Just two days after Christmas four pairings from British Curling’s Olympic programme are back in competitive action this weekend at the Gothenburg Mixed Doubles Cup.
The teams were immediately into action after making the trip with three former world champions among the Scottish contingent 2021 winners Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat, as well as 2022 winner Bobby Lammie, who is now playing with Rebecca Morrison, while last season’s Scottish champions Sophie Jackson and Duncan McFazean and Grant Hardie, a men’s world championship winner with Mouat and Lammie in 2023, teaming up once again with former junior world champion Fay Henderson.
The quality of the field is exemplified by Jackson and McFadzean, who narrowly missed out in the final as they defended their Scottish title last week, finding themselves in the same qualifying group as Estonia’s world number one ranked Mari Kaldvee and Harri Lill, as well as 2018 women’s Olympic champion Anna Hasselborg and 2022 men’s Olympic champion Oscar Eriksson, who are defending the title they won last year.
However, the Scottish contingent are all in fine form with the Dodds/Mouat and Morrison/Lammie combinations both winning titles in Switzerland in October, while Jackson and McFadzean demonstrated their consistency in making it to the semi-finals in both.
That they were beaten in last weekend’s Scottish Championships final by the newly formed combination of Sophie Sinclair and Robin Brydone only underlined the strength in depth in the British Curling programme and there is consequently confidence within the group that made the trip across the North Sea, as well as intense internal competition for places as selection for this season’s World Championship looms.
“We had another good run at the Scottish Mixed Doubles Champs this season, making our third consecutive final so we feel really confident about the form we’re in right now,” said Jackson.
“The mixed doubles programme teams, along with Sophie and Robin, have all produced strong results this season so we know that the field is really tight for selection for the world champs later this season.
“Gothenburg has a great strength of field so will put us all to the test this weekend and we will be doing our best to put ourselves in a strong place come the end of the weekend.”
Sophie Jackson /Duncan McFadzean
Jen Dodds / Bruce Mouat
Rebecca Morrison /Bobby Lammie
Fay Henderson /Grant Hardie
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Images: PPA / Graeme Hart
