Mouat eyes 'spectacular' fifth Euro title as Scots name teams
Bruce Mouat has won the European title on the four occasions he has qualified
- Published
World number one ranked Team Mouat will get the chance to maintain their 100% record at European Curling Championships after being chosen to represent Scotland along with a women's team led by Rebecca Morrison.
Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan will head to Lohja's Kisakallio Sports Centre in Finland from 13-16 November seeking a fifth title in five visits to the event.
Their rink has dominated the early part of the season, becoming the first Scots to win the Baden Masters before defending the Euro Super Series title on home ice, then winning the first Grand Slam of the season in Canada at The Hearing Life Tour Challenge.
Mouat believes it "would be pretty spectacular" if they could defend the title and record a fifth victory.
"This event has treated us well in the past and we are hoping for similar success this time around," the skip said. "We are enjoying the recent form that we have been on and we have worked really hard over the last three months to get us to this spot."
Rebecca Morrison is looking to improve on fifth place last time
Mouat and women's team member Jen Dodds last week teamed up to win a doubles event in Gstaad before they lost in the Bern final to Lammie and Morrison.
Morrison and Dodds will look to draw on those performances and will be joined in Finland by Scottish mixed doubles champion Sophie Jackson, who reached the semi-finals along with Duncan McFadzean, and Sophie Sinclair.
Skip Morrison said "it is clear that we are all paying well".
"That gives us a lot of confidence," she said. "It just shows that, even when we are separated, we can still deliver and, when we come back together and rejoin as a team next week, hopefully we can do the same thing.
"We have been Scotland's representatives at the Europeans twice before and in our first year got a bronze and last year we finished fifth, and we weren’t very far away last season from meeting some goals that we had when we just missed qualifying for play-offs."
Morrison pointed out that the European Championships are doubly important as they are a qualifying event for this season’s World Championships, which in turn represents the last chance to pre-qualify Team GB for the Winter Olympics in 2026.
Fay Henderson, who skipped her team to victory at the Scottish Championships earlier this year, will be joining Team Scotland's women as their alternate.