Just days after claiming her first title win of the season, Eve Muirhead will be back in Switzerland this weekend looking to build on that success at The Women’s Masters Basel (1-3 October), one of the most prestigious European events on the annual calendar.
In keeping with the selection strategy implemented in the early part of this crucial season to assess British Curling’s nine player women’s squad fully, she will lead a different line-up from the quartet that won The Challenger event at the same venue in Basel, however.
The three-time Olympian was in familiar company last weekend as she was accompanied by her regular teammates of recent years Vicky Wright and World Mixed Doubles champion Jen Dodds as well as Hailey Duff. 
However, this time around Wright and Dodds will be playing with Rebecca Morrison, who won the only tournament at which she has skipped this season at the Euro Super Series in Stirling, along with Sophie Sinclair.
Muirhead and Duff will meanwhile be part of a five-player group with Gina Aitken, Lauren Gray and Mili Smith, but after a few days training back at the National Curling Academy in Stirling, the former world champion skip is still confident of being able to feed off last weekend’s form.
“It’s always nice to head back to a country where you recently enjoyed success and when that was just last weekend it makes it nice to return there with a lot of happy memories from winning,” she said.
She is expecting the quality of play to be extremely high once again with several of the world’s leading teams challenging for the title.
“This weekend’s going to be a slightly larger field, including the world champs and the current Olympic champs again, but also teams from the likes of Korea and Russia this time, so it’s a world class event, a world class field and it will be another world class competition,” said Muirhead.
“We’re really looking forward to taking on these teams because we know that with the Europeans not far away, for whatever five athletes from within the squad who go there, they will be taking on the majority of these teams. So, it’s a great chance to build a bit of momentum and some focus and performance before those championships.”
She admits that the constant re-shuffling of line-ups presents challenges of its own, but continues to recognise the benefits for the squad as a whole.
“Both teams are a new combination of players, so it’s a chance for us to re-set and re-start again and go from there,” said Muirhead.
“Of course, it’s always difficult when it’s a complete reshuffle, but that’s what the coaches have decided to do and what they want to see happening, so as an individual I just need to keep building on what I’ve done for the previous competitions and keep focusing on doing the best I can to help teammates. That also helps my performance and we just look to go from there.”
Morrison is similarly looking to feed off a start to the season that has seen the British Curling teams perform well throughout, with just a single failure to achieve a podium finish from six starts at the three events they have contested. 
“We’re feeling really good and excited about the weekend ahead,” she said.
“We’ve had a lot of success in recent weeks so feeling very confident.”
She believes the experience gained so recently will stand them in good stead in Basel as the deadline for selection for the forthcoming European Championships draws ever closer.
“It has been great to have been to the venue already last weekend to get more familiar with the facility and the ice conditions, so to have that heads up ahead of what will be a bigger event this weekend will be really useful,” she said.
“We played against the Olympic and World Champs last weekend so we have every faith in our teams as we have all enjoyed success so far this season and we want to keep that going.
“The pressure of wanting to be selected comes and goes, but right now our focus is on one event at a time so that has our sights firmly set on what happens this weekend.”
A third British Curling team skipped by Beth Farmer will be in action at the Masters, while Team Henderson is also competing on the continent, looking to build on their excellent start to the season that has brought titles at a European Junior Curling Tour event in Switzerland and then the Asham U21 Series at Greenacres.
“This weekend we’re heading out to Prague and none of us have competed there before so that’ll be a new experience,” said their skip Fay Henderson.
“We’re hoping to use the momentum we’ve built to have another good weekend. Obviously, any competition that you go to you’re always there to win, but we’ve set some small targets as well so that along the way we do have the chance of success no matter the final result.”
The wins they have claimed so far have been a significant boost towards their main target for the season.
“As a team we need to stick together, because we’ve all got the shared goal of playing at the World Juniors and that helps really drive performance and build a bit of momentum within the team that we can really start to build on,” said Henderson. 
“The wins give us a good base and we’re all really driven, so a few more results abroad will just give us the confidence for that.”
Women’s Masters Basel Results
European Junior Curling Tour (EJCT) Prague Junior Cup Results
Team Red (Aitken)
Rebecca Morrison
Vicky Wright
Jen Dodds
Sophie Sinclair
Team Blue (Muirhead)
Eve Muirhead
Gina Aitken
Lauren Gray
Mili Smith
Hailey Duff
Team Farmer
Beth Farmer
Sophie Jackson
Kirstin Bousie
Emma Barr
Team Henderson
Fay Henderson
Katie McMillan
Lisa Davie
Holly Wilkie-Milne
