Kirk Muyres and Laura Walker take one more step on Olympic journey

Boxing Day is officially lift off day for Kirk Muyres on his way to a date with destiny. St. Gregor’s native son has been an ambassador to the sport of curling both provincially and nationally. Now, along with mixed doubles curling partner Laura Walker, he’s hoping to step onto the international stage by winning his way to an Olympic berth for Canada at the 2026 Games in Italy.  

Muyres flies out to Halifax the day after Christmas for some practice time before shifting to Liverpool, NS for the Mixed Doubles Olympic Trials. The dates for the trials have been bumped up a year to accommodate preparation for the athletes. Muyres says he and Walker have done everything in their power to set themselves up strong against a field that includes some of Canada’s best curlers.  

Following a series of pre-trial events that Walker and Muyres participated in, Curling Canada released the full roster of 16 teams in the trials that go from December 30 to January 4. Among the more well-known names are Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant, Lisa Weagle and John Epping, Rachel Homan and Brendan Bottcher, and Jennifer Jones returning after her retirement from the women’s game with her husband Brent Laing. Fellow Saskatchewanians Nancy Martin and Steve Laycock, always a threat, will also join the field.  

Walker and Muyres qualified for the trials a year ago through their accumulation of CTRS points buoyed by strong finishes in numerous events. The pre-trials served as the penultimate tune-up against many of the teams they’ll face in the year-end competition. 

“We knew that the teams we were playing in the pre-trials are some of the same ones in the trials, so we tried to stretch the envelope on some of the decisions we were making on the ice and some of the communication we were using and just trying to figure out some of the places we could be better,” Muyres elaborates.  

The post-events analysis was just as important, Muyres explains. The mental rewind confirmed that the pair needed to stick to much of what has worked for them in the past. It’s a chess game in that it requires an understanding of each opponent's tendencies, strategies, performances strengths and on-ice demeanor as just some of the factors. In the trials, it’s a matter of tackling who is in your pool of eight teams, says Muyres. 

“Looking subjectively at it, I think the pools are pretty fair. You work your way through your pool in seven round robin games. The top three teams make the playoffs.” 

It’s a page playoff system similar to those used in the Scotties and the Brier where the top two teams play to get into the 1-2 page game. The loser plays the third ranked team to get to the 3-4 page game.  

“It is a pretty fair system; it gives a benefit to being the top two teams in your pool. You hope you’re on the top of the pile when it’s all over.” 

It’s a field that would put the shake in anyone’s boots, but Muyres says there’s no real surprises when it comes to sifting and sorting the talent pool in Canadian curling. 

“There are no easy games. Even some of the teams you may not have heard of, we’ve played them over the years and they’re going to come out firing. On any given day you must play really well, and hopefully the rolls come out your way.” 

Muyres says viewers of the event shouldn’t be surprised to see some of those unknown teams beat the likes of Jones or Homan. There are no underdogs in a field that’s this talented and specialized.  

“You’re going to see everyone beating up on each other, and that’s the beauty of the mixed doubles.” 

The return of Jennifer Jones to the ice is bound to attract spectators and online viewers and hopefully draw more people into the sport with the ramp up to the Milano Cortina Olympics. Muyres and Walker both have their core of dedicated followers stemming from their Scotties and Brier appearance, and from their consistent success in the mixed doubles discipline. The true excitement will be in the contests themselves.  

While the trials won’t have a network home for broadcast, viewers can catch the excitement on the Curling Canada YouTube livestream.  

Before embarking on this most important chapter of his curling career, Muyres has special holiday wishes for the hometown crowd and curling lovers everywhere.  

“Season's greetings, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. I appreciate all the support always and hopefully you get some time with family and over the holidays.” 

Enjoy the full conversation with Kirk Muyres.