Eve Muirhead leads Scotland to her seventh European curling final

Perth’s Eve Muirhead made no mistake at the first extra end as she advanced to her seventh final at the European Curling Championships in Helsingborg yesterday.
Eve Muirhead clinched victory over Switzerland with her last stone. Picture: Riochard GrayEve Muirhead clinched victory over Switzerland with her last stone. Picture: Riochard Gray
Eve Muirhead clinched victory over Switzerland with her last stone. Picture: Riochard Gray

Swiss world champion Silvana Tirinzoni topped the round-robin rankings, but her sole defeat came against Muirhead who also got the better of her in the 2017 European semis. First blood went to the Swiss before Muirhead and her colleagues Vicky Wright, Jennifer Dodds and Lauren Gray drew level. Three straight ends were blanked, but the Scots stole a single at the eighth to lead 2-1. Alina Paetz delivered a perfect final stone to take the match to an extra end, but Team Muirhead were tactically spot on and left the house clear for the skip to clinch a 3-2 victory with her final shot.

“That was a game of patience,” said Muirhead, inset. “The steal at the eighth end was probably the turning point. That last end was 100 per cent by the whole team and they left my work pretty easy.”

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Swedish Olympic champion Anna Hasselborg confirmed her place in the final when she counted five stones at the eighth end to defeat Russian Alina Kovaleva 9-3.

“It’s going to be a big battle and it’ll be all about digging deep,” predicted Muirhead, who beat Hasselborg to win her second European title in 2017. “I’m up for it and I think we’re capable of something pretty special.”

Kirkintilloch’s Ross Paterson claimed his first major medal at the age of 35 when he beat Denmark’s Mikkel Krause 7-2 in last night’s bronze medal play-off.

Paterson lost to Krause in the round robin section on Monday and trailed 2-1 last night, but he dominated the second half of the contest. The Scot and his team-mates Michael Goodfellow, Duncan Menzies and Kyle Waddell counted threes at the sixth and eighth ends as they took revenge when it mattered most.

“We came here to win gold but we had a few ups and downs this week, so we’re delighted to finish with a medal,” beamed Paterson.