Canada wins first ever mixed doubles curling gold

It was exactly the two teams everyone expected to be there playing for the first ever Olympic mixed doubles gold early Tuesday morning. Two former gold medalists from curling crazy Canada facing off against the defending World Champions from Switzerland.

But, like they’ve done all tournament, Canada’s Kaitlin Lawes and John Morris once again dominated, and brought home another gold medal for Canada with a 10-3 victory over Switzerland’s Jenny Perret and Martin Rios.

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Lawes and Morris didn’t start playing together until just a month before coming to PyeongChang, and had only 30 minutes of practice with one-another before the Canadian Olympic Trials. But the duo played with the poise of curlers who had been together for decades, dominating the competition all week to the tune of 60 goals scored to only 30 allowed. In their eight wins, only one team played a full eight end game. Lawes and Morris forced conceded ends in their final seven games for a total of 11 ends conceded by the other team.

Canada was forced to settle for two points in the first end, and gave up two right back to Switzerland in the second after Rios had a double takeout for the Swiss, and Lawes was unable to respond with a double of her own.

The slight mistake in the second though was the only sign of weakness the Canadians would show all day. Switzerland had a shot go wide left in the third to set up a big end for Lawes and Morris, and they capitalized, knocking the lone Swiss yellow rock out of the house on the hammer throw to score four points and take a commanding 6-2 lead early.

Switzerland went with the power play option in the fourth end, but were forced to settle for just a single point to bring the deficit to three points at the midway point.

Canada continued to build on their lead in the fifth with two more points. Lawes’s hammer throw was just short of scoring a potential third point, but the Canadians were still able to take an 8-3 lead as chants of “Go Canada Go!” rang out through the Gangneung Curling Centre.

And go they did, to two more stolen points in the sixth for the ultimate win. Switzerland had the chance to score possibly four to make it interesting, but Lawes and Morris again were able to make the perfect throws to squeeze onto the button and kill any chance of a Swiss comeback.

Switzerland finishes with a silver medal, just the second silver medal in curling for the country all time. Canada continues to be the only country to medal in each of the Olympics curling has been played. The country has now won a total of six curling golds.

CAN    2    0    4    0    2    2    X    X - 10

SUI      0    2    0    1    0    0    X    X - 3