They’re daring to dream in Liverpool

They’re daring to dream of Olympic curling glory in Liverpool, N.S.

Canada’s first Olympic Trials for the mixed doubles discipline to be hosted over a year in advance of the Games—scheduled for February 2026 in Cortina, Italy—are now underway.

Draw 1 kicked off with late tournament qualifiers Rachel Homan and Brendan Bottcher scoring five unanswered points in the first two ends en route to a six-end 8-2 dismantling of fellow Edmontonians Paige Papley and Evan Van Amsterdam.

Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing also joined the win column, with a 6-5 victory over Jessica Zheng and Victor Pietrangelo of Niagara Falls, Ont.

The 2023 national champions needed to score a deuce in the final end to notch the win.

Things were even scarier for 2018 champions Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres. The veteran pair needed a steal in their eighth and final end against Quebeckers Anne-Sophie Gionest and Robert Desjardins, and they got three for an inflated 8-5 win.

In final opening draw action, recent qualifiers Brittany Tran and Rylan Kleiter broke a 3-3 tie with three straight steals and scored a 6-3 win over the veteran Saskatchewan duo of Nancy Martin and Steve Laycock.

Draw two is now underway at the Queens Place Emera Centre and features 2024 champs Kadriana and Colton Lott against New Brunswickers Melissa Adams and Alex Robichaud; all-stars Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant versus Guelph, Ontario’s Riley Sandham and Brendan Craig; the Ottawa/Toronto combo of Lisa Weagle and John Epping up against Taylor Resse-Hansen and Cory Chester of Victoria, B.C. and the Cotters—Jaelyn and dad Jim of Vernon, B.C.—challenging Jennifer Armstrong and Tyrel Griffith.

Various games are being livestreamed at the Curling Canada YouTube page.

The 16 teams are competing in two round-robin pools of eight through Jan. 1. The top three teams from each pool will advance to a six-team playoff.

Playoff action begins on Jan. 2, with the top two pairs from each pool crossing over to compete for a direct spot in the Page 1 vs 2 game. The losers drop down to play the third-placed teams in each pool for the spots in the Page 3 vs 4 game. 

From there, the winner of the Page 1/2 game advances to the final, while the loser will play the winner of the Page 3/4 game in the semifinal.

The semifinal winner moves on to the gold-medal match on Jan. 4.