Olympic silver medallists Team Mouat are looking to repeat the success they enjoyed on their previous two visits to the event as they seek to retain their Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championship title at the Oestersund Arena in Sweden.
Scotland will be defending both the men’s and women’s titles as competition takes place from 18-26 November, but will have new representatives in the women’s event as Team Morrison make their debut at this event together. 
After lifting the title in both 2018 and 2021 Team Mouat have their sights set on a hat-trick and their skip Bruce Mouat is looking forward to getting off to a good start on Saturday.
“We are really looking forward to getting going at the Europeans,” he said.
“Obviously we had great success in past years and we are hoping to get our season on to a good track here in Sweden.”
Having finished last season as the first Scots to win The Pintys Cup as the top performers across all Grand Slam events, their start to the new Olympic cycle has been somewhat hampered due to a broken hand suffered by Bobby Lammie, which prevented him from sweeping and forced line-up reshuffles.
However now they are back at full strength Mouat reckons this event is the perfect opportunity to rekindle some of the magic that has seen them maintain a consistent place in the top five of the world rankings, saying: “We have been playing alright this season, but it is nice to have Bobby fully back to full strength and able to sweep again, so we are hoping to re-create what we have done at the last two European Champs we have competed in.”
With the host nation’s representatives having won gold at the last two Olympic Championships, Mouat reckons they are in the perfect place to showcase world-class curling. 
“It is really nice to be in Sweden again. I have some fond memories having been here a few times for mixed doubles events, so it has always been a really welcoming country and we are excited to get on the ice and play some good curling,” Mouat said.
“The Swedes are known for their amazing talent with Niklas (Edin) and Anna (Hasselborg) both being Olympic Champions, so they have great competitors here and it is really nice for Sweden to host the Europeans this year.”
With substantial experience under his belt, Mouat knows this event could prove to be the toughest line-up yet they have faced at this event, despite Sweden’s Olympic champions missing their regular skip for this event due to injury.
“This European Champs will be a really competitive event,” he acknowledged.
“With lots of really on-form teams in Schwaller from Switzerland, Retornaz from Italy and Walstad from Norway and obviously Oskar Eriksson subbing for Niklas (Edin) at skip now for Sweden, we have some really strong teams in this field.
“We are also looking forward to playing Turkey and Spain, two countries we have not played at the European Champs before, so it will be really good to see what they have to offer after qualifying through the B Championships last year. 
“It is great to be here and we have settled in well with Mikey (coach Michael Goodfellow) and Kyle (alternate Kyle Waddell) who are with us for the first time at this championships, so we are raring to go as always.”
Scotland’s women will however be the first in action as skip Rebecca Morrison and teammates Gina Aitken, Sophie Jackson and Sophie Sinclair get their first Euro campaign underway tomorrow night.
They will be supported by Olympic gold medallist Hailey Duff, who was a member of last season’s title winning team and returns to the event as the travelling reserve (alternate).
“We’re so excited to be in Sweden and ready for our first European Championships together,” said Morrison.
“Everything has gone smoothly so far and things are looking good for us to all hit the ice together tomorrow against Turkey.”
With a number of changes to other line-ups in the field as well as representatives from Norway, Latvia and Hungary promoted to the Championships from last year’s B division, Morrison acknowledged there are plenty of challenges ahead and no room for complacency at this level.
“There are a lot of new line-ups going on with it being the start of a new Olympic cycle and some teams having temporary changes for the week so it’s going to be exciting to see how everyone weighs up against each other out there and maybe there’ll be some interesting results to go with that,” she said. 
“Whilst there are a few teams that have been newly promoted to the A division, a lot of these teams are familiar to the tour in Europe and so they are well known to everyone here and not to be underestimated. I think every year the standard seems to be rising and these teams will pose a real threat to any team.
“However, we can’t wait to get our kit on and represent Scotland this week. We have some high hopes and goals and are really looking forward to working hard to achieve these throughout the week.”
The European Championships qualify teams for next year’s World Curling Championships with the women’s event (LGT World Women’s Curling Championship 2023) also taking place in Sweden in March (18-26 March) and the men’s event (BKT Tires & OK Tire World Men’s Curling Championship) in Ottawa in April (1-9 April).
Scotland’s women start their campaign on the opening day against Turkey, while Scotland’s men kick off by facing Germany and Spain on the second day of action.
Men’s teams: Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Norway, Scotland, Spain (replacing Russia), Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.
Women’s teams: Denmark, Germany, Hungary (replacing Russia), Italy, Latvia, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey. 
Team Mouat
Bruce Mouat
Grant Hardie
BobbyLammie
Hammy McMillan
Kyle Waddell (alternate)
Coach: Michael Goodfellow
Team Morrison
Rebecca Morrison
Gina Aitken
Sophie Sinclair
Sophie Jackson
Hailey Duff (alternate)
Coach: Nancy Smith
WCF European Champs Results.
Watch games on Recast.
Schedule:
Friday 18 November
Women – session 1 20.00/19.00 GMT
Scotland v Turkey
Saturday 19 November
Men – session 1 09.00 /08.00 GMT
Scotland v Germany
Women – session 2 14.00/13.00 GMT
Scotland v Latvia
Men - session 2 19.00/18.00 GMT 
Scotland v Spain
Sunday 20 November
Women – session 3 – 09.00/08.00 GMT
Scotland v Italy
Men – session 3 – 14.00/13.00 GMT
Scotland v Sweden (broadcast game)*
Women – session 4 – 19.00/18.00 GMT
Scotland v Denmark
Monday 21 November
Men – session 4 – 08.00/07.00 GMT
Scotland v Czech Republic
Women – session 5 – 16.00/15.00 GMT
Scotland v Sweden
Men – session 5 -16.00/15.00 GMT
Scotland v Turkey
Women – session 6 – 20.00/19.00 GMT
Scotland v Germany
Tuesday 22 November
Men session 6 – 09.00/08.00 GMT
Scotland v Denmark
Women session 7 – 14.00/13.00 GMT
Scotland v Switzerland (broadcast game)*
Men session 7 – 19.00/18.00 GMT
Scotland v Norway
Wednesday 23 November
Women session 8 – 09.00/08.00 GMT
Scotland v Hungary
Men session 8 – 14.00/13.00 GMT
Scotland v Switzerland (broadcast game)*
Women session 9 – 19.00/18.00 GMT
Scotland v Norway
Thursday 24 November
Men session 9 – 08.00/07.00 GMT
Scotland v Italy
Women semi final 1 – 12.00/11.00 GMT (broadcast game)*
Women semi final 2 – 16.00/15.00 GMT (broadcast game)*
Men semi final 1- 20.00/19.00 GMT (broadcast game)*
Friday 25 November
Men semi final 2 – 09.00/08.00 GMT (broadcast game)*
Women bronze medal game – 14.00/13.00 GMT(broadcast game)*
Men bronze medal game – 19.00/18.00 GMT(broadcast game)*
Saturday 26 November
Women gold medal game 09.00/08.00 GMT(broadcast game)*
Men gold medal game 13.00/12.00 GMT(broadcast game)*
