Canadian curlers will be able to compete in both mixed doubles and four-player teams at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Curling Canada announced changes to its mixed-doubles qualification process on Thursday.
The doubles team will be determined 14 months in advance of the Games in Milan and Cortina, Italy, to give flexibility to curlers looking to qualify for multiple events.
The 16-team Olympic mixed-doubles trials will begin in later December 2024 at a location yet to be determined.
The 2022 trials, which were cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions, would have finished a month before the start of the Beijing Games.
Previously, Canadian curlers could not participate in both mixed and four-player disciplines at a Games. Rachel Homan and John Morris were picked as representatives on Jan. 13, 2022, three weeks before their first match.
Morris had to find a new partner when mixed doubles made its debut at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games because Homan qualified to represent Canada in the women's event. Morris teamed with Kaitlyn Lawes to win gold.
Curling Canada announced in April that the four-player Olympic trials will take place Nov. 22-30, 2025.
"For those athletes who choose, in consultation with their respective teams and coaches, to play in both disciplines, this schedule gives them better opportunities for success in both events," Curling Canada high-performance director David Murdoch said in a statement. "Making these changes creates a much better and more manageable schedule for athletes and coaches.”
The winners of the 2024-25 mixed-doubles Olympic trials will also represent Canada at the 2025 world mixed-doubles championship, while the winner of the 2025 and 2026 nationals will play at the 2026 and 2027 worlds respectively. Curling
Canada says it will review this in time for the 2027 Canadian Mixed Doubles and 2028 World Mixed Doubles Championships.
Canada has won Olympic 12 medals across all curling events since 1998, but did not win a four-player medal in 2018 and settled for a single bronze in the men's event in 2022.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 27, 2023.
The Canadian Press
