Mixed doubles Olympic curling trials open in Liverpool

Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing in first-draw action at the 2025 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Trials at Queens Place Emera Centre in Liverpool on Monday. (Rick Conrad)

UPDATED 3:45 p.m. MONDAY

Some of the favourites were early winners on Monday at the 2025 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Trials at Queens Place Emera Centre in Liverpool.

Sixteen teams are competing for a chance to represent Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

The winning team here will represent Canada at the 2025 World Mixed Doubles Championship in April in Fredericton. That event also serves as a qualifier for the Olympics. If Canada qualifies there, it will be the winning team from Liverpool who will go on to the Olympics in Italy.

FULL COVERAGE: 2025 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Trials

Some of the biggest names in Canadian curling are at Queens Place Emera Centre this week. 

Teams are divided into two pools of eight during the round robin, which goes until Thursday. The top three teams from each pool then advance to a six-team playoff.

In the first draw Monday morning, Rachel Homan and Brendan Bottcher beat Paige Papley and Evan van Amsterdam 8-2 in six ends.

Bottcher and Homan said afterwards that they were happy with how they began the tournament.

“We played great,” Bottcher said. “I thought it was awesome to come out at the start of the week and have a real good game, but it’s going to be a long week so we’re going to have to keep playing well.”

“It was great to finally get on the ice and game mode,” Homan said, “just see how it felt for speeds and how the ice held up and it was great out there.”

Other winners on Monday morning were Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing, Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres, and Brittany Tran and Rylan Kleiter.

Local organizers were happy to get the first games under their belt. And they’re hoping curling fans will come out to some of the action.

“It’s coming along great,” said Kim Thorbourne-Whalen, vice-chair of the Liverpool Championship Host Society.

“It’s been a year, year and a half in the making and just to have to the opening cermeonies last night, it was a good crowd. It’s been great seeing all these big names … in Liverpool, on our ice, in our community, it’s amazing. For the final draw, there are only 60 seats available. We still have a lot of tickets (available) through the week.”

On Sunday evening, the Dartmouth and District Pipe Band kicked off the opening ceremonies at Queens Place. Mi’kmaw artist Melissa Labrador and her family performed a smudging ceremony. And Queens MLA Kim Masland, Region of Queens Mayor Scott Christian and Thorbourne-Whalen welcomed athletes and fans. Curling Canada’s Scott Pfeifer officially opened the trials.

Draws continue at Queens Place Emera Centre on Monday at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday’s draws are set for 9 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Up-to-date results and full schedule are available at the Curling Canada website. 

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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