Scotland missed out on gold in the European curling championships in Stavanger but skips Eve Muirhead and David Murdoch insisted the Norwegian experience had been a positive step in their respective Olympic build-ups.
After going through the whole event undefeated, Muirhead’s women’s team picked Saturday morning’s final against Sweden to play their slackest game of the week, eventually going down 10-5.
For Murdoch’s men, the damage had been done earlier in the week when they lost their Page Play-off game on the last stone, going down 6-5 to Denmark. It meant they had to play for bronze medals on Saturday, against Denmark again, this time winning by 7-6 on the last stone. Later, Switzerland beat Norway 8-6 to take the men’s gold medal.
Reflecting on her team’s overall performance, Muirhead said: “We have got to look at this week as being really good.
“If you looked at our statistics from the week and our performance, you’d see we are one of the best teams in the world right now.
“We lost the final, but if you look at the games before the final we really are a team to be reckoned with.”
The obvious major target for Muirhead and Murdoch this season is the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, which start in little more than two months and Muirhead said: “The Europeans wasn’t the big one for us this season, our preparation is for Sochi.
“It would have been nice to come away with the gold medal, but we’ve had such a great week.
“The girls played great all week and I think we’re in a really good place for the rest of the campaign.”
Scotland went into the previous two Winter Olympic events as real medal prospects, only to come away from both empty-handed.
But Murdoch is targeting Sochi 2014 as well and said: “The Olympic Games mean more than most people will ever know. You train 12 years of your life and still don’t achieve the one thing you really want.
“That one thing I’ve wanted so much is still eluding me – it’ll be worth the wait.”
Murdoch also thinks his team is going well enough to help him with his dream and added: “This team’s getting better all the time.
“I’m very optimistic about the way we are going. We’re on the up and that’s a good sign as we head towards the big one.”