Scotland’s new golden girls are revelling in their success after their first title win at a major championship, after beating defending champions and reigning Olympic champions Team Hasselborg from Sweden in Saturday’s final.
While skip Eve Muirhead was winning her third European Championship and her 10th medal in all in 13 appearances at the event, it was a first ever European gold for all of her teammates, Vicky Wright, Jen Dodds, Hailey Duff and their alternate Mili Smith. 
For Duff it was an even more remarkable achievement because she was making her debut at a major championship, but the newcomer lead performed like a veteran as, playing lead, she consistently set up ends for her more experienced colleagues.
“I’m just so happy and really excited,” said Duff.
“I couldn’t have done it with a better bunch of girls. We performed to a really high standard all week and I’m really pleased that we managed to continue that and bring it into the final.”
Vice skip Wright had been Team Muirhead’s lead when they lost to the same Swedish line-up in 2019 as they were facing this time around, which made the outcome all the more satisfying and she urged the team to carry this momentum into the forthcoming Olympic Qualifying Event (OQE) in the Netherlands.
“After losing in the final at the Europeans it was great to be out there and show Sweden what we’re made of and get them back. It’s been such a great week for us. We’ve learned lots and lots about each other and we need to take this into the OQE next week,” said Wright.
It was Dodds who gave notice of the players’ resilience at the end of last season when she recovered from the disappointment of being part of the Scotland team that missed out on qualification for the Winter Olympics in Beijing, by teaming up with Bruce Mouat to become Scotland’s first ever mixed doubles World champions just a few weeks later.
That performance at the Women’s World Championships last season led to British Curling introducing an innovative nine-player squad system which saw players tried out in different positions and combinations throughout the early part of this season and Dodds reckoned they should take confidence from the way they have responded to that challenge.
“We have fought our way to be here, grinding back up after the ladies World Championships last season, going into the squad system, having to fight for places,” she said.
“I’m just so proud of all the girls just showing exactly what we’re made of. We’ve had so much fun this past week and that was the main thing, to go out and have fun, so let’s just keep it rolling.”
Scotland Team
Eve Muirhead
Vicky Wright
Jen Dodds
Hailey Duff
Mili Smith
WCF/Celine Stucki & Steve Seixeiro
