Everything to know about the Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Trials

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Canada’s potential team for mixed doubles curling at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy will be decided in less than a month.

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From Dec. 30 to Jan. 4 in Liverpool, N.S., 16 teams from across the country will compete in the Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Trials with the winning team moving on to represent Canada at the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championships from April 26 to May 3 in Fredericton, N.B., where Canada will need a top seven finish to ensure an Olympic berth.

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Ahead of the 2026 Winter Games, Canada’s potential mixed doubles entry will have a year to get ready for the event as Curling Canada is allowing athletes to compete in mixed doubles and the four-person team event for the first time since mixed doubles was introduced as an Olympic sport in 2018.

Previously, if an athlete qualified for the men’s or women’s foursome events, they were not eligible for mixed doubles and vice versa, however Curling Canada decided to make a change based on a number of factors including success by other countries who allowed athletes to compete in both events.

At the 2022 Games, Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson won mixed doubles bronze before going on to claim gold with his men’s foursome skipped by Niklas Edin. Scotland’s Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds also participated in mixed doubles before winning silver and gold respectively with their four-person teams.

In 2018, while Canada’s Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris won the gold medal in the inaugural event, the duo had little time to prepare after winning the Canadian trials just a month prior. In 2022, Lawes and Morris represented Canada for a second straight Games but finished in fifth place.

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While Canada’s mixed doubles team will now have more than a year to prepare for Olympic competition, Canada’s men’s and women’s four-person teams will compete at their respective Olympic trials in Halifax from Nov. 22-30, 2025, where several mixed doubles curlers will also be competing including Rachel Homan and Brendan Bottcher.

At the 2026 Games, mixed doubles curling starts two days before the opening ceremonies with the gold medal game being held on Day 7. The men’s and women’s four-person round robin games begin on Day 8.

Trials format

The 16 teams will be split into two pools of eight, where they will play a round robin schedule from Dec. 30 to Jan. 2.

From there, the top three teams from each pool advance to the playoffs where a page playoff system similar to the format used at the Scotties Tournament of Herts and Montana’s Brier will be used to determine the winner on Jan. 4.

Meet the teams

After winning gold at the 2024 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, Team Kadriana Lott/Colton Lott (Gimli, Man.) were among the first teams to earn a berth at the 2025 Canadian trials alongside silver medal winners Team Laura Walker/Kirk Muyres (Edmonton/Humboldt, Sask.) and bronze medal winners Team Jocelyn Peterman/Brett Gallant (Chestermere, Alta.).

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Along with the three medal winners, three qualifying events determined the next three spots at the trials which were claimed by Team Brittany Tran/Rylan Kleiter (Calgary/Saskatoon) who won the first qualifying event in Maple Ridge, B.C. and Team Rachel Homan/Brendan Bottcher (Beaumont, Alta./Spruce Grove, Alta.) who won the second qualifier in Guelph, Ont.

This past weekend, Team Peterman/Gallant won the third qualifier in Banff, Alta., but since they already secured a spot at the trials, Team Jennifer Armstrong/Tyrel Griffith (Rothesay, N.B./Kelowna, B.C.) earned the final pre-qualifying spot.

Team Jennifer Jones/Brent Laing (Barrie, Ont.) and Team Nancy Martin/Steve Laycock (Wakaw, Sask./Saskatoon) were also among the pre-qualified teams as they were the top finishers from the 2023-24 Canadian Mixed Doubles Rankings standings.

The rest of the 16-team field, comprised of the top eight teams on the Canadian Mixed Doubles Rankings that had not previously qualified, was officially confirmed by Curling Canada on Tuesday.

The final eight duos include Team Riley Sandham/Brendan Craig (Guelph, Ont.), Team Lisa Weagle/John Epping (Ottawa/Toronto), Team Taylor Reese-Hansen/Corey Chester (Kitimat, B.C./Victoria), Team Anne-Sophie Gionest/Robert Desjardins (Alma, Que./Saguenay, Que.), Team Melissa Adams/Alex Robichaud (Fredericton, N.B.), Team Jessica Zheng/Victor Pietrangelo (Niagara Falls, Ont.), Team Paige Papley/Evan Van Amsterdam (Edmonton) and Team Jaelyn Cotter/Jim Cotter (Vernon, B.C.).

tshire@postmedia.com

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