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Homan and Morris selected to represent Canada in mixed doubles curling at Olympics

In the end, the people handed the difficult task of selecting Canada’s mixed doubles curling representative for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, went with experience above all else.

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The selection committee, which included consultants from Curling Canada, the Canadian Olympic Committee and Own the Podium, named John Morris and Rachel Homan to wear the Maple Leaf in Beijing next month.

“We clearly came to the decision that we wanted to select a highly ranked team with a lot of international experience and a consistent record of winning performance,” said Scott Pfeiffer, who heads up Canada’s mixed doubles program.

“John and Rachel, with their experience at the Olympics, and John’s especially in mixed doubles, makes them a perfect team to represent Canada here in Beijing coming up.”

Morris has represented Canada at two Olympics — winning gold as the third for Kevin Martin in men’s curling in 2010 and taking home another gold in mixed doubles with teammate Kaitlyn Lawes in 2018 — and he’s considered one of the pioneers of mixed doubles curling.

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Homan skipped Canada’s women’s curling team at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang. Though her team finished a disappointing sixth, Homan has represented Canada in three world championships — winning gold in 2017. She also won the Canadian women’s championship three times and has finished second three times.

Homan and Morris have been together as a mixed doubles team, off and on, since 2015. They have a 45-4 record when playing together over the last six years and have won four events. The selection committee used winning percentage as part of its criteria.

“We have a great track record,” Morris said. “We’ve won quite a few major events. We just haven’t had a lot of time to play together. The events we’ve been able to team up for, we’ve been very successful.

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“Is this the way we wanted to be picked? No. We wanted to go to battle against Canada’s best and prove that we’re the best team in the nation. Under the circumstances, it was not possible so now we’re really excited to work really hard to get ready for Beijing and going out to prove ourselves on the ice there.”

The need for the team to be selected arose when the Canadian mixed doubles curling trials, slated for Portage la Prairie, Man., in late December and early January, were cancelled due to the rapid spread of the omicron variant of COVID-19.

That was supposed to be a 16-team field and there were many strong contenders to represent Canada.

The selection committee, instead, had to rely on things like Canadian Mixed Doubles Rankings points, past championships and, of course, experience, in order to come up with the team that has the best chance to win a medal in Beijing.

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Many teams were sitting on pins and needles for almost three weeks — the trials were cancelled on Christmas Eve — for a decision to be made. It finally came just 19 days before the start of the Olympic mixed doubles tournament (Feb. 2-8).

“It’s been a little bit of a roller-coaster on multiple fronts,” Homan said. “A lot of sitting around and waiting for both of us. It was just trying to find things to distract yourself while you’re waiting to hear what the decision is.

“As soon as you hear, it’s just go, go, go and try to make sure you’ve got all your ducks in a row. We’re really excited, grateful and honoured to have Curling Canada put their faith in us. We take that very seriously.”

The selection process was complicated by the fact that some of the top names in the CMDR rankings are already going to the Olympics to compete in four-player curling.

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For instance, Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant make up Canada’s top-ranked team, however both are going to Beijing already — Gallant as the second for Brad Gushue’s team out of Newfoundland and Peterman as the second for the Jennifer Jones team out of Winnipeg.

Jones herself is also a strong mixed doubles player and she and her husband Brett Laing are ranked second in Canada. Lisa Weagle, who is the fifth player/alternate for the Jones team, is ranked fourth, along with partner John Epping.

That left third-ranked Nancy Martin and Tyrel Griffith, a team that has done well in mixed curling but doesn’t have the same kind of experience or name recognition as many of the other teams, as the top option in terms of CMDR.

They clearly were not what the selectors were looking for.

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“It was gut-wrenching, honestly,” Martin said from her home in Saskatchewan. “It was very clear to us that the criteria, previous Olympic experience as one of the main factors, meant we didn’t have a chance.”

Homan and Morris are ranked fifth in the CMDR and clearly their years in the game, playing at the highest levels, made them the most appealing choice.

“As much as we feel for the other teams — we have some friends in the field that would have loved to have a chance to fight for Canada — we understand the circumstances and, at the end of the day, when you have an opportunity to wear the Maple Leaf on your back and go battle for your country and try to get a medal, that’s something you relish,” Morris said. “I can’t wait for one more opportunity.”

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Homan and Morris were teammates ahead of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, but Homan was not allowed to participate in mixed doubles because she was already skipping the women’s team in Pyeongchang.

Lawes was the fill-in and she wound up winning her second gold medal (she also won as third for Jones in 2014 and will represent Canada for a third time, with Jones again, in 2022).

The naming of Homan to the Olympic team will cause a problem for her four-player team. The squad, which includes third Emma Miskew, second Sarah Wilkes and lead Joanne Courtney, was recently named as Ontario’s representative to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, slated for the end of the month in Thunder Bay.

However, the Ontario Curling Association said in its release that if Homan was named to the mixed doubles team, the Hollie Duncan foursome would represent Ontario in Thunder Bay.

Twitter.com/Ted_Wyman

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