Big-name curlers were tasked with recapturing Canada’s Olympic fame

Homan and Morris to become listed on Gushue, Jones in Beijing

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Canada’s Olympic styling teams include finally total

Rocks begin traveling in Beijing in 20 times, nevertheless grabbed until today for Canada to announce the best admission. John Morris and Rachel Homan will protect the combined doubles silver medal that Morris obtained in 2018 with former teammate Kaitlyn Lawes.

Homan and Morris had been on the list of 16 teams that were designed to contend for Canada’s spot from inside the Olympic event at the nationwide combined doubles studies in Manitoba prior to the show was cancelled latest period. A Curling Canada-led committee invested the previous few months deciding which duo to transmit to China, evaluating issues such as previous mixed-doubles overall performance together with intercontinental triumph in conventional styling. Another flashy pairing when you look at the flowing ended up being reigning Scotties champ Kerri Einarson and 2014 Olympic men’s room silver medallist Brad Jacobs. There seemed to be in addition substantial lobbying from members who spend on their own to combined increases and believe that should count.

But, in the long run, ability won completely. If the goals would be to submit the team with all the finest ceiling, then your selection committee decided in the most obvious pick. Morris, 43, is a successful Olympic musician which claimed a men’s silver medal just like the next for Kevin before you take the mixed increases subject with Lawes in 2018. The 32-year-old Homan is one of the most successful curlers ever, with three Scotties brands and some sort of title inside her trophy case. And theirs is no shotgun partnership. Homan and Morris have actually played combined increases with each other since 2015. Morris looked to Lawes four years back after Homan obtained the Canadian ladies studies, which generated the lady ineligible for Olympic mixed increases considering the Curling Canada plan prohibiting any person from competing in more than one curling show at the same video games.

For Lawes, she is heading to Beijing also as an associate of this Jennifer Jones-skipped rink that claimed the Canadian ladies studies in obtained the men’s. In Gushue and Jones, Canada need a former Olympic silver medallist at avoid in with the traditional styling competitions in Beijing.

Given that we at long last understand everybody that is playing for Canada, let’s simply take a quick consider the three Olympic straightening competitions and what the Canadian teams include dealing with:

1st, let us value the ease associated with Olympic straightening tournaments. All three happenings start off with a 10-team game robin, while the best four advance on the semifinals. The semifinal champions play for gold. The semifinal losers play for bronze. No Page playoffs, no unusual triple-knockout brackets to understand. Effortless.

In 2018, when combined increases made their Olympic introduction with an eight-team event, Morris and Lawes were a wrecking ball. After shedding her opener to Norway, they reeled off eight directly victories to capture gold, like a 10-3 demolition of Switzerland in the final.

The silver-medal Swiss duo of Jenny Perret and Martin Rios become straight back for Beijing. Therefore will be the Norwegian pairing of Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten, who had been given bronze following the guy about Russian personnel that overcome all of them hit a brick wall a doping test. Besides Homan, really the only other big-name avoid mixed up in mixed doubles tournament is very good Britain’s Bruce Mouat, a two-time European men’s room champ exactly who took sterling silver during the men’s room worlds last year.

A big storyline in Beijing is going to be Homan’s attempt to receive by herself from a devastating displaying for the ladies’ celebration in 2018. This lady group moved 4-5 and turned into the very first Canadian rink to overlook the playoffs in the Olympics.

The combined increases occasion becomes underway Feb. 2 at 7:05 a.m. ET, and Homan and Morris perform their unique basic games that nights at 8:05 p.m. ET vs. Great Britain. The semifinals take the morning of e is the overnight at 7:05 a.m. ET.

Canada also flopped contained in this occasion in 2018, with Kevin Koe’s teams shedding in the semifinals to eventual winner John Shuster associated with the U.S. then obtaining disturb by Switzerland during the bronze-medal games. Before these video games, no Canadian curling teams had previously did not win a medal. In Pyeongchang, both old-fashioned teams performed.

For Gushue, plenty has changed since the guy won their Olympic gold medal in Italy 16 years ago. In the past, he had been a skilled though rather raw child who threw 4th stones but leaned on the famous Russ Howard to phone games through the next position (in the formal Olympic documents, Howard try detailed just like the miss). Now Gushue is perhaps all grown up – a 41-year-old pops of two who is completely in command of his create. He seized three Brier games from 2017-20 and a world championship in ’17. Gushue grabbed care of companies since favourite at the Canadian studies in e on the way to beating Jacobs into the best.

Your competitors in Beijing are tough. It includes Shuster, Mouat and five-time world champ Nik Edin of Sweden, who’s seeking his first Olympic gold after getting bronze in 2014 and gold in ’18. The competition opens up Feb. 8 at 7:05 a.m. ET, whenever Canada faces Denmark. The semis would be the early morning of age was Feb. 18 at 1:05 a.m. ET.

Jennifer Jones was curling royalty – the winner of a record-tying six Scotties, a two-time globe winner and an Olympic gold medallist in 2014. But her victory within Canadian studies ended up being somewhat of a surprise. At 47, Jones was actually regarded as past the woman perfect, and a lot of perceiver rated their behind Homan, Einarson and red-hot Tracy Fleury. As expected, Jones lost to any or all ones within the spherical robin. However when the chips comprise down she emerged through, trouncing Krista McCarville for the semis before stealing the last from an undefeated Fleury in a supplementary conclusion.

In Beijing, Jones might be facing all three medallists from 2018: protecting champ Anna Hasselborg of Sweden, South Korea’s Kim Eun-jung (silver) and Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa (bronze). There is also the champ on the final two globe titles – Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni – and 2013 world champ Eve Muirhead of Great Britain, just who took Olympic bronze in 2014.