Veteran curlers Marc Kennedy and Lisa Weagle will function backups within the occasion an harm or constructive COVID-19 check forces a change to the Canadian blended doubles roster earlier than the beginning of the Beijing Video games.
Rachel Homan and John Morris, at present coaching in isolation in Canmore, Alta., had been named as Canada’s blended doubles representatives final week.
Kennedy and Weagle are listed as alternates on the Canadian entries within the four-player competitions. Kennedy is the fifth on Staff Brad Gushue and Weagle is a member of the five-player Staff Jennifer Jones.
As a substitute of flying to China in early February with their respective groups, nationwide coach Scott Pfeifer stated Kennedy and Weagle will depart Jan. 29 on a group constitution with the blended doubles crew and help workers.
“Staff Jones and Staff Gushue are actually supportive of a blended doubles contingency plan,” Pfeifer stated Friday.
Combined doubles round-robin play begins Feb. 2 on the Ice Dice, two days earlier than the opening ceremony. Medal video games are set for Feb. 8, someday earlier than males’s group play begins and two days earlier than the beginning of ladies’s group competitors.
As soon as the blended doubles group lineup is submitted on Feb. 2, it can't change, Pfeifer stated. An harm or constructive check after that date would lead to a default since alternates will not be used within the self-discipline, he added.
Morris received gold with Kaitlyn Lawes on the 2018 Pyeongchang Video games within the Olympic debut for blended doubles. Lawes throws third stones on the Jones group.
Jones received gold on the 2014 Sochi Video games and Gushue received gold on the Turin Video games in 2006. They earned return Olympic appearances by skipping their groups to victory at Canada’s Olympic trials final November in Saskatoon.
“They’ve thought-about the higher Canadian Olympic group although it might impression their preparation plans,” Pfeifer stated. “They’ve actually gone out of their means to make sure that we do have a correct backup plan in place for the blended doubles, which is drastically appreciated from each of these groups.”
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Homan skipped the Canadian girls’s entry in Pyeongchang however didn't make the rostrum. Males’s skip Kevin Koe additionally missed out on a medal in 2018.
Homan and Morris have received 4 of their final six blended doubles competitions collectively and 45 of their final 49 video games as a duo general.
“The identical factor goes for the blended doubles athletes ought to anybody check constructive on the four-person facet, doubtlessly staying longer and serving in a help function there,” Pfeifer instructed The Canadian Press from Canmore.
Canada, Sweden, Nice Britain and Norway are a number of the headliners within the 10-team Olympic blended doubles subject.
WORLD JUNIORS POSTPONED
The 2022 world junior curling championships in Jonkoping, Sweden are being moved from March to mid-Might as a consequence of present restrictions by native well being authorities.
The occasion is now set for Might 15-22, the World Curling Federation stated Friday in a launch.
The world junior-B championships had been cancelled earlier this month as a consequence of a COVID-19 outbreak.
Since no groups had been promoted in consequence, Latvia, Norway and the U.S., -- the three-highest ranked nations not already certified -- will get spots within the girls’s occasion. Italy, New Zealand and Norway will fill out the boys’s subject.
TIEBREAKER TWEAK
Curling Canada has tweaked its tiebreaker formulation for the nationwide males’s and ladies’s nationwide championships this season.
In contrast to final season when a number of tiebreaker video games had been doable, just one tiebreaker sport might be performed this 12 months -- if mandatory -- for the third-place spot. A minimal round-robin file of 5-3 is required to take part.
if there's a tie between greater than two rinks, head-to-head file might be used to eradicate groups. If nonetheless tied, final stone draw statistics will decide the 2 tiebreaker groups.
Three wild-card groups might be included within the 18-team attracts on the Jan. 28-Feb. 6 Scotties Match of Hearts in Thunder Bay, Ont., and the March 4-13 Tim Hortons Brier in Lethbridge, Alta.
PARALYMPIC SCHEDULE
The Canadian wheelchair curling group will open play on the Beijing Paralympics on March 5 in opposition to host China.
The schedule for the 12-team competitors on the Ice Dice was unveiled Friday. Spherical-robin video games will proceed by March 10 and the gold-medal sport is about for March 12, the WCF stated.
Mark Ideson helped Canada win bronze on the 2018 Paralympics. China took the gold in South Korea.
The Canadian roster for Beijing is anticipated to be formally nominated subsequent week.
Estonia, Nice Britain, Korea, Latvia, Norway, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland and america are additionally within the subject.
OAKVILLE BOUND
The 2022 Canadian Underneath-18 Boys and Ladies Curling Championships might be performed Might 2-7 on the Oakville Curling Membership.
Initially scheduled for Feb. 14-20 in Timmins, Ont., Curling Canada had postponed the occasion as a consequence of pandemic issues.
The situation change was as a consequence of a scarcity of ice availability in Timmins for the remainder of the season, the federation stated.
Timmins will get a possibility to host in February 2023 as a substitute.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Jan. 21, 2022.
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