 The greatest year so far in the sporting lives of Bobby Lammie and Hailey Duff ended with victory on their tournament debut as partners when they lifted the Euro Super Series Mixed Doubles title at the National Curling Academy in Stirling. Setting out in a field which included Norway's Olympic finalists Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedrogotten, World Mixed Doubles champion Lammie and Olympic Women's gold medallist Duff came through the event unbeaten to round off 2022 in style, beating compatriots Sophie Sinclair and Ross Whyte 8-6 in a hard fought final. The nature of their victory meant that Lammie, who has had to recover from a broken hand suffered earlier this season, had come through the whole calendar year winning every mixed doubles tournament match he had played in. While he modestly noted that had not totalled many events, the calibre of those 26 straight wins was demonstrated by the titles accrued, since the previous successes were at the National and then the World Championships. "That record gives me a lot of confidence going into the new cycle, and it's a credit to the work we do here with all our mixed doubles competitions and practice, so to go the whole calendar year undefeated is pretty special," he said. "It's been quite the year. Lots of highs, a few lows, but looking back 2022 will be a pretty memorable year for myself." All the more so as a result of that change of mixed doubles partner midway through the year, having previously played with Eve Muirhead, who had also skipped her women's rink, which included Duff, to that gold medal victory in Beijing back in February. "Eve obviously made the decision she did and I was happy for her with that," he said. "To finish the partnership we had at the Worlds with that Championship win was quite a nice way to cap it off. "It's a new pairing this season with Hailey, and this week I personally maybe started a bit slow, but throughout the week we grew as a team, started to figure out the ice, and we're both pretty easy-going people, so it's quite an easy fit." For Duff, who emerged from British Curling's nine-player squad system to force her way into that Olympic winning line-up, it has also been a year to remember for all the right reasons. "It's been a crazy year," she said. "I could never have predicted everything that went on. To finish it this way with Bob's pretty special because we've had a tricky start to the season with a new women's team, and we're trying to get used to that, so to come out of the year on a high, having started it on another high is really nice. "I love my women's curling, but there's another chance for a medal when you play mixed doubles, and I'd love to see how far we can get. Bob's got a lot of experience in mixed doubles, so I know it could work, and we'll see what happens." As they head into 2023, they know that they will face fierce opposition at home as well as abroad, since notable absentees this week were the skip of Lammie's men's team Bruce Mouat and his mixed doubles partner Jen Dodds, who were in Canada competing on the lucrative Grand Slam circuit. Muirhead and Lammie denied Dodds and Mouat the chance to defend the World Mixed Doubles title they had won in 2021 when they beat them at this year's Scottish Championships and earned the chance to replace them. However, there seems no danger of any rivalry in the new Olympic discipline affecting the team dynamics that have seen Mouat, Lammie, Grant Hardie, and Hammy McMillan establish themselves at the top of the world game. "Looking back at our team performances this season, we started a bit slow," Lammie observed. "I had my hand injury, which messed us up a wee bit, but we're starting to get back into our flow as a team and then you can see that translating to mixed doubles as well, where we were up against Grant in the semi-finals and we're putting on a good performance. "There's nothing wrong with a wee bit of team competition and trying to push each other on. "We had that in the previous cycle as well towards the end of it, pushing each other for that spot at the Olympics. Bruce and Jen nipped us, but there were never any hard feelings. "After we play mixed doubles, we pretty much switch off when we get back to the team, and that's an advantage of our team, that we can turn that on and off against each other when we need to. "Bruce and I are both laid-back people, and we want the best for each other, no matter what it is because we get on so well. "Just being competitive people in our whole lives, you have to get used to that competitiveness and being able to turn it off. "We have competitiveness in every training session against each other. We're so used to it, and it just works." Games were live-streamed on the British Curling Channel via the Recast broadcasting platform: https://the.recast.app/video/GyjOQ?referrer=6YgRx |
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Manitoba's Kate Cameron (Photo: Curling Canada) announced on Monday that the team will look different for the new Olympic quadrennial.
