as our second event together will be Oslo, two weeks after ESS.
“We feel like we are doing a lot of good work, but you never know until you get into a competition environment how it will all hold up and how the team supports each other.”
From a personal perspective she received a substantial, if slightly bewildering boost ahead of the 2023/24 campaign with the latest award presented to the 2022 Olympic champions.
“Being granted the Freedom of City of Perth was definitely an unexpected surprise,” said Duff.
“I didn’t know that was a thing, so when we got an email about this a while ago to say it was going to the council to be decided upon and then they came back to say it was a unanimous decision to be granted it, was really exciting.
“We stood at the end of the High Street with the Provost and watched the parade, so it was a much bigger event than I anticipated.
“Perth and Kinross Council put on a really great show, they had pipe bands, dancers, music, Brazilian dancers, lots of clubs and groups and lots of spectators despite the rain.
“It was originally meant to take place last year but it was postponed.
“It is not easy getting all of us in one place at one time now, so it was great to have our team together again, although we were missing Vicky (Drummond – née Wright).
“With Jen and I being so busy with training now and Mili and Eve focusing on their respective careers and very busy too, it was great we could do it.
“It made up for the fact we could not all be together when we got our MBE’s and it was just lovely to have this chance to chat about what everyone is up to and things like that.”
She is, however, still trying to work out how to take full advantages of the benefits her new status brings.
“The Freedom of the City allows us to graze our sheep on the North Inch, so not something that I had thought about doing but I am now tempted to see if I can borrow some sheep from someone to give it a go,” laughed Duff.
Games from the ESS event will be live streamed on the Recast channel.
Please click here for the ESS draw.
We are also keen to hear from anyone who would like to volunteer at our British Curling international events that we will stage at the National Curling Academy in the 2023-24 season. Please get in touch: events@britishcurling.org.uk
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Image: Team GB / David Pearce.
