Eve Muirhead and Bobby Lammie tightened their grip on top spot in Group B at the World Mixed Doubles Championship in Geneva when they handed the USA a crushing defeat in the second of their matches on day four to establish themselves as the only remaining unbeaten team in the competition.
The Americans had also begun the day unbeaten, but their loss to England while the Scots were beating Germany in the morning session had left Muirhead and Lammie clear at the top of Group B and ahead of their second match of the day the only 100% record in Group A ended when Italy were beaten by Sweden.
As has been the case throughout most of the competition, they eased their way into the match against the USA after winning the hammer at the pre-match last stone draw challenge, exchanging singles at the first two ends. 
However, they claimed the first multiple score of the match with a two at the third end, then stole two more at the fourth to take a 5-1 lead into the midway break and when they repeated that after their opponents opted to take their powerplay as the second half got underway, the Hamiltons asked officials if they could concede at that point.
While they were facing what looked like an unassailable deficit, they were told that championship rules means they had to complete at least six of the scheduled eight ends and while Becca Hamilton produced a fine promotion shot to win the end for her team they promptly shook hands at that point.
“They wanted to shake hands after five ends and so did we to be honest, but you have to play six here,” Lammie explained.
“We both felt pretty confident that the game was just about done by then. We just needed to make our shots relatively good in the sixth end and force them to no more than two and we were pretty confident that would be that.
“We managed to force them into a very difficult shot with their last stone and they got their one, but that was still enough to close the game out and we’re pleased that we kept our concentration throughout the whole game and we’re delighted with the win.”
As they seek to defend the title won for Scotland last year by their regular teammates Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat they are demonstrating the growing depth within the domestic game and Lammie, who won an Olympic silver medal as part of Team Mouat in February, reckoned they were sending the right message to the rest of the 20 strong field in Geneva.
“I think it sends out a pretty strong statement that we’re the only undefeated team at this stage,” he said.
“It shows the level we’ve been playing at with pretty strong performances in just about every game, so we feel like we’re getting a lot of momentum going and we’re in a good place.”
“We’ve got good head-to-head records with the teams that are closest to us, so we feel like we’re in a good spot now and we’re looking to close it out in the last three games.”
As he observed, their chances of finishing top of the table are enhanced by having beaten both Canada and the USA, who share second place in the Group, but they are in no mood to relax as Olympic champion skip Muirhead made clear.
“We’ve just got one game tomorrow against Hungary and it’s important that we keep up our good play and keep the momentum going,” she said.
“Obviously we’re playing now for ranking and we want that top spot and that puts us in a good position.
“We don’t want to ease up at this stage, but we don’t have to keep one another up for the game, it’s just a case of carrying on what we’re doing.
“We’re both enjoying it, so if we just keep making a lot of shots we won’t be far away.”
Scotland Mixed Doubles Team
Eve Muirhead
Bobby Lammie
Broadcast games will be shown on The Curling Channel in partnership with Recast.
Friday 29 April - Qualifier 1 (TSN1, RDS, Peacock and Olympic Channel). Qualifier 2 (TSN1, RDS, Peacock and Olympic Channel), Semi-final 1 (TSN1/4, RDS, Peacock and Olympic Channel), Semi-final 2 (TSN4, RDS, Peacock and Olympic Channel)
Saturday 30 April - Bronze medal game (TSN1, RDS, Peacock and Olympic Channel), Gold medal game (Swiss TV, TSN1, RDS, Peacock and Olympic Channel)
Schedule for World Mixed Doubles Championships 23-30 April – Geneva, Switzerland
Saturday 23 April
Scotland – England 8-3
Sunday 24 April
Scotland – Australia 9-4
Scotland – Czech Republic 9-3
Monday 25 April
Scotland – Canada 8-4
Tuesday 26 April
Scotland – Germany 8-4
Scotland – USA 7-2
Wednesday 27 April
Scotland - Hungary
Thursday 28 April
Scotland – Turkey
Scotland - Spain
Friday 29 April
Qualification game A2 – B3
Qualification game B2 – A3
Semi final B1-A2/B3
Semi final A1 – B2/A3
Saturday 30 April
Bronze medal game
Gold medal game
#curling #WMDCC2022
