SOLID GOLD
Team sticks to game plan and wins Euro crown
Team Muirhead defeated Sweden to claim the title in St Gallen Picture: WCF/ Richard Gray Team Muirhead stunningly clinched gold at the European Curling Championships at the weekend to lift confidence ahead of the Winter Olympics in February.
Blair Atholl skip Eve Muirhead, alongside Anna Sloan, Vicki Adams and Lauren Gray, defeated Sweden 6-3 in a thrilling final in St Gallen, Switzerland.
A steal of a single at the ninth end proved crucial before the Scottish representatives kept their cool to leave Anna Hasselborg’s rink with no options in the last.
Delighted Eve said: “This is my eighth medal at the Europeans and I think my sixth final so to manage to get gold is really, really special and I must pay tribute to all of those who have worked so hard to make this happen.
“It is a team effort and they have made us such a strong unit and we have had excellent support from the bench too which makes a massive difference during a long week like this.
“We learnt a lot during the week and we were able to fine tune things. It was hard to walk away with bronze in 2016.
“It is tough at the top but we are like night and day compared to last year.
“All of that progress has contributed to this result and this puts us in an excellent place as we make our final preparations for the Winter Olympics next year at PyeongChang.
“As European champions, this is a terrific boost to us and puts down a marker to our rivals in South Korea next year.
“And also it shows that we are still building towards that goal and still improving – we are loving the challenges and will take them on as a team.”
Eve believes the recently opened national curling academy in Stirling is already helping to achieve success.
She said: “We have excellent coaches and Kelly our fifth has worked so hard behind the scenes for us.
“We are already seeing the benefits of having the national curling academy as our main training base for everything and that investment is making a real difference to elite curling in Scotland.”
Team Muirhead’s tactical coach Glenn Howard reckons great strides have been made compared to this time last year.
He said: “It was one hell of a game. I am very impressed with the girls and they really showed just how well they can play when they are up against a team like that.
“We had a few dodgy ends but then some exceptionally well played ends in the later stages and it was all about sticking to the processes and the game plan.
“It was a litmus test this week at the Euros indicating what we needed to do ahead of the Olympics.
“I would say they are head and shoulders above where they were last year at these champs and this is a great way for us to progress towards PyeongChang.”