Canada closes Olympic mixed doubles schedule on winning note

CORTINA d’AMPEZZO, Italy — It started fine, and it finished with a victory, but was the middle of the schedule that ultimately proved the difference for Canada’s Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The Chestermere, Alta., tandem, with team coach Laine Peters and national coach Scott Pfeifer, closed out their mixed doubles curling schedule Monday morning at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium with an 8-4 win over Switzerland’s Briar Schwaller-Hürlimann and Yannick Schwaller.

The win snapped a five-game losing streak for Team Canada, which opened the competition with three straight wins. Peterman and Gallant’s 4-5 record nails down an official fifth-place finish in the 10-team standings — just outside of the four-team playoffs.

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

Canada never trailed against the Swiss, stealing one in the first end and two more in the second. The key blow came in the fifth when Switzerland, trailing 4-2, had a runback double takeout opportunity to score a potential three. But Schwaller-Hürlimann’s rock was pulled for a hog-line violation and Canada stole a single.

Switzerland rallied for a deuce in the sixth, but Peterman made a precise come-around tap to remove a buried Swiss stone and score three for Canada and complete the scoring. Peterman and Gallant ran Switzerland out of rocks in the eighth.

Gallant will have a full day off on Tuesday to recover before hitting the ice on Wednesday as the second for Team Brad Jacobs of Calgary as it opens its men’s four-player round-robin slate at 1:05 p.m. (all times Eastern) against Team Marc Muskatewitz of Germany.

Team Rachel Homan of Ottawa plays its first women’s game Thursday at 3:05 a.m. against Team Madeleine Dupont of Denmark.

For live scoring, team lineups, and standings for the three Olympic curling competitions, CLICK HERE.

All of Canada’s games will be broadcast on a variety of platforms by CBC, the official Olympic rights-holder in Canada. CLICK HERE for the CBC broadcast schedule.