“We won’t take this for granted”

Perhaps it was that famous Beijing Olympic kiss—and the playful mask-snap that came after it—that confirmed Curling Canada’s decision.

The two-time Canadian mixed doubles champions and world silver-medallist team of Jocelyn Peterman (Winnipeg) and Brett Gallant (St. John’s, N.L.) have been named to represent Canada at the 2022 World Mixed Doubles Championship.

The team will travel to the Curling Club Trois-Chêne in Geneva, Switzerland, from April 23-30, vying for the chance to claim Canada’s first world mixed doubles gold medal at the event.

Canada’s senior men’s and women’s national teams, skipped by Alberta’s Wade White and Saskatchewan’s Sherry Anderson, will also be competing at the concurrent World Senior Curling Championships.

“We’re excited to have this chance to represent Canada once again. As an athlete, you never know when you’ll get those opportunities and have to appreciate when they come around,” said Peterman. “Like everyone else, we wished we could have competed for this chance to represent Canada, and we won’t take this for granted. We want to make our country proud in Switzerland.”

It will be Peterman and Gallant’s second trip to the world mixed doubles. In 2019 the pair won silver in Stavanger, Norway, and it marks the most recent time Canada has been on the podium at an international mixed doubles event.

Peterman and Gallant also won the Canadian mixed doubles championship in 2016 but did not compete at the world championship due to scheduling issues with their four-player teams.

The pair is in the midst of a busy season after winning the Canadian Olympic Trials their respective four-player teams. Gallant, who plays second on Team Brad Gushue, earned the bronze medal at the 2022 Olympics.

Team Gushue starts Brier play this weekend, as the first men’s team to ever compete in a Canadian men’s championship in the same year of Olympic representation.

“Since 2019 we’ve been wanting to get back to this event and improve on our silver-medal finish,” said Gallant. “We’ve both learned a lot since then with some big wins and heartbreaking losses while representing Canada at the Olympics. Those were all character-building moments and we’ll use those to come out strong at worlds this year.”

Canada’s team at the world mixed doubles was to be determined at the 2022 mixed doubles nationals scheduled for late March in Sudbury. However, the event was cancelled due to restrictions and health concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.