Eve Muirhead is set to start her quest for World Women’s Curling Championships glory tomorrow.
The Perthshire skip, representing Scotland at the WinSport Arena in Calgary’s Canada Olympic Park, opens up against the USA.
Muirhead and regular team-mates Vicky Wright, Jen Dodds and Lauren Gray have been inside the Calgary bubble for two Grand Slam events, while alternate Sophie Sinclair has more recently flown out.
“Perhaps having experienced the bubble set up in general and having experienced the arena the way it is operating just now will help us when the worlds get underway,” said Muirhead.
“Some of the new teams coming into the bubble will have to adjust quickly, but we have earned the right to be at the Slams and have worked hard for years to get these invites, so we deserve to be here and hopefully there will be some pay-off and advantage from that.
“We certainly learned a lot from the two Slams we competed in. We had some close games and we also had some good wins which were thoroughly deserved and we want to put that and all the training we have had into action in the coming week.
“Our main goal for this trip is the world champs and that is what we are focusing on now and not looking back or too far forward.”
Muirhead enters the event with added responsibility since it is doubling as a qualifying competition for next year’s Winter Olympics, with only six of the 14 teams involved avoiding the final qualifying tournament later in the year.
“The qualification process for Team GB is always in your head,” Muirhead admitted.
“It is a pressure and in the past we have had two years to achieve qualification points and this year there is just one.
“So we feel that and we want to earn that place for Team GB at the Winter Olympics. We have a good mindset and experience to rely on and will focus on the job in hand.”
Muirhead has had a four-year wait to get back to the worlds and concluded: “The prospect of that first game is now really close and it is really exciting.”
