Watched by national coach Rhona Martin, who famously claimed Olympic gold in equally dramatic fashion at Salt Lake City in 2002, Muirhead nudged out the last stone of Maria Prytz to claim a 6-5 win over Sweden.

Also watching in the Latvian capital was Muirhead's father Gordon, who won the men's world title in 1999.

Muirhead's younger brother Thomas won the world junior title in Sochi only two weeks ago.

The 22-year-old Muirhead fell to the ice in celebration after her victory which capped a remarkable turnaround in fortunes after two earlier defeats to Sweden in the round-robin phase of the competition.

It was only the second time on which a Scottish women's team had been crowned world champions, following the 2002 success by Jackie Lockhart's team.


"The girls played great and to come out on top is unbelievable," said Muirhead, who had to settle for world silver in 2010.

"To top the season off by becoming world champions is great.

"We knew it was going to be a close game and we were ready for the last stone.''

Muirhead said her team of Anna Sloan, Vicki Adams and Claire Hamilton will now head to next year's Winter Olympics in Sochi - once they get past the formality of selection.

"It's a good boost for us to go into the Olympics as world champions," she said.

"The Olympics are going to be fantastic but the main thing is all our hard work has paid off, and it's a massive relief."

Earlier, Canada had beaten the United States by 8-6 in the bronze medal game, which gives them hope they can do better at Sochi 2014.

"It's all good for our [Olympic] trials coming up - we're just going to take the experiences from this week," said Rachel Homan, Canada's skip.

"I'm just really proud of my team for playing so well today."

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