Muirhead’s expectations low following hip surgery

Courier columnist Eve Muirhead admits people should not expect too much from her at the European Championships, which get under way in Tallinn this morning.

The Perthshire curler has claimed a medal at the last eight championships, striking gold in 2011 and again in Switzerland last year, but Muirhead had career-saving hip surgery in May and has played only three tournaments since making her comeback last month.

“The surgeon said I’d have some ups and downs. I still have good days and bad days, but it’s nothing like the pain I was going through last season,” she said.

“I’ve made a lot of technique changes to protect my hip a bit, and that’s difficult to do. I don’t know how my hip will hold up at a major championship.

“There’s a lot of unanswered questions, so we’re not going to put too much pressure on ourselves even though we’re the defending champions.

“We can’t go in with our expectations too high. The European Championships is something we target every year and we’ve medalled the last eight years.

“That’s a good record, but it’s a new team this season and we’ve had just 15 games together, which is not a lot compared to other teams.

“I feel like we’re in a good place right now, but first things first, we have to get Scotland qualified for the World Championships and then try to reach the medal play-offs.”

The 28-year-old and teammates Lauren Gray, Vicki Chalmers and newcomer Jennifer Dodds face Denmark’s Madeleine Dupont in today’s opening round-robin match.

Sweden’s world and Olympic champion Anna Hasselborg – who they beat in last year’s final – awaits them tomorrow.

“Every team is good, but Sweden are undoubtedly the best team in the world right now,” said Muirhead.

“We know it’s going to be tough against them, but Anna and I always have good matches and we’ll be looking to knock them down.”

Scotland’s men, Team Mouat, who are ranked No 5 in the world, are also keen to make their mark in Tallinn, where skip Bruce Mouat and team-mate Bobbie Lammie enjoyed silver medal success in the World Junior Curling Championships in 2015.