After Good Start, Canada’s Mixed Doubles Curling Team A Solid Bet to Win Gold at Olympics

This is the second time that mixed doubles curling is being contested in the Olympics with 10 countries competing, an increase from the eight countries that competed in 2018.

Italy is at the top of the leaderboard with a 4-0 record. Canada is in second place with a 3-1 record, with wins against Norway, Switzerland and host China, after an opening games loss to Great Britain, the odds-on favorites to win the gold medal.

The Top 4 teams in the standings when the Round Robin concludes Monday will advance to the semifinals with the top-ranked team taking on the fourth-ranked team and the second- and third-ranked teams facing each other and with the winner of each semi-final advancing to the Gold Medal Game and the two semifinal losers competing for the bronze medal.

The loser of the Gold Medal game will be awarded the silver medal.

Next up for the Canadian team of Rachel Homan and John Morris is a match against the 3-2 Swedish team of Almida De Val and Oskar Eriksson.

How the Swedish Team Stacks Up

De Val was an extremely strong curler placing in the Top-6 in the World Junior Championships and winning the Championship in 2017.

She placed third in the 2021 mixed doubles World Championship in Aberdeen, Scotland. The 2021 season was the first time she had played mixed doubles.

“There were a few Swedish mixed doubles teams and I thought it would be fun to try. I was bugging Oskar (Eriksson) to play, and he said yes,” she said in a recent interview.

You can see why she asked him to join her given his career. He is the only Swedish curler to compete in nine consecutive World Championships from 2011 to 2019 and medaled in all but the 2016 Championship.

He is the first curler to win three major championships in a single calendar year: 2019 World Championship, European Championship, and World Mixed Doubles Championship. He won gold in the 2021, 2019, 2018, 2015, and 2013 World Championships.

How Canada's Team Stacks Up

The Canadiens are an excellent grouping of talent, and they communicate extraordinarily well during their games. Rachel Homan is 32 years old and has had an excellent curling career to date and one that might be peaking at just the right time here in Beijing.

She finished sixth in the 2018 Woman’s event in the Pyeongchang Olympics. She won gold in the 2017 Worlds in Beijing, silver in the Worlds in Saint John and bronze in the 2013 Worlds in Riga, Latvia. Following their World Championship win in 2017, Ottawa mayor Jim Watson declared March 26 “Team Homan Day.”

Homan is paired up with veteran John Morris, who won gold in the inaugural Mixed Doubles Tournament in the 2018 Winter Olympics and won gold in the 2010 Men’s Event held in Vancouver.

He is a firefighter in Canmore, Alberta when he is not training with his team. He was Homan’s coach when she won the silver medal at the 2010 World Juniors Championship.

He played on a Little League team in 1993 and lost in the championship game that would have advanced his team to Williamsport, Pa. for the Little League World Series. The opposing pitcher that day was Erik Bedard, who had a 12-year pitching career in MLB.

Our Wager is On Team Canada

So, the Canadian team of Homan and Morris is my bet to win the gold medal at +250. The British team is only modestly favored over the Canadians at +220, while Sweden +600 and Switzerland +800 round out the Top 4.