Eve gets a taste of Swiss victory
Blair Atholl Olympian Eve Muirhead tasted early-season victory at The Challenger in Switzerland.
Representing British Curling’s Team Red, she teamed-up with Vicky Wright, Jen Dodds and Hailey Duff in the city of Basel.
They advanced through the round-robin qualifying stages by winning three of their four matches.
In the semi-final they then met Silvana Tirinzoni’s world champions and powered into a four shot lead after two ends, maintaining that advantage to lead 6-2 after five ends and controlling the scoreboard thereafter to run out 7-5 winners.
The final followed a similar pattern against another of the home rinks.
Muirhead and Co got off to a flyer in the final against Irene Schori, racing into a 5-1 lead after four ends.
Composure was clear to see despite being pegged back to eventually secure another 7-5 triumph - and the trophy.
“For all four of us it means a lot to get a win on the European Tour,” Muirhead said afterwards.
“We’ve all adjusted very well to the different combinations so far and it was nice to have a four player team to have a bit of consistency moving forward and I think we managed to build on some good performances going from game to game.
“To play Irene Schori in the final and to win that was particularly pleasing. It rewards a lot of the hard work that we’re all putting in at the National Curling Academy and it’s nice when that pays off.”
With British Curling having to put a women’s team into the final Olympic qualifying competition for the first time ever this season, Muirhead is acutely aware of the importance of early season form as players vie for inclusion in that event.
“The next two events, it’s also going to be very beneficial being back on the international circuit,”she went on to explain.
“Every event we play just now is really important for the coaches to see and for the players to be able to put in their best performances before selection.”