Eve looking for solid showing on world stage
Perthshire curler Eve Muirhead has jetted out to Canada for a crack at the Women’s World Championships crown.
The Blair Atholl skip is set to lead her team of Lauren Gray, Jen Dodds and Vicky Wright into battle in Prince George this weekend.
Running through until Sunday, March 22 at the CN Centre, the Scots are included in a strong line-up of teams.
Muirhead, who won European silver earlier in the season, returns to the world championships for a ninth time having missed out last year.
And she was determined to put on a solid showing ahead of her first round-robin game against hosts Canada on Saturday.
This will be the 41st world women’s event to be staged, with the first held in Perth back in 1979.
“It’s exciting to be heading back to the world champs again,”said 29-year-old
Muirhead. “It is where we want to be and to be in that company. We have had a good season so far, getting a silver at the Europeans. Now we want to have a solid world champs campaign as well to really put a marker down this year.”
All teams competing at the championship will begin to gather points in the qualification process for the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022.
Muirhead is no stranger to representing her country on the global stage and is aware of her responsibilities in promoting the benefits of sport and, in particular, curling.
“When I was starting out as a young curler I definitely had the same opportunities in the sport as my brothers, but it wasn’t a particularly cool thing to be doing,”she recalled.
“The image of the game has changed dramatically and I think that does make it easier for the younger generation of athletes coming through.
“I know there is a job to be done in terms of continuing to raise the profile of the game and the best way I can do that is by continuing to be successful.
“I am incredibly grateful to my parents, they treated me the same as the boys so I had the same chances and that obviously got me started in this sport.
“There is now equal prize money at the slams and the viewing figures for the women’s games at the slams are high.
“We might not be as powerful as the men on the ice, but we do need to be technically strong to show our strengths and I think it has made for really exciting curling to watch.”