Peterman, Gallant end Olympic mixed doubles curling competition with near-perfect performance

Their Olympic dream that was 10 years in the making had a bittersweet ending Monday morning for Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant.

The Team Canada mixed doubles curling duo finished their Olympic experience together with an 8-4 victory over Switzerland’s Briar Schwaller-Hürlimann and Yannick Schwaller. The Canadian husband-and-wife team from Chestermere, Alta., finished the 10-team round robin with a 4-5 record, the same as the Swiss. Both teams finished out of the playoffs, with the Canadians ranked fifth overall.

“It’s good to end on a good note,” Gallant said of the final game. “We played really well today. It’s just a good feeling because we were pretty deflated after yesterday. It was a tough day. Didn’t get the best sleep last night, so to come out this morning with energy and play really well, quite proud of that.”

In sharp contrast to their previous five games, Peterman and Gallant finished with a 90 percent team shooting percentage and 100 percent on 10 hits. The hits had been a major issue for the previous several games.

“You never want to dog it or not bring your best when you’re wearing the maple leaf,” said a smiling Peterman. “So, we wanted to do that today and finish on a win. Proud of that.”

What began as curling friends became mixed doubles teammates and grew into husband and wife and parents to two-year-old son Luke. Peterman, 32, and Gallant, 36, worked on their game and their family life with one goal – play in the Olympics as teammates.

They began the Games riding an emotional high for two days when they began the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics with three straight victories. Unfortunately for them, that was followed by three days of on-ice frustration and confusion as their game and their hopes slipped away through five consecutive losses.

After upsetting defending Olympic and reigning world champion Italy 7-2, the Canadians suffered a difficult loss to the United States, giving up three in the seventh end of a 7-5 defeat. The pinpoint accurate shooting pair began their struggles on the third day of play when ice conditions changed and they never adjusted to the faster, straighter surfaces of the Cortina Olympic Stadium.

But they leave the mixed doubles competition with some smiles and the consolation of departing on a winning note. In a game with both teams playing only for pride, the Canadians played an ideal first end with five well-placed stones that led to a steal of one. It was an indication of the type of day they would have.

It was the seventh time in their nine games that Peterman and Gallant began without last rock.

A repeat performance in the second end resulted in a steal of two before the Swiss responded with two of their own in the third. Canada scored a single in the fourth and got an unexpected gift of one in the fifth when Schwaller-Hürlimann committed a hog line violation with her final stone.

The Swiss made it close with a deuce in the sixth, but Canada took total control by scoring three on a seventh-end power play for an 8-3 margin. Swiss got a single in eight.

With their Olympic days as teammates ended, Gallant will have to flush the frustration of the mixed doubles competition, clear his head and get refocused as he now joins the four-player Brad Jacobs-skipped team in the men’s tournament that begins Feb. 11.

Peterman plans to remain in Italy to enjoy time with their son and other family members to cheer on the Canadian teams in the men’s and women’s competitions.