Curling Canada unveils 16 mixed doubles teams vying to wear Maple Leaf in 2026

The field for the Olympic mixed doubles curling trials includes a who's who of Canadian curling.

The 16 teams announced Tuesday compete Dec. 30, 2024, to Jan. 4, 2025, in Liverpool, N.S., for the right to represent Canada at the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy.

Mixed doubles made its Olympic debut in 2018, when Canada's Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris claimed the first gold medal in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The 2025 trials winner must help qualify Canada for the Winter Games and will do that at the 2025 world championship April 26 to May 3 in Fredericton.

The top eight countries in World Curling's rankings will compete in Italy.

The 2024 world mixed doubles championship was also a qualifying factor. Canada ranks fifth in the world after Colton and Kadriana Lott of Gimli, Man., reached the playoff round in Aberdeen, Scotland.

The Lotts, Brendan Bottcher and reigning women's world champion skip Rachel Homan, Lisa Weagle and John Epping, Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres, and the husband-and-wife duos of Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing, and Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant, are in the trials field.

Peterman and Gallant were world championship silver medallists in 2019 and Walker and Muyres, the top-ranked team in Canada, were bronze medallists in 2018.

Eight teams gained entry to the Olympic trials via the 2024 national mixed championship, last season's Canadian rankings or at one of three direct-qualifying events.

The remaining eight top-ranked teams were confirmed after the Rocky Mountain Classic concluded Sunday in Banff and Canmore, Alta.

The rest of the trials field includes Nancy Martin and Steve Laycock, Brittany Tran and Rylan Kleiter, Jennifer Armstrong and Tyrel Griffith, Riley Sandham and Brendan Craig, Taylor Reece-Hansen and Corey Chester, Anne-Sophie Gionest and Robert Desjardins, Melissa Adams and Alex Robichaud, Jessica Zheng and Victor Pietrangelo, Paige Papley and Evan Van Amsterdam, and the father-daughter duo of Jim Cotter and Jaelyn Cotter.

Canada's team trials will be Nov. 22-30 in Halifax. The mixed doubles trials were shifted to much earlier in the calendar to allow the winner more preparation time, particularly if those curlers aspire to represent Canada in both team and mixed doubles in Italy.

No title sponsor nor broadcast partner has been announced yet for mixed trials. Games will be streamed on Curling Canada's YouTube channel.

   This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 10, 2024.