Canadian curlers ousted from Olympics in heartbreaking fashion
Canada was about as close as you could come to a spot in the mixed doubles curling playoff at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
The Team Canada curling duo of veteran players Rachel Homan and John Morris came within millimetres of advancing to Monday’s semifinals, but had to come to terms with a heartbreaking 8-7 extra end loss over a now 9-0 Italy side.
In the final shot of the extra end with Canada carrying the hammer, Homan’s shot carried just a hair too long, giving Italy’s Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner the victory.
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A series of measurements confirmed the Italian win.
By a hair, #TeamCanada's mixed curling dream is over
Italy wins 7-8 after a measurement in the extra end favoured them by a millimetre, knocking the Canadians out of the running
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“We left it all out there. We fought hard for Canada,” Homan said post-match. “We missed it by an eighth of an inch.”
Canada fell behind 1-0, 4-2, and 5-4 before eventually taking the lead 7-5 in the seventh end. Canada looked like they had a chance to clinch it in the eighth end after a pair of strong shots by Morris, but a missed draw by Homan allowed Italy the opportunity to tie things up by scoring two.
Canada finished with a record of 5-4 to miss out on a spot in the top-four knockout round.
Morris, the 2018 gold medalist in mixed doubles curling along with Kaitlyn Lawes, was chasing his third Olympics medal after also winning gold in 2010 as part of the Kevin Martin rink.
“It just wasn’t meant to be this week,” Morris added. “I just want to let everyone know in Canada, we love you guys, we gave it everything we got. Thanks for cheering hard and watching. Go Canada, we love ya.”
Homan, on the other hand, was searching for her first medal, after skipping Canada to a fifth-place finish in 2018 in the women’s curling tournament at the Pyeongchang Olympics.
There’s a short turnaround for the medal rounds, with the single-elimination semifinal games taking place Monday at 7 am ET/ 4 am PT. Italy will take on Sweden, while Great Britain and Norway will face off in the simultaneous other side of the bracket.
For Canadian curling fans, they’ll turn their attention to the rinks of Brad Gushue and Jennifer Jones, who kick off the men’s and women’s tournaments on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
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