Homan and Morris to participate Gushue, Jones in Beijing
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Canada’s Olympic curling groups tend to be ultimately total
Rocks start traveling in Beijing in 20 period, but it took until today for Canada to mention their last admission. John Morris and Rachel Homan will defend the combined doubles gold medal that Morris obtained in 2018 with previous teammate Kaitlyn Lawes.
Homan and Morris comprise on the list of 16 groups which were likely to vie for Canada’s place into the Olympic event in the nationwide blended increases tests in Manitoba prior to the occasion had been terminated last month. A Curling Canada-led panel spent the last few weeks determining which duo to transmit to Asia, considering issue such as present mixed-doubles abilities combined with worldwide achievements in old-fashioned styling. Another fancy pairing into the working ended up being reigning Scotties champ Kerri Einarson and 2014 Olympic men’s silver medallist Brad Jacobs. There was furthermore considerable lobbying from members who spend on their own to blended doubles and believe that should rely.
But, overall, skill acquired on. In the event that objective would be to deliver the group with the highest ceiling, then variety committee established on most apparent pick. Morris, 43, is actually a successful Olympic tinder or pof musician just who won a men’s silver medal while the next for Kevin prior to taking the blended doubles title with Lawes in 2018. The 32-year-old Homan the most effective curlers ever, with three Scotties games and some sort of title within her trophy circumstances. And theirs isn’t any shotgun relationship. Homan and Morris has played blended increases collectively since 2015. Morris considered Lawes four years back after Homan obtained the Canadian ladies’ studies, which generated her ineligible for Olympic combined doubles as a result of the Curling Canada plan prohibiting any individual from fighting in more than one curling occasion at the same video games.
As for Lawes, she actually is going to Beijing as well as an associate of Jennifer Jones-skipped rink that won the Canadian ladies’ studies in claimed the men’s room. In Gushue and Jones, Canada will have an old Olympic silver medallist at skip both in on the conventional straightening competitions in Beijing.
Now that we finally understand everyone who’s playing for Canada, why don’t we need a fast look at the three Olympic curling tournaments and what the Canadian groups is dealing with:
First, why don’t we enjoyed the ease of use associated with Olympic styling tournaments. All three events focus on a 10-team game robin, and the best four advance on the semifinals. The semifinal winners wager gold. The semifinal losers play for bronze. No web page playoffs, no strange triple-knockout brackets to understand. Effortless.
In 2018, when blended increases generated the Olympic first with an eight-team show, Morris and Lawes are a wrecking golf ball. After shedding their own opener to Norway, they reeled down eight straight wins to need silver, such as a 10-3 demolition of Switzerland during the final.
The silver-medal Swiss duo of Jenny Perret and Martin Rios are back for Beijing. Thus is the Norwegian pairing of Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten, who were awarded bronze following the man regarding the Russian team that overcome all of them unsuccessful a doping test. Besides Homan, truly the only different big-name skip involved in the combined increases competition is excellent Britain’s Bruce Mouat, a two-time European men’s champ exactly who took gold during the men’s room globes just last year.
A big storyline in Beijing are going to be Homan’s attempt to redeem herself from a devastating revealing inside ladies celebration in 2018. Her teams went 4-5 and turned the most important Canadian rink to miss the playoffs at the Olympics.
The combined doubles occasion becomes underway Feb. 2 at 7:05 a.m. ET, and Homan and Morris bring their unique earliest online game that nights at 8:05 p.m. ET vs. the uk. The semifinals take the day of elizabeth may be the following day at 7:05 a.m. ET.
Canada also flopped inside event in 2018, with Kevin Koe’s personnel dropping within the semifinals to ultimate champion John Shuster associated with the U.S. right after which acquiring upset by Switzerland in bronze-medal game. Before these Games, no Canadian straightening staff have actually did not victory a medal. In Pyeongchang, both standard groups did.
For Gushue, loads changed since the guy obtained his Olympic gold medal in Italy 16 years back. Back then, he was a gifted but still notably raw youngster which tossed fourth rocks but leaned on the renowned Russ Howard to name video games from second place (in formal Olympic records, Howard is listed as the miss). Now Gushue is perhaps all grown-up – a 41-year-old father of two who is totally in command of their art. He caught three Brier titles from 2017-20 and some sort of title in ’17. Gushue got care of company since favorite at the Canadian tests in e on the way to beating Jacobs in best.
The competition in Beijing shall be difficult. It offers Shuster, Mouat and five-time world winner Nik Edin of Sweden, who is shopping for 1st Olympic silver after taking bronze in 2014 and gold in ’18. The event starts Feb. 8 at 7:05 a.m. ET, when Canada faces Denmark. The semis include morning of age are 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 champ and an Olympic silver medallist in 2014. But the woman triumph at the Canadian trials was somewhat of a surprise. At 47, Jones got regarded as past the woman best, & most observers rated her behind Homan, Einarson while the red-hot Tracy Fleury. Sure enough, Jones destroyed to all the of them into the spherical robin. But when the potato chips had been down she came through, trouncing Krista McCarville for the semis before taking the last from an undefeated Fleury in an additional conclusion.
In Beijing, Jones is going to be facing all three medallists from 2018: protecting champ Anna Hasselborg of Sweden, southern area Korea’s Kim Eun-jung (silver) and Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa (bronze). Additionally, there is the champ regarding the latest two business championships – Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni – and 2013 business champ Eve Muirhead of good Britain, which took Olympic bronze in 2014.