Eve Muirhead

World Junior Curling championships

Muirhead was born in Perth, Scotland and first appeared on the world curling scene at the 2007 World Junior Curling Championships in Eveleth, Minnesota, as a third with skip Sarah Reid, and won the gold medal.

At the 2008 Scottish junior women's championship Muirhead skipped her own team, winning all games, and thus qualifying for the next junior world championship. Muirhead was skip for the Scottish team at the 2008 World Junior Curling Championships in Östersund, beating Sweden (skipped by Cecilia Östlund) 12–3 in the final.

Muirhead returned to the 2009 World Junior Curling Championships in Vancouver to play at the Vancouver Olympic Centre, future site of the 2010 Winter Olympics. There she faced the hometown Canadian team led by Kaitlyn Lawes, in the final and defeated them 8–6. Thus Muirhead repeated as world junior champion skip and won her third world junior championship in a row.

In December 2009, Muirhead was awarded the BBC Scotland Young Sports Personality of the year for her achievements in curling.

In 2010, Muirhead was too preoccupied with the Olympics to play at the World Juniors, but she was back at the 2011 World Junior Curling Championships in her native Scotland. For an unprecedented fourth time in her career, Muirhead won the gold medal at the World Juniors. She beat Canada's Trish Paulsen by a score of 10–3 in the final.

Winter Olympics

Muirhead was selected as skip for the Great Britain Women's curling team at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. After having won only three of nine round robin matches with cliff-hanger losses to the United States, Denmark and Canada, the team failed to qualify for the semi-finals. She also broke her broom on the ice, a major curling faux pas.

Muirhead continued as skip for the Great Britain Women's curling team at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Muirhead won the Bronze Medal as the Great Britain team skip, after beating Switzerland 6–5 in the Bronze Medal play-off.

World Championships

Muirhead won the silver medal as the Scottish team skip at the 2010 Ford World Women's Curling Championship after losing 8–6 to Germany in the final, which went to an extra end. The team finished the round robin matches in third place with an 8–3 record, then advanced to the final by winning the 3 vs. 4-page playoff against Sweden, and the semi-final against Canada, both games in 8 ends and on the same day. Her teammates were third Kelly Wood, second Lorna Vevers, lead Anne Laird and alternate Sarah Reid. Muirhead's rink did not win the Scottish championship in 2011, but she was invited to play as Scotland's alternate at the 2011 Capital One World Women's Curling Championship, where the team finished 9th. The team did win the Scottish championship in 2012, and would finish 6th at the 2012 Ford World Women's Curling Championship. She won the Scottish championship for a fourth time in 2013. The team would go on to play at the 2013 World Women's Curling Championship, where they defeated Sweden's Margaretha Sigfridsson in the final. The win made Muirhead the youngest skip to ever win the World Women's Curling Championship.

Muirhead next made it to the Worlds in 2015 after playing in the Olympics the year prior, taking home the bronze medal. At the 2016 World Women's Curling Championship, the team missed the playoffs, while at the 2017 World Women's Curling Championship, Muirhead would take home another bronze medal.

Personal life

Muirhead's father, Gordon, was also an international curler, who competed in the 1992 Winter Olympics, where curling was a demonstration sport and was alternate for Scotland's 1999 gold medal winning World Championship team. He also won world silver medals in 1992, 1993 and 1995. She grew up in Blair Atholl, Scotland where she still lives and plays golf off scratch handicap at Pitlochry Golf Course. Muirhead is also an accomplished bagpiper, piping at four World Championships.

On 5 April 2010, Muirhead modelled at the eighth annual fashion show Dressed to Kilt. It was announced on 17 May 2010 that Muirhead would be the new ambassador for Piping Live! 2010, a festival dedicated to playing the bagpipes which would run from 9–15 August later in the year. On 14 June 2010 it was reported that Muirhead had turned down the chance to become a professional golfer after receiving two scholarships from American universities.

She has two brothers, Glen and Thomas Muirhead, who are also both accomplished curlers. At the 2013 World Junior Curling Championships held in Sochi, Thomas won his first world junior championship, curling for Kyle Smith's Scottish rink.

Teams

Jr=Junior, E=European, W=World, O=Olympics.

Grand Slam record

Muirhead and her rink won their first ever Grand Slam event by winning the 2013 Players' Championship. It marked the first time a European team has ever won a Grand Slam event (men's or women's), and the second non-Canadian team. It was also the first time a non-Canadian team has ever won the Players'. Muirhead faced the Swedish Margaretha Sigfridsson in the final, in a re-match of the 2013 World Championships. The Players' final was also the first ever Grand Slam final between two non-Canadian teams. Muirhead won a second straight Grand Slam, at the 2013 Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic, becoming the first non-Canadian skip to win two Grand Slam titles in their career. Muirhead won a third slam at the 2014 Colonial Square Ladies Classic and followed it up with a fourth slam at the inaugural Women's 2014 Canadian Open of Curling. She won her fifth Grand Slam and third in a row, by winning the 2015 Players' Championship. She won a sixth Grand Slam title by winning the 2016 Players' Championship.