Canada looking for 1st mixed doubles curling world championship
Olympic qualification points also on the line for Canadian team of Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant
Six years ago, Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant came close to becoming world champions together.
The married couple, who compete in mixed doubles together, finished second at the discipline's world championship in 2019. They lost to Swedes Anna Hasselborg and Oskar Eriksson by just one point.
No Canadian team has ever won a world mixed doubles curling championship, but Peterman and Gallant would like to change that.
They'll represent Canada at the world championship on home ice, beginning on Saturday at Willie O'Ree Place in Fredericton, N.B. The pair earned their spot at Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Trials in Liverpool, N.S. in January, defeating Rachel Homan and Brendan Bottcher 8-7 in the final.
"I haven't won a world championship," Peterman told CBC Sports. "I would love to be a world champion and kind of leave it all on the ice in that sense. We came up just short of that in 2019 and we would love nothing more than to stand on the top of that podium and hopefully send a message of what we're hoping to do next year."
Qualification for next year's Olympics in Italy are also on the line at the tournament. Peterman and Gallant will represent Canada there too, should they qualify.
Ten teams will compete in mixed doubles inside Cortina Olympic Stadium in Cortina D'Ampezzo next February. Italy automatically qualifies as the host country.
The top seven other countries will also earn spots, based on points earned at the 2024 world championship and this year's tournament in Fredericton. The final two spots will be determined by a last-chance qualification event set for December.
Going into the world championship, Canada has 16 points for Olympic qualification in mixed doubles, ranked sixth on a list that includes Italy's automatic berth at number one.
Peterman and Gallant have already been to an Olympics at the same time — Peterman as the second for Jennifer Jones' rink and Gallant as the second on a bronze-medal winning team led by Brad Gushue in 2022.
But it's another goal for the couple to get there together.
"That's firing us up for this upcoming week," Gallant said last week from Calgary, where he and Peterman were training for the world championship.
Under the same roof
A lot has changed since the loss at worlds in 2019.
For one, Peterman and Gallant now live under the same roof. At one time, the pair were split up with Peterman based out of Winnipeg and Gallant in St. John's. They've also become parents to a son, Luke, who was born in May 2023.
"We met through curling," Gallant said. "We competed together before we were really a couple. We have a lot in common obviously on the ice and it just seemed to come naturally to us. We've never really known it any other way than to also compete together. It's been part of our relationship since day one."
'Even playing ground'
Ahead of the world championship in Fredericton, they also had a training camp with Scott Pfeifer, the mixed doubles national team coach and program manager with Curling Canada.
He's watched them evolve as mixed doubles curlers over nearly a decade of competing with each other.
WATCH | Peterman, Gallant victorious at Canadian mixed doubles trials:
"They're still learning every single day that they're out on the ice and I don't think they're afraid to try new things," Pfeifer said in an interview.
Canada has had strong entries at world mixed doubles in the past, but has never been able to prevail through a deep field. There's more depth than at the men's or women's world championship, where a country needs to find four curlers who click together.
Tiny Estonia, for instance, won silver at last year's mixed doubles world championship.
"It's just a more even playing ground at the world championships, just with a lot of great countries playing the discipline," Peterman said.
More time to prep for Olympics
Should the Canadians qualify for the Olympics, there will also be more time to prepare. Peterman and Gallant won the right to represent Canada this past January, more than a year before the Olympics are set to begin. Previous teams only had a few weeks to prepare.
They also won't be restricted from competing in both mixed doubles and for their four-person teams, should they qualify in both disciplines. That's something Gallant said other countries have had success doing.
Canada's Lawes and John Morris won Olympic gold in mixed doubles curling at the discipline's debut in Pyeongchang in 2018. Morris, paired with Homan, was unable to defend the title in 2022, finishing fifth.
But before thinking about Italy, Peterman and Gallant have a world championship to tackle. To reach that pinnacle, they'll have stiff competition. Hasselborg and Eriksson, who beat Peterman and Gallant in 2019, are back. So are the reigning Olympic champions, Italy's Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner.
Peterman also pointed to the Swiss team of Alina Pätz and Sven Michel, and the Scots, made up of Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat, who just led his four-man rink to a world championship.
They'll have some familiar faces in the stands in New Brunswick. Gallant grew up in Charlottetown, and the pair have had success curling in the Maritimes.
"There's something about being on the east coast that puts me in a good place," Gallant said.
One of those faces will be baby Luke, who will be making the trip to Fredericton.
He's not likely to remember watching his parents compete together, but they hope it will someday show him where hard work can take you. Both say he's added perspective to their curling careers.
"He doesn't care whether we win or lose after a game," Gallant said.
Canada begins its schedule at the world championship with draws against Germany at 8 a.m. ET and Denmark at 5 p.m. ET.
The gold-medal game is set for May 3 at 1 p.m. ET.
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