“They took a chance on me; that’s pretty brave of them”
It’s been a pretty good ride, so far, for Kaitlyn Lawes. And the journey ain’t over, with a shot at uncharted Olympic territory before her.
Six Scotties podiums, including gold and two silvers. A world championship and a silver. Ten Grand Slam victories. And, of course, two Olympic gold medals, meaning Lawes has an opportunity for the fabled threepeat in Beijing.
“It would be super-cool, but I don’t think about it other than when people bring it up,” Lawes said prior to departure for China.
She can’t become the first curler to accomplish the feat, as Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson won bronze in the mixed doubles discipline, to go along with his men’s team bronze from Sochi 2014 and silver from PyeongChang 2018.
And before two powerful wins on Monday, which evened her Canadian women’s team record to 3-3, things were looking a bit dicey for the Canadian women. They’re not out of the woods yet, and yet ...
“The Olympics is the happiest place on earth,” said Lawes. “We call it Disneyland for athletes, and there’s nothing like it. It’s so unique and so special in so many ways, bringing the world together and in one place for something good. It’s so special to be a part of.”
This ain’t no regular business trip, then, not even for someone who’s won so much. “It's very emotional,” says Lawes.
The list of her accomplishments would do proud a veteran who’d played twice as long as Lawes has—she just turned 33, for crying out loud—and you’d have to assume they’ll only get better as the Winnipeg native looks squarely ahead towards another decade and a half of elite playing years.
Lawes, though, tries to stay in the present as much as possible. Looking too far down the road doesn’t interest her.
However, if you ask her to pause and reflect on her life of delivering stones—something she’s done since she was four years old—Lawes is happy to oblige.
“I do take moments to reflect back on my curling career,” she said, “and it’s pretty crazy. If you think about it, like wow. I’ve accomplished a lot in the sport alongside my teammates and it’s pretty neat.”
In taking stock, Lawes recalled her early days with the Jones team, joining them after a stint as third for Cathy King the season before. With King, Lawes got her first taste of the Olympic trail, falling short at the 2009 Canadian pre-trials. “Losing out in the pre-trials, I was so heartbroken,” she said. “That was kind of what made me realize that I wanted to work towards going to the Olympics.”
When the King team disbanded that season, Lawes was a free agent, and Jennifer Jones came calling, stirring controversy in deciding to replace the team’s longtime third, Cathy Overton-Clapham. Lawes remains grateful for that opportunity.
“I mean, they took a chance on me,” she said. “That’s pretty brave of them to bring on a 21-year-old. I love that they saw something in me and just appreciated that so much.”
“They were like big sisters to me. I guess you could say I looked up to them and I had to learn a lot.”
Where, oh where has the time gone? It can’t really be coming up on 12 years since the star junior skip joined Team Jones as third, can it?
Yes, it can and yes, it has. And in case you hadn’t noticed, Kaitlyn Lawes long ago ceased being the hotshot young newbie, sponging up the knowledge from her skip and mentor. In case you hadn’t noticed, Kaitlyn Lawes is smack dab in the middle of her curling prime, a crucially valuable partner in both shooting and strategizing on the back end for Team Jones.
“We've definitely formed a partnership, a sisterhood,” said Lawes not just of her skipper, but of all of her teammates, including second Jocelyn Peterman and the lead tandem of Dawn McEwen and Lisa Weagle. And, you’d have to assume, she’s also referring to longtime teammate Jill Officer, who departed the team in 2018. “We’re family,” added Lawes. “We’re more than just teammates.
“I feel like I’ve matured a lot over the years and they’ve helped me turn into the woman and teammate and athlete that I am today, which I’m so appreciative of.”
You can certainly find observers in the curling world who think that Lawes is hitting another gear as the Olympics approach—“the best player on the ice” said analyst Mike Harris of Lawes’ play in the final of the Canadian Olympic Trials.
Beyond the execution of shots, it seems that Jones and Lawes have arrived at a place of mutual understanding that has evolved and strengthened over the years.
“You just form a certain trust and bond,” explained Lawes. “We can say anything to each other and we respect each other's opinion.”
“We clicked right from the beginning,” remembered Jones. “I feel like that part has been always really, really strong with us. Being able to communicate and talk and give each other feedback.”
And that aspect of the relationship has done nothing but grow, thrive and keep on giving.
“I think we still make each other better on the ice,” said Lawes, “and two brains are better than one. So if I have an opinion, she’ll listen. At the end of the day, though, she’s still the skip and she’s the one throwing the last rock. So I respect what she wants to do and how she wants to call the game.”
These days, Lawes admits, she hears a familiar question, continually, and that question is: “when you gonna skip your own team?” After all, one of the reasons Jones thought have having Lawes join her team back in 2010 was that the youngster had impressed as a junior skip, winning back to back Canadian championships in 2008 and 2009.
But that can wait. “I still feel like I have a lot to give and learn in the third position,” Lawes said, hinting that she might well skip again when the time is good and right, “and I’m very happy with where I’m at.”
Lawes, of course, won Olympic gold with Jones at Sochi in 2014, with the team going undefeated on the way to the top of the podium. She won, again, in mixed doubles, with John Morris, four years ago in PyeongChang.
She knew a repeat would be a monumental task; Lawes herself pointed out there are precisely zero “gimmes” on the Olympic schedule. As predicted, two of Europe’s heavyweights—Anna Hasselborg and her defending Olympic champs from Sweden as well as the current world champions from Switzerland, Silvana Tirinzoni—are among the contenders vying for gold.
“The field is stacked,” Lawes said.
But that’s okay, because “we thrive on big moments,” she added. “And we challenge each other, but we’ve continued to learn from each other.”
“It’s been really neat to see how our partnership’s evolved over the years.”