No guarantees in mixed event at Olympics
Canadian curlers have yet to win gold on the world stage in new Olympic discipline
It’s an indisputable fact that the addition of curling to the Olympics 20 years ago provided a massive boost to Canada’s overall medal hopes.
Since the first Olympic tournament was played at the 1998 Nagano Games in Japan, Canada has won 10 of a possible 10 medals — five gold, three silver and two bronze.
No Canadian curler has gone to the Olympics and left without a medal around his or her neck.
It stands to reason it should only get better now that another curling discipline has been added to the Olympics, namely mixed doubles.
Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg and John Morris of Canmore, Alta., earned the right to represent Canada in PyeongChang, South Korea next month by winning the Canadian mixed doubles trials in Portage la Prairie, Man., on Sunday.
Earning a medal in the new Olympic discipline will be a completely different matter.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to go to the last two world mixed doubles championships and I’ve seen the competition first-hand. We do have our work cut out for us,” Canadian coach Jeff Stoughton said Monday when the Canadian Olympic team was formally introduced at a Winnipeg hotel.
“We know we’re in tough. Obviously everyone’s expectation is a medal when we’re curling. Our expectation is ‘Get to those playoffs and everything after that is going to be a bonus.’”
It’s fair to say Ottawa’s Rachel Homan is the favourite to win gold in the women’s competition. She is, after all, the defending world champion. Same goes for Calgary’s Kevin Koe on the men’s side. He’s won two world titles.
But Canada has never won gold at the world mixed doubles championship. The closest Canada came was last year when Joanne Courtney and Reid Carruthers took home silver.
The eight-team Olympic event starts Feb. 8 — a day before the official opening ceremony — and runs for six days. Canada will take on teams from China, Finland, Norway, South Korea, Switzerland, the United States and Olympic athletes from Russia.
The best news for Canada is they have Olympic experience — Morris won a gold medal in men’s curling in 2010, Lawes in women’s curling in 2014 — on their side and they are well-prepared after the marathon trials last week.
“That was as much of a battle test as you could get, playing against some of the best curlers in Canada on fantastic ice and having to win over 10 games,” Morris said. “It was a real grind and as tough as it was to go through, it feels great. That’s going to be the best preparation we can have for PyeongChang.”
Lawes and Morris had not even played together for five years before the Olympic trials. They practised for just 30 minutes in the week leading up to the event.
Lawes wasn’t even originally on the team. Had Morris’ original partner, Homan, not won the women’s Olympic trials, Lawes might not have even played in the mixed doubles trials.
But she did play and was outstanding, combining nicely with Morris, who had much more mixed doubles experience to go along with a nice mix of skill, strategy and brawn for sweeping. It will take a great deal more of that for them to be successful on the world stage.
“There are so many great teams out there that have been playing this for a long time,” said Lawes, 29. “We’re going to have our work cut out for us, but we love a challenge and I can’t wait to get out there. It’s a wild ride that we’re on right now and I can’t thank John enough for inviting me to be a part of his mixed doubles team.”
Lawes is the first Canadian woman to represent the country twice at the Olympics and the first Canadian curler to go to back-to-back Games.
Morris joins a select group of men who have qualified twice for the Olympics — his former skip, Kevin Martin, did it in 2002 and 2010 and their 2010 teammates, Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert, qualified again this year with Koe’s team.
“The Olympic experience is huge, having been there, knowing what to expect,” said Morris, a 39-year-old firefighter. “For me, I’m going to be able to savour it a bit more.”
First on the to-do list for Morris will be a good rest. Lawes will not get that option, with the Manitoba women’s curling championship starting Wednesday (she’s the third for Jennifer Jones). But Morris plans to take a load off.
“I need some physio,” he said. “I haven’t been this sore in a long time. I have some blisters and my shoulder is a little banged up. I’ll be going home and doing some great recovery and rest for a week and then getting right back on the training wagon.
“I have no doubt we’ll be 100 per cent ready for Korea.”