Reigning Mixed Doubles World Champion Jen Dodds and former women’s World Championship winning skip Eve Muirhead have both been selected in the team that will represent Scotland at next month’s Le Gruyère AOP European Championships in Lillehammer (Nov 20-27).
The pair will be accompanied by Vicky Wright, their regular teammate of recent seasons, as well as Hailey Duff and Mili Smith, who will both be making their debut appearances at the event.
The quintet has come through a robust and challenging selection process that has seen nine players compete for places over the early part of this season, with line-ups repeatedly re-shuffled to provide opportunities and test team dynamics.
The innovative approach that was introduced to try to maximise the chances of a British women’s team joining Bruce Mouat’s men and the Mixed Doubles combination of Mouat and Dodds in earning Team GB qualification for next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing, was a new experience for all of them, including their vastly experienced skip. 
“I’m obviously absolutely delighted to get the selection again for the Europeans and hopefully on to the Olympic qualifier,” said Muirhead.
“It actually feels like a bit of a relief if I’m honest. It has been a very tough process for all of us. It’s been a bit of whirlwind.”
The 31-year-old believes that the way the British Curling programme has handled the selection process has been vindicated by the performances of all nine players who have reached a succession of finals at home and abroad since the beginning of this season.
“There’s been very good times and very tough times, but if you look at the results throughout the process they have been very positive from everybody,” she said.
“I think we’re capable of doing something very special as a team. We’ve got fantastic support staff behind us, we’ve got great facilities at the National Curling Academy to help us along the way, so we have to do what we can to make sure we’re in the best position to perform well and we’ll be making sure we do that.”
The two-time European Champion has enjoyed huge success down the years at a competition that holds a particular place in her affections, albeit she remains hungry for more.
“Personally, getting the chance to go back to the Europeans is really special,” said Muirhead.
“For me it’s an event that kind of kicked off my curling career when I first medalled there. I think I’ve got nine medals at Europeans, with only two of them being gold, so that’s something I want to keep pushing for.
“With this group of people and this team that we’ve put together I do believe that we’re good enough to do very well at the Europeans and to step on that podium, because we have a lot of potential.”
With the selection process now complete she is looking forward to working on the details that can make the difference within a group that claimed victory at The Masters in Basel last month and performed impressively on their only visit to Canada this season at the Autumn Gold Classic.
“Now that the team and coach (former World Men’s Champion Kristian Lindström) have been selected it makes it a little bit easier to dive into the small parts that make you a better team,” said Muirhead.
“We’re no longer all fighting for positions and are settled within our roles, so it’s just a case of really gelling as a team and we’re planning on doing a lot of that ahead of the Europeans.
“This is the team that had great success in Basel. We won that tournament and went through the A road in the Autumn Gold Classic in Calgary which is a top class event. So, we have a lot under our belts already, but I also believe we’ve got a lot more to come as well and a lot to give.” 
Dodds and Wright were teammates of Muirhead when they narrowly missed out on earning Olympic qualification by finishing outside the top six at last season’s Women’s World Championships.
However, the way Dodds bounced back to claim the World Mixed Doubles title with Mouat just a few weeks later was a demonstration of how quickly combinations can get things together in a relatively short space of time.
She is consequently the only British woman guaranteed a place at Beijing, but she is determined to match Mouat by competing in two events, as well as ensuring that Scotland will be represented in the top tier at next year’s World Championships, which will require a top seven finish in Lillehammer.
“Having the Olympic selection is really great and I am excited about representing Team GB but that is on ice just now as I really want to help us build towards getting the women to Beijing too,” said Dodds.
“Winning that World title was last season, though. This is a clean slate now and there is work to do at the Europeans to qualify for the Worlds, too.”
She feels that the high standard of play that was maintained throughout the nine player squad ahead of the European team selection bodes well for the challenges ahead.
“It definitely feels different being selected for the Euros from a squad system rather than as a team,” said Dodds.
“Everyone knew the selection was coming after we went to Calgary for the Autumn Gold Classic and everyone played very well, so we knew it was going to be a tough decision for the selectors.
“The results from those squad teams certainly gives us a lot of confidence from the get-go and what the squad experience has taught us is how we can really quickly develop things like communication and team dynamics which usually takes time but we can now see that you can fast-track this and there are lots of positives we can take away from this process.” 
She is also drawing confidence from her last appearance at a European Championship when she, Muirhead and Wright were all part of a team that reached the final.
“Without doubt it is exciting to be heading back to the Europeans where we won silver last time, so it feels great to be getting the chance to again,” said Dodds.
“We have a lot of confidence and belief in each other, we have five strong players who can make the shots and we know the standard will be high at the Europeans, so everyone will have to play at their best in order to be in the hunt for the medals.”
Team Scotland
Eve Muirhead
Vicky Wright
Jen Dodds
Hailey Duff
Mili Smith
