Some of the world’s finest curlers will begin their build-up to this season’s Winter Olympics when the first ever Euro Super Series event takes place in the National Curling Academy (NCA) in Stirling this week (31 August – 5 September).
Both the reigning men’s and women’s world champions, as well as the current women’s Olympic champions will all be in the line-up and the competition throws up the tantalising prospect of a re-match of this year’s World Men’s Championship final between the rinks led by Sweden’s Niklas Edin, who claimed the title for a record fifth time and Scotland’s Bruce Mouat, who went on to unprecedented success by winning Grand Slam titles on each of the following two weekends.
Both will have to come through the group stages if there is to be any chance of that happening, however, with the winners of the two six team pools going directly into the semi-finals, while the teams finishing in second and third places will contest quarter-finals in a bid to join them in the last four.
That men’s competition offers an opportunity for seven Scottish teams to pit themselves against top quality international competition, with World Championship bronze medallists Team de Cruz from Switzerland also taking part, as well as leading teams from Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
There is also a powerful overseas challenge in the women’s event with Sweden’s reigning Olympic champions Team Hasselborg and Switzerland’s world champions Team Tirinzoni topping the seeds in each of the qualifying groups. 
Added interest in the women’s event will be generated by the first test for British Curling’s new squad set-up within the elite women’s game which sees Rebecca Morrison skip GB Red and three-time Olympian Eve Muirhead skip GB Blue.
The Blue team also includes Jen Dodds, who comes into the new season as a world champion after winning the World Mixed Doubles Championship with Bruce Mouat in Aberdeen at the end of last season and she is looking forward to kicking off the new campaign up against top flight opposition, but with the full benefit of home advantage.
“We are fortunate that we have high calibre international teams coming into the NCA which is really good but like last year we are playing at home so it feels a bit like a combo of everything we did last year plus a bit more,” she said.
“You want to play your best wherever you are when you are competing against the best teams at the highest level, but because we train here every day and know the ice and know the stones that should play a part in the advantage here but the top teams get on top of these things very quickly so it will be very tight games in every draw.”
The British Curling squad felt they benefited hugely during lockdown from the availability of the NCA in providing high class facilities in which they were able to train despite the COVID restrictions and they are looking forward to showing those off to their rivals in the first major international event of its kind to be hosted there.
“We have spoken a lot to our fellow internationalists about what we have here and how we were able to train during lockdown with permission and exemptions so they will be intrigued to see what we have in this building,” said Dodds.
They are, however, also keen to put down a marker at the start of the new season.
“You always want that competitive experience against a high standard of field here, so we want to play well from the start,” she said.
“Some of these teams have already been selected for the Olympics in Beijing so we know this week from the get-go you will have to play the standard you are going to meet at the Olympics and also the Olympic qualification event so it is really good that we are getting that standard from our first competition.”
Dodds has come into the season in a good frame of mind after finishing the 2020/21 campaign in such style at the World Mixed Doubles, but she knows it is a clean slate this time around.
“The end of last season was a nice confidence boost to get that gold medal, but it is a new season and you know you have to do that all over again in the ladies and also in the mixed doubles, so that you have the confidence from being able to play those high standard and difficult shots in the moment when it matters most and we have to focus on the future and not what happened in the past,” she noted.
That is particularly the case in the women’s game where she is one of a group of players adjusting to a new set-up as, for the first time, British Curling’s women target the Winter Olympic qualifying competition in the first half of the season after missing out on automatic qualification at last year’s World Championships.
“We are in a nine person squad system this year and it has been really good,” said Dodds.
“I hadn’t played much with what was previously Team Aitken so it has been good to get to know how they play, getting communication going and keeping everything fresh. It has been really fun and I am looking forward to the week ahead.
“All nine of us want those five spots on the team for the Winter Olympic qualifying competition and we all know that we want it and we all want to perform well so we can show that we have earned that place in the team. It is going to be really tough as everyone has been playing really well even in the pre-season games so it will be tough to see who gets those five spots.”
GB Red are in the same pool as Hasselborg’s Olympic champions, while GB Blue will be up against Tirinzoni’s world champions at that stage.
“This week will put down a marker to start with. We are all in specific line-ups for this event and it will be interesting to see how those different combinations work together in the heat of the pressure of an international tournament,” said Dodds.
“Moving on from that again we will see how different combinations work moving forward and changing week-to-week is not easy, but everyone has adapted to that, everyone is on board with it and making it all work so we have developed a really tight unit as a nine.”
Another first at this new event will see British Curling providing live streaming from the event on the innovative Recast platform.
Two matches will be streamed per draw, every draw on each day of the event at the British Curling Recast Channel Link: https://share.recast.app/u/64jxA?referrer=64jxA
British Curling’s podium and podium potential women’s squad will be operating as two teams in the inaugural Euro Super Series:
GB Red GB Blue
Rebecca Morrison Eve Muirhead
Lauren Gray Gina Aitken
Jen Dodds Vicky Wright
Mili Smith Sophie Sinclair
Hailey Duff
To watch LIVE streamed matches from the ESS - British Curling Recast Channel: https://share.recast.app/u/64jxA?referrer=64jxA
Images:©PPA Graeme Hart.
