Just weeks after being formed,Team Muirhead completed a magnificent week’s work at the Le Gruyere AOP European Curling Championships when they out-played Sweden’s title holders and reigning Olympic champions to win the final 7-4 in Lillehammer. 
The Scottish quartet of Eve Muirhead, Vicky Wright, Jen Dodds and Hailey Duff had been the form team throughout the event, finishing top of the round-robin standings with an impressive record of eight wins and they put in another fine performance to clinch the title.
Their triumph was all the more remarkable because, after British Curling introduced an innovative nine-player squad system in the early part of this season, this was only their third tournament together. While they had won the previous two, their vastly experienced skip, who has been through a major hip operation since claiming her last major title at this event in 2017, admitted that even she was slightly surprised by how well they had performed.
“European champions again… that sounds amazing and it’s funny to think that a wee while back that I never thought that I would be top of the podium after my hip surgery and having been through a tough few months, but here we are, I’ve got my third gold medal,” said Muirhead.
As pleased as she was from her own perspective, however, it spoke volumes that her principal thoughts were for her teammates, including their alternate Mili Smith who had played in two of the round-robin matches, 
“To do it alongside Hailey and Mili when they are making their debuts at this level and Vicky and Jen who were winning their first gold medals, is something really special and I’m very very proud of them,” she said.
The Scots had started with the hammer, but began in slightly edgy fashion. Two narrow misses by Muirhead with attempted run backs allowed the Swedes to open with a steal and when, lying shot at the second end, the Scottish skip came up just short with an attempted draw for a second with only a tiny piece of the button available, so was forced to take just one, that last stone advantage had effectively been reversed.
The third end was blanked, but the Scots regained the upper hand after out-manoeuvring their opponents, taking a calculated gamble by leaving Anna Hasselborg, Sweden’s skip, with a high risk and reward chance of a raise for three or four shots which she was unable to pull off, leaving them with a steal of two.
They then began the second half with a 3-2 lead after Hasselborg failed with another opportunity at the fifth as she removed the two Scottish counting stones, but lost her shooter, so only scored one.
“To steal that two at the fourth, then manage to force them for one at the fifth was huge,” said Muirhead.
“I would say the fourth end turned the match.” 
The first two ends after the midway break were blanked and when the Swedes finally looked to be creating some pressure at the eighth, Jen Dodds played a clever clearing shot which removed two guards and the counting Swedish stone, leaving her shooter lying shot. That prompted Sweden to call a timeout and send for their Canadian coach Wayne Middaugh and while they subsequently managed to apply pressure, Muirhead produced two perfect draws on either hand to register the decisive two.
From there it was down to scoreboard management and they were happy to concede a two at the next end before Hasselborg’s last throw of the dice, an attempt to draw the button and hide behind guards, ran too far, leaving Muirhead a straightforward shot to wrap up the win.
As well as praising her teammates, Muirhead was keen to offer credit to the wider support they had received after what has been a challenging few months as they have battled to earn the chance to play in this event.
“Kristian (Lindstrom, their team coach) and Dave (Murdoch, the Olympic Head Coach) have been part of the team all week and we really have been a strong unit,” she said.
“It goes without saying that British Curling and the National Curling Academy have been a great help in getting us into this position. We’ve had so much great training in there and as much as sometimes you don’t want to go to practise, you don’t want to go to the gym, you don’t want to train, moments like this make it worth it all.”
While they were rightly celebrating their success, however, Muirhead knows that an even more important challenge awaits next month when they move on to the Olympic Qualifying Event in the Netherlands, where they are aiming to secure one of the last three places at the Winter Olympics in Beijing next year for Team GB. 
“I think we’ll look back and realise these are moments that don’t happen every day and we need to cherish and celebrate this moment, then maybe at the start of next week we need to then change our focus onto the Olympic qualifier, but for now, everyone’s just absolutely delighted, she said.
Scotland will now go for a double when the men’s final between Scotland’s Team Mouat and defending championships Sweden’s Team Edin takes place at 4.00pm (GMT) today.
Scotland Team
Eve Muirhead
Vicky Wright
Jen Dodds
Hailey Duff
Mili Smith
#curling #ECC2021
PHOTOS: WCF / CELINE STUCKI 
Schedule and Results
Saturday 20 November
W Scotland v Russia 7-4
M Scotland v Sweden 6-2
W Scotland v Denmark 8-2
Sunday 21 November
M Scotland v Finland 6-2
W Scotland v Sweden 8-5
M Scotland v Italy 10-5
Monday 22 November
W Scotland v Germany 9-5
M Scotland v Netherlands 9-2
W Scotland v Estonia 10-3
M Scotland v Germany 10-5
Tuesday 23 November
W Scotland v Italy 7-8
M Scotland v Denmark 9-8
W Scotland v Czech Republic 9-1
Wednesday 24 November
M Scotland v Switzerland 7-1
W Scotland v Switzerland 7-2
M Scotland v Czech Republic 10-5
Thursday 25 November
W Scotland v Turkey 9-4
M Scotland v Norway 8-3
W Semi Final Sweden v Russia 5-4
W Semi Final Scotland v Germany 7-4
Friday 26 November
M Semi Final Sweden v Italy 6-3
M Semi Final Scotland v Norway 9-3
W Bronze medal game Germany v Russia 9-6
Saturday 27 November
M Bronze medal game Italy v Norway 10-4
W Gold medal game Scotland v Sweden 7-4
M Gold medal game 4pm Scotland v Sweden
