Rock Stars: Canada's Olympic history in mixed doubles curling
Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant were named Canada's 2026 pair on Monday.
Mixed doubles curling pair Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant were the first two athletes named to Team Canada for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games on Monday.
Mixed doubles is the newest Olympic curling event, making its debut at Pyeongchang 2018, but the world championships have been around since 2008. Remarkably Canada has never won a world championship gold medal, and have had mixed results so far on the Olympic stage.
Let’s dive into Canada’s history in the event at the Olympic Games so far.
RELATED: Peterman and Gallant officially named Canada's mixed doubles curling pair for Milano Cortina 2026
Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris, 2018
Before 2018, Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris were already Olympic champions in the four-person version of curling — Morris at home at Vancouver 2010 and Lawes four years later at Sochi 2014. As a result they were instantly seen as the top duo heading into mixed doubles’ Olympic debut at Pyeongchang 2018.
They lost their opening match to Norway, but ultimately lived up to expectations, going 6-1 to win the round robin and take top spot heading into the playoffs.
They avenged their initial defeat to Norwegian duo Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten by beating them 8-4 in the semifinals, before sweeping aside Switzerland’s Jenny Perret and Martin Rios with a dominant 10-3 win in the gold medal game.
The event was tarnished slightly by a doping scandal involving the bronze medal-winning Russian duo when Alexander Krushelnitskiy tested positive for Meldonium, after which the medal was reallocated to Norway.
Lawes is currently on a four-woman team with Peterman out of The Glencoe Club in Calgary, while Morris announced his retirement from competitive curling in 2022. Morris had one more trip to the Olympics in mixed doubles in him, though…
Rachel Homan and John Morris, 2022
Morris returned to the mixed doubles competition for a second time at the Beijing 2022 Games, partnering this time with Rachel Homan.
Like in 2018, Canada lost their opening match, but recovered well to win five of their next six games. They looked set to make the playoffs with two games remaining, but a shock defeat to Australia — in which they came back from a 7-0 deficit before ultimately losing 10-8 — left Canada needing to beat undefeated Italy in their final round robin match to finish in the top four and advance to the playoffs.
Canada was leading 7-5 with one end remaining, but Italy scored two to send it to an extra end, where they won by the smallest of margins as the final rock from Canada triggered a heartbreaking measurement that sent them home in fifth place.
Interestingly, Morris was actually the coach of the Australian pair in the Olympic qualifying event that they unexpectedly advanced from. It was that pair that then contributed to ending Morris’ chances at a third Olympic medal with the upset win in the round robin.
Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten, who Morris and Lawes beat in the semifinals four years earlier, improved on their bronze medal, taking silver behind undefeated Italian pair Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner — who will look to defend their crown next year in Constantini’s hometown of Cortina d'Ampezzo.
RELATED: Mogul Moments: Looking back at Canada's rich Olympic history in the sport
Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant, 2026
The next pair to wear the maple leaf in this event will be Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant.
They were provisionally nominated to Team Canada in January when they won the Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Trials, and a sixth-place finish at last week’s World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship sealed their Olympic qualification. Both competed at Beijing 2022 in the team events, with Gallant and the Canadian men earning a bronze medal and the women finishing fifth.
Peterman and Gallant debuted as a mixed doubles team in 2016, and won the national mixed doubles championship that year, adding another gold in 2019. They finished second and third in 2023 and 2024, respectively, and have a world championship silver medal from the 2019 event as well.
They came close to representing Canada at the 2018 Olympics, losing in the semifinals of the Canadian trials to the eventual Olympic gold medallists Lawes and Morris. This time around they will have that opportunity, and as the number one ranked team in the country will believe they can get Canada back onto the podium in Italy next winter.
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