Big-name curlers tend to be tasked with recapturing Canada’s Olympic magnificence
Homan and Morris to become listed on Gushue, Jones in Beijing
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Canada’s Olympic straightening teams are ultimately complete
Rocks begin flying in Beijing in 20 era, however it got until this morning for Canada to announce the last admission. John Morris and Rachel Homan will protect the mixed doubles gold medal that Morris acquired in 2018 with former teammate Kaitlyn Lawes.
Homan and Morris were among the 16 teams that were meant to vie for Canada’s area into the Olympic competition at nationwide combined increases trials in Manitoba ahead of the occasion was terminated last thirty days. A Curling Canada-led panel invested the last few weeks choosing which duo to deliver to China, considering facets like current mixed-doubles abilities alongside worldwide profits in old-fashioned curling. Another fancy pairing from inside the flowing had been reigning Scotties champ Kerri Einarson and 2014 Olympic men’s room gold medallist Brad Jacobs. There seemed to be furthermore substantial lobbying from players whom devote by themselves to mixed increases and believe that should rely.
But, all things considered, skill obtained away. In the event the intent would be to submit the group aided by the highest threshold, then the selection committee decided in the most obvious select. Morris, 43, are a well-known Olympic performer who acquired a men’s silver medal since 3rd for Kevin prior to taking the combined doubles subject with Lawes in 2018. The 32-year-old Homan the most winning curlers actually ever, with three Scotties brands and a world tournament within her trophy situation. And theirs is no shotgun partnership. Homan and Morris bring starred mixed increases with each other since 2015. Morris turned to Lawes four years ago after Homan won the Canadian women’s trials, which generated the woman ineligible for Olympic mixed doubles due to the styling Canada plan prohibiting people from fighting in more than one curling occasion in one video games.
In terms of Lawes, she’s heading to Beijing too as a member in the Jennifer Jones-skipped rink that obtained the Canadian women’s studies in obtained the men’s. In Gushue and Jones, Canada will have an old Olympic gold medallist at avoid in both of this standard straightening competitions in Beijing.
Now that we ultimately understand anyone that’s playing for Canada, let us simply take an instant go through the three Olympic straightening tournaments and precisely what the Canadian teams are dealing with:
Initial, let us enjoyed the ease of use of the Olympic curling tournaments. All three events start off with a 10-team game robin, and the leading four advance into the semifinals. The semifinal champions play for silver. The semifinal losers play for bronze. No webpage playoffs, no odd triple-knockout brackets to understand. Easy.
In 2018, whenever combined increases generated its Olympic introduction with an eight-team celebration, Morris and Lawes happened to be a wrecking basketball. After shedding their unique opener to Norway, they reeled down eight direct wins to grab gold, like a 10-3 demolition of Switzerland in best.
The silver-medal Swiss duo of Jenny Perret and Martin Rios tend to be back once again for Beijing. Very may be the Norwegian pairing of Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten, who have been given bronze following the people on the Russian group that defeat them failed a doping examination. Besides Homan, the only real different big-name avoid active in the combined increases event is excellent Britain’s Bruce Mouat, a two-time European men’s champ who took silver in the men’s room planets just last year.
A big storyline in Beijing are going to be Homan’s attempt to redeem herself from a devastating showing when you look at the ladies’ occasion in 2018. The woman personnel gone 4-5 and turned into the very first Canadian rink to overlook the playoffs within Olympics.
The mixed doubles celebration will get underway Feb. 2 at 7:05 a.m. ET, and Homan and Morris bring their earliest games that nights at 8:05 p.m. ET vs. Great Britain. The semifinals take the early morning of elizabeth will be the overnight at 7:05 a.m. ET.
Canada furthermore flopped in this show in 2018, with Kevin Koe’s team losing when you look at the semifinals to eventual champ John Shuster regarding the U.S. immediately after which acquiring disappointed by Switzerland during the bronze-medal game. Before these video games, no Canadian styling professionals got ever before failed to win a medal. In Pyeongchang, both old-fashioned teams did.
For Gushue, plenty changed since he acquired his Olympic silver medal in Italy 16 years ago. Back then, he had been a skilled yet still notably natural youngster which tossed next stones but leaned about legendary Russ Howard to call video games from the next position (into the formal Olympic documents, Howard is actually detailed since miss). Now Gushue is adult – a 41-year-old parent of two that’s fully in command of their art. He caught three Brier games from 2017-20 and a world championship in ’17. Gushue got proper care of companies due to the fact favorite during the Canadian studies in e en route to beating Jacobs in the last.
The competition in Beijing are difficult. It includes Shuster, Mouat and five-time business champ Nik Edin of Sweden, who is trying to match vs eharmony find 1st Olympic gold after using bronze in 2014 and sterling silver in ’18. The tournament starts Feb. 8 at 7:05 a.m. ET, whenever Canada face Denmark. The semis will be the day of age are Feb. 18 at 1:05 a.m. ET.
Jennifer Jones are curling royalty – the winner of a record-tying six Scotties, a two-time world champion and an Olympic gold medallist in 2014. But the woman success on Canadian studies is somewhat of a shock. At 47, Jones had been considered to be past the lady primary, and most observers ranked their behind Homan, Einarson as well as the red-hot Tracy Fleury. Sure-enough, Jones missing to any or all of them from inside the circular robin. Nevertheless when the potato chips happened to be down she arrived through, trouncing Krista McCarville for the semis before stealing the ultimate from an undefeated Fleury in a supplementary conclusion.
In Beijing, Jones can be against all three medallists from 2018: protecting champ Anna Hasselborg of Sweden, South Korea’s Kim Eun-jung (sterling silver) and Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa (bronze). Additionally, there is the champion regarding the finally two industry championships – Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni – and 2013 industry champ Eve Muirhead of good Britain, who grabbed Olympic bronze in 2014.
