Peterman, Gallant aim to secure Olympic spot at world mixed doubles curling playdowns

Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant, left, in action at the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday, April 27, 2022.(THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Keystone - Martial Trezzini)

Curlers Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman have already earned the right to wear the Maple Leaf should Canada qualify for mixed doubles at the Winter Olympics.

Now the husband-and-wife duo just has to go out and secure the country’s berth.

Gallant and Peterman will represent Canada at the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship starting Saturday at Willie O’Ree Place in Fredericton. The event is the main qualifier for the 2026 Milan/Cortina Games.

“It would mean everything to be able to do it together,” Peterman said of returning to the Olympics.

The Canadian pair from Chestermere, Alta., will open play Saturday morning against Germany’s Pia-Lisa Schoell and Joshua Sutor.

Combined results from this year’s competition and the 2024 world playdowns will determine the seven countries that will join host Italy at the Games. The two remaining spots in the 10-team field will come from the Olympic Qualifying Event in December at Kelowna, B.C.

Reigning Canadian mixed doubles champions Kadriana Lott and Colton Lott were fifth at last year’s worlds in Oestersund, Sweden.

Gallant is capping a full season that included a Montana’s Brier title for his Alberta team skipped by Brad Jacobs. The squad is coming off a third-place finish at the recent world men’s curling championship.

Peterman, who plays on a women’s team skipped by Kaitlyn Lawes, is looking to return to the Olympics after missing the podium at the 2022 Beijing Games on a side skipped by Jennifer Jones.

Gallant won Olympic bronze three years ago on a team skipped by Brad Gushue.

John Morris and Rachel Homan represented Canada in mixed doubles at the Ice Cube but did not make the playoffs. They were selected for the spots after the trials were cancelled due to COVID-19.

Curling Canada made several changes for the current quadrennial.

The federation moved the date of the trials to a year out from the Games instead of a month out. It also allowed athletes to compete in both the mixed doubles and four-player team events should they qualify.

Gallant and Peterman ran the table at the trials nearly four months ago. They capped their 10-game run with an 8-7 victory over Homan and Brendan Bottcher in the final.

With four-player team play complete for the season, the Canadians focused on mixed doubles training over the last few weeks and were joined by national coach Scott Pfeifer for camps ahead of the world playdowns.

Gallant and Peterman are looking to win Canada’s first gold medal at this event. They were fifth in 2022 and dropped a 6-5 decision to Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg and Oskar Eriksson in the 2019 final.

The Canadians are hoping to lean on their experience at the 20-team competition.

“It’s exactly where we want to be and it’s why we play the sport,” Gallant said in a recent interview. “It’s why we love it so much is to play in these kind of big events (with) these pressure moments. So I’m excited to feel that.

“It’s going to be pretty fun to experience that with (Jocelyn) again.”

Round-robin play continues through Thursday. The top three teams from each 10-team pool will advance to the playoffs starting May 2.

Top-ranked Harri Lill and Marie Kaldvee of Estonia and No. 2 Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten of Norway are among the headliners. Peterman and Gallant are ranked fifth in the world.

“It’s going to be tough,” Gallant said. “There’s also a lot of past winners that are going to be there. So a tough field, but we feel like we also slot in there pretty well.”

Medal games are set for May 3. Canada has reached the podium on four occasions (two silver, two bronze) since the event’s inception in 2008.

The world senior curling championships will run in conjunction with the playdowns. The Canadian women’s team will be skipped by Atina Ford Johnston and the men’s side will be skipped by Randy Bryden.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 25, 2024.

Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press