Homan and Morris to participate Gushue, Jones in Beijing
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Canada’s Olympic straightening teams were ultimately complete
Stones beginning flying in Beijing in 20 era, nevertheless grabbed until this morning for Canada to announce its last admission. John Morris and Rachel Homan will protect the mixed doubles gold medal that Morris won in 2018 with previous teammate Kaitlyn Lawes.
Homan and Morris happened to be among the 16 teams that have been likely to compete for Canada’s area in Olympic event from the national combined increases studies in Manitoba prior to the event got terminated final thirty days. A Curling Canada-led committee spent the last few days deciding which duo to send to Asia, evaluating facets including recent mixed-doubles overall performance combined with international achievements in conventional curling. Another flashy pairing inside the flowing ended up being reigning Scotties champ Kerri Einarson and 2014 Olympic men’s room gold medallist Brad Jacobs. There was clearly also substantial lobbying from participants which spend by themselves to blended doubles and genuinely believe that should depend.
But, ultimately, skill obtained on. In the event that aim is always to deliver the group using highest threshold, then collection panel settled in the most obvious select. Morris, 43, is an established Olympic performer who obtained a men’s silver medal due to the fact 3rd for Kevin before taking the mixed doubles subject with Lawes in 2018. The 32-year-old Homan the most effective curlers ever before, with three Scotties games and a global title in her own trophy instance. And theirs is not any shotgun cooperation. Homan and Morris bring starred blended doubles together since 2015. Morris considered Lawes four years ago after Homan won the Canadian women’s trials, which made this lady ineligible for Olympic combined doubles as a result of the styling Canada rules prohibiting any individual from competing much more than one curling occasion at the same Games.
In terms of Lawes, she actually is heading to Beijing as well as a part of the Jennifer Jones-skipped rink that claimed the Canadian ladies’ trials in obtained the men’s. In Gushue and Jones, Canada has an old Olympic silver medallist at miss both in in the standard curling competitions in Beijing.
Now that we eventually see everyone else that’s playing for Canada, let us take a simple consider the three Olympic curling tournaments and exactly what the Canadian groups is dealing with:
Initial, why don’t we enjoyed the simplicity in the Olympic styling tournaments. All three events start out with a 10-team rounded robin, together with best four advance on semifinals. The semifinal winners play for gold. The semifinal losers play for bronze. No Page playoffs, no strange triple-knockout brackets to decipher. Simple.
In 2018, whenever blended increases produced its Olympic first with an eight-team occasion, Morris and Lawes happened to be a wrecking basketball. After shedding their own opener to Norway, they reeled down eight straight wins to grab gold, such as a 10-3 demolition of Switzerland within the final.
The silver-medal Swiss duo of Jenny Perret and Martin Rios include back for Beijing. So will be the Norwegian pairing of Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten, who had been awarded bronze after the man about Russian professionals that overcome them unsuccessful a doping examination. Besides Homan, the only different big-name miss involved in the blended increases event is very good Britain’s Bruce Mouat, a two-time European men’s champ exactly who got gold at men’s room planets just last year.
A big storyline in Beijing can be Homan’s attempt to redeem herself from a devastating revealing within the ladies’ occasion in 2018. This lady teams moved 4-5 and became initial Canadian rink to overlook the playoffs in the Olympics.
The blended doubles occasion gets underway Feb. 2 at 7:05 a.m. ET, and Homan and Morris bring their unique first video game that night at 8:05 p.m. ET vs. britain. The semifinals are on the early morning of elizabeth will be the following day at 7:05 a.m. ET.
Canada in addition flopped contained in this celebration in 2018, with Kevin Koe’s staff shedding inside the semifinals to eventual champ John Shuster of this U.S. after which acquiring disturb by Switzerland within the bronze-medal game. Before these Games, no Canadian curling employees have ever didn’t winnings a medal. In Pyeongchang, both traditional groups did.
For Gushue, loads has changed since the guy won their Olympic gold medal in Italy 16 years back. Back then, he had been a gifted though notably natural child exactly who tossed fourth stones but leaned about celebrated Russ Howard to name video games from 2nd situation (into 321chat username the official Olympic reports, Howard try listed due to the fact avoid). Now Gushue is all adult – a 41-year-old parent of two that’s fully in order of his create. He grabbed three Brier brands from 2017-20 and a world title in ’17. Gushue got care of companies while the favourite from the Canadian trials in e en route to beating Jacobs in the best.
Your competition in Beijing should be difficult. It offers Shuster, Mouat and five-time industry winner Nik Edin of Sweden, that is finding 1st Olympic gold after having bronze in 2014 and silver in ’18. The tournament opens up Feb. 8 at 7:05 a.m. ET, whenever Canada face Denmark. The semis are morning of elizabeth is Feb. 18 at 1:05 a.m. ET.
Jennifer Jones is actually curling royalty – the winner of a record-tying six Scotties, a two-time world champion and an Olympic silver medallist in 2014. But their success from the Canadian studies was actually somewhat of a shock. At 47, Jones was actually regarded as being past the woman finest, and most observers rated the woman behind Homan, Einarson and also the red-hot Tracy Fleury. Affirmed, Jones shed to all of these from inside the round robin. However when the potato chips were down she arrived through, trouncing Krista McCarville within the semis before taking the last from an undefeated Fleury in an additional end.
In Beijing, Jones is against all three medallists from 2018: protecting champ Anna Hasselborg of Sweden, Southern Korea’s Kim Eun-jung (sterling silver) and Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa (bronze). Additionally, there is the winner with the final two world championships – Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni – and 2013 globe champ Eve Muirhead of Great Britain, exactly who grabbed Olympic bronze in 2014.