Canada’s Homan, Morris drop opener to Great Britain in mixed doubles curling | CBC Sports

Great Britain entered the game with momentum after kicking off the tournament with a solid 9-5 win over Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson and Almida de Val. The British duo won gold at the world mixed doubles championship last May.

Mouat, one of the top skips in the world, is also a gold-medal threat in the men’s event after winning silver at the world championships last April.

Morris had two uncharacteristic misses in the first end against Great Britain, but Homan saved the end and opened the scoring with a hit and roll to the button to score one.

Great Britain pulled even with a single in the second end before taking a 2-1 lead with a steal of one in the third end.

WATCH l Canada falls to Great Britain in mixed doubles curling opener:

Canada drops Olympic mixed doubles curling opener to Great Britain

Scottish curlers Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat stole a 6-4 win over defending Olympic champion John Morris and his new partner Rachel Homan at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games. 2:51

Morris began to get things going in the fourth end after a slow start as the Canadians tied the game at two apiece.

Great Britain reclaimed the lead with single in the fifth, but Homan stepped up once again by scoring a clutch double on the final shot of the sixth end to give Canada a 4-3 lead.

Great Britain responded by scoring two in the seventh end to take a one-point lead.

Canada had the hammer in the final end, but Morris missed a double. Dodds then made a great shot to set up the win, with Homan unable to make anything happen on the final shot.

Despite the loss, Canada is poised to go far in the mixed doubles tournament with the two highly decorated Ottawa curlers.

Morris, 43, captured Olympic mixed doubles gold alongside Kaitlyn Lawes four years ago in South Korea, and he won the Olympic men’s tournament with skip Kevin Martin in Vancouver in 2010.

He has been playing with Homan since 2015, but she was ineligible for the mixed doubles Olympic tournament in 2018 after winning the women’s Olympic trials.

Homan has three Scotties titles and a world championship on her impressive resume. The 32-year-old competed on the Olympic stage in 2018, but her women’s team became the first from Canada to ever miss the playoffs in Olympic curling.

Curling Canada selected Morris and Homan to represent the Canada in Beijing after the Olympic trials were cancelled in December due to the pandemic.

Making its second Olympic appearance after debuting in Pyeongchang, the mixed doubles tournament in Beijing will see 10 teams compete in the round-robin stage. The top four will advance to the semifinals to battle for a spot in the gold-medal game on Feb. 8 at 7 a.m. ET.

Homan and Morris will next play 2018 Olympic bronze medallists Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten of Norway on Thursday at 7:05 a.m. ET. All games will be streamed live on CBC Gem, the CBC Sports app and CBC Sports’ Beijing 2022 website.