Perth curler Eve Muirhead admits people should not expect too much from her at the European Championships, which get underway in Tallinn on Saturday morning.
The 28-year-old has claimed a medal at the last eight championships, striking gold in 2011 and again in Switzerland last year, but Muirhead had career-saving hip surgery in May and has played only three tournaments since making her comeback in Stockholm last month.
"The surgeon said I'd have some ups and downs. I still have good days and bad days, but it's nothing like the pain I was going through last season," she explained. "I've made a lot of technique changes to protect my hip a bit, and that's difficult to do. I don't know how my hip will hold up at a major championship. There are a lot of unanswered questions, so we're not going to put too much pressure on ourselves even though we're the defending champions.
"We can't go in with our expectations too high. The European Championships is something we target every year and we've medalled the last eight years. That's a good record, but it's a new team this season and we've had just 15 games together, which is not a lot compared to other teams.
"I feel like we're in a good place right now, but first things first, we have to get Scotland qualified for the World Championships and then try to reach the medal play-offs."
Muirhead and her team-mates Lauren Gray, Vicki Chalmers and newcomer Jennifer Dodds face Denmark's Madeleine Dupont in today's opening round robin match, while Sweden's world and Olympic champion Anna Hasselborg – who they beat in last year's final – awaits them tomorrow.
"Every team is good, but Sweden are undoubtedly the best team in the world right now," said Muirhead. "We know it's going to be tough against them, but Anna and I always have good matches and we'll be looking to knock them down."
Murrayfield's Bruce Mouat represents Scotland in the men's event and will be looking to continue his outstanding record at major tournaments.
"I'm a championship player," agreed the world bronze medallist and former world junior champion, who also took bronze at the 2015 World Juniors in Tallinn. "I'd never been to a big championship like that before and it was all new to me. Championships are a bit different to being on tour. The ice is always great and I really enjoy that."
Mouat and his colleagues Hammy McMillan, Bobby Lammie and Grant Hardie open their campaign today against Norway's Steffen Walstad, and the Scot noted: "We played them at the Universiade and the World Championships last season, and our record against them is probably 50-50. They're a good team and it would be nice to beat them to start the week off.
"We're expecting tough competition in Tallinn, but I feel if we play at the level that we're capable of, then we can definitely get into the medal play-offs. We've learned a lot from every tournament this season, and if we're able to come back with another medal, then that's great."
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