Jones & Laing qualify for playoffs at mixed doubles curling worlds
Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing are moving on to the playoff round at the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Gangneung, South Korea.
That was confirmed following the second of their two wins on Wednesday, when they stole an 8-7 extra end victory against Hungary. Canada’s overall record of seven wins and one loss has them tied atop Group A with Estonia heading into the final day of round robin play on Thursday. Estonia is the only team that has defeated the Canadian couple, a 7-4 loss which came in Jones and Laing’s third game of the tournament.
Scotland has also advanced to the playoffs from Group A with a 6-2 record. The playoff qualifiers from Group B are still to be determined. Japan currently tops that group at 7-0, with the United States (6-1), Norway and Switzerland (both 5-2) just behind.
The Canadian husband-wife duo, who are competing at their first mixed doubles worlds, opened the tournament with an 8-4 victory over Scotland. Bruce Moat and Jennifer Dodds won the world title in 2021 and are looking to give Scotland a three-peat following last year’s title capture by Eve Muirhead and Bobby Lammie.
Jones and Laing followed up with a 10-5 win over the Netherlands before dropping their match against Estonia’s Marie Kaldvee and Harri Lill, who are playing in their sixth mixed doubles worlds together. The Canadians rebounded with an 8-4 win against Italy, who boast one half of the 2022 Olympic champion duo in Stefania Constantini.
Jones and Laing then rolled to 11-6 win against Australia and an 8-3 win over the Czech Republic. In their first win on Wednesday, they took down Denmark 8-2. But their match against Hungary, who have just one win and have been relegated to the B Division of the world championships in 2024, proved to be a challenge.
The Hungarians took a 7-5 lead after scoring three in the seventh end when they used their power play. With the hammer, the Canadians used their own power play in the eighth and looked to be in position to score three for the win. But back-to-back double takeouts by Hungary limited Jones and Laing to two points, sending the game into the extra end.
Without the hammer, Laing made a freeze to a pair of Hungarian stones which were buried behind a centre guard. Linda Joo had a chance for the win if she made a draw to a small piece of the button, but she was heavy on her throw, giving Canada the steal.
Canada will finish the preliminary round against the host team from South Korea at 1:00 a.m. ET Thursday morning. A Canadian win combined with an Estonian loss against the Netherlands would give Jones and Laing a bye into the semifinals at 5:00 a.m. ET Friday morning. Anything else will put Canada into a qualification playoff game at 9:00 p.m. ET Thursday night from which the winners will advance into the semis.
“I’d like to put a full game together (on Thursday), a full eight ends and just try to go into the playoffs feeling really confident,” said Jones. “We just want to play well; we’re having so much fun, so I just want to play as many games as we possibly can.”
The bronze medal game will take place 9:00 p.m. ET Friday night, with the gold medal game at 1:00 a.m. ET Saturday morning.
Canada has won four medals at the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, most recently a silver in 2019 by Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant. A gold in Gangneung would be Canada’s first ever at the mixed doubles worlds.
A medal of any colour would be a nice addition to the Jones-Laing trophy case. Jones won Olympic gold with her women’s team at Sochi 2014 and is a four-time world championship medallist. Laing is a three-time world champion in men’s curling.