Top ranked Women’s curling Team Muirhead, with our very own Trustee Lauren Gray playing Third, have been selected to represent Scotland at the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships to be hosted in Norway from 21-28 November.
The World Curling Federation (WCF) event will take place in Lillehammer’s Olympic Park, where teams will aim to qualify for the 2021 World Championships at which national teams will be competing for qualification points for representation at the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games.
Responding to the unique difficulties faced in 2020, British and Scottish Curling have taken the decision to send their current top ranked Men’s and Women’s teams, both of which are reigning national champions to represent Scotland in Norway this winter.
Two-time European Champion Skip Eve Muirhead, who reached her seventh Euro final last year is looking forward to the opportunity to pull on the Scotland shirt again after missing out on that opportunity when her rink had to return from the cancelled World Women’s Championships in Canada earlier this year.
She acknowledges that the year ahead is not without significant challenges.
“We are looking forward to getting back on ice, but just how much time we will have to prepare for the championships is difficult for anyone to predict just now,” she said.
“What we do know is that everyone will be in the same boat, so it is a level playing field in that respect. It has been a chance to re-set and re-energise as a team and we are as fit as we can be and stronger for all the recent adversity. There is a sequence of events this season where the stakes are high and good performances at each event will take us towards qualifying for our ultimate Winter Olympic goal in Beijing in 2022.”
“Team Mouat and Team Muirhead performed consistently well throughout last season and it was a pity that unprecedented circumstances meant that that they could not realise their full potential at both World Championships,” said Olympic Head Coach David Murdoch.
Glasgow Ice Centre will be rooting for Lauren and Team Muirhead all the way!
