Youth meets experience as Scotland win European curling gold and bronze

Curling 26 Nov 22

Bruce Mouat held his nerve to skipper his Scotland side to a third European curling gold in three campaigns to add to the bronze medal won by the women's team.

Scotland's men held off a late fightback from Switzerland in Ostersund to defend their title with a 5-4 victory, while the women’s side claimed bronze in their first major tournament as a team. 

Following the retirement of Eve Muirhead and her Beijing 2022 champions, Rebecca Morrison led a new-look team as they comfortably defeated Italy 9-5 to seal their place on the podium.

In the men's final, having given the Swiss a way back into the game in the penultimate end, Mouat led from the front in the final end to deliver a runback double takeout and set up an opportunity for Scotland to win at the death, which he duly took. 

Alongside his Beijing team of Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan as well as a new addition in the form of alternate Kyle Waddell, Mouat celebrated a victory that required all of their know-how as well as the trials and tribulations of a disrupted season.

“There’s been some amazing pressured shots throughout the event and in that game especially Grant’s amazing shot at the ninth end to give us a really good opportunity was great,” the 28-year-old said. 

“And obviously the last two at the 10th end to secure the win means a lot. I don’t think I’ve ever made two better shots in the 10th end to win a Championship, so I’m very excited.

“It’s been an interesting season for us, with Bobby’s injury early on and we’re just glad that we’ve pushed on and got the win that this season’s been building up to.”

In the women's bronze-medal match, a three-point steal in the first end gave Morrison, Gina Aitken, Sophie Sinclair and Sophie Jackson a fine start, but they had to show their mettle when Italy drew level, with the sides tied at 4-4 at the halfway point.

While Team Mouat drew on their longer-term history, Team Morrison called on their experiences of the past week which included fighting back from 5-3 down after the sixth end to defeat the 2018 Olympic champions and hosts Sweden 7-5 in the group stages.

Morrison said: “At half-time, we were all square, so we were back to the start again, but we just had to tell ourselves that we were really playing well out there and just keep it up,” said Morrison.

“We’ve come back from deficits several times this week, so it just shows how much resilience we have within our team to come back after difficult situations and fight back.”

After the break, Scotland immediately put themselves in pole position for the podium with two fine draws from Morrison to move 6-4 in the lead.

Back-to-back steals for Scotland saw them take a 9-4 advantage into the ninth end and with Italy managing just a single, Scotland were crowned European bronze medallists, giving the world a sign of what is to come.

“Considering this is our first championship together, it means we could have such a bright future together ahead of us and we look to just go onwards and upwards from this point,” added Morrison.

“Over the next cycle, we’d love to make it to as many of these championships as we can and just get these opportunities over and over again to build ourselves as a team."

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