Canada's earlier Olympic mixed doubles curling trials puts athletes in hurry-up mode

For mixed doubles curlers in Canada, the next Olympic Games are coming fast.

Curling Canada's changes to qualification means the country will know its 2026 representative in just over nine months, and well over a year out from the Winter Games in Milan and Cortina, Italy.

The gold, silver and bronze medallists in the national mixed doubles championships starting Sunday in Fredericton will be the first three declared teams for the 16-team Olympic trials Dec. 30, 2024 to Jan. 4, 2025.

Mixed doubles made its Olympic debut in 2018, when Canada's Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris claimed the first gold medal.

Lawes recalls the sprint between winning trials Jan. 7 and stepping on the ice in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Canada's women's and men's team Olympic trials remain in their usual late-fall spot on the calendar Nov. 22-30, 2025 in Halifax.

The seismic shift in the Olympic mixed doubles timeline accompanies another new development.

Curling Canada will allow a curler to compete in both mixed doubles and team curling in the same Olympic Games for the first time, which it didn't in 2018 or 2022.

"Previously Canada wouldn't allow that, but there were quite a few teams that did it and did it fairly successfully at the last Olympics, including teams that won medals, participated in the medal ceremony and immediately went on the ice the next day to play their four-person event," said mixed doubles coach and program manager Scott Pfeifer.

Sweden's Oskar Eriksson won men's team gold playing third for Niklas Edin after earning mixed doubles bronze with Almida de Val in Beijing in 2022.

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Scotland's Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds were mixed doubles teammates before Mouat skipped Scotland to men's team