Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing pose with their gold medals and the Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship trophy in Sudbury, Ont., in a March 26, 2023, handout photo. Jones and Laing will represent Canada for the first time at the world mixed doubles championship in an arena that elicits mixed emotions for both. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Curling Canada, Duncan Bell, *MANDATORY CREDIT*
GANGNEUNG, Korea, Republic Of – The Canadian combo of Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing rolled to a pair of impressive victories on the opening day of world mixed doubles curling championship on Saturday in South Korea.
The husband and wife team from Winnipeg, Man., beat Scotland’s Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds in the opening game to start the 20-team, week-long competition.
The Canadians scored four in the first end, stole one in the second and then coasted to an 8-4 victory over the Scots.
Canada allowed Scotland to score one in the third, two in the fifth and one in the seventh, while scoring one in the fourth, two in the sixth, leading to handshakes after seven ends.
Jones curled 89 per cent in the game, while Laing was 73. Dodds curled 70 per cent while Mouat was 65.
Canada then capped a successful first day by doubling Vanessa Tonoli and Wouter Goesgens of the Netherlands 10-5 in the evening draw.
Jones’s precise draw in the fifth end produced a score of three to take a 6-1 lead. The Netherlands gained those three back in the sixth, but after trading singles, Jones made an open hit in the eighth for three to secure the win.
“It settles you down a little bit,” Laing said of the wins. “It’s nice to get a big win to start for sure. And then you’re excited about that and you regroup and you have to go out and do it again and then you just got to keep doing that every day.
“I felt nervous going into the week; I think it was more of an excitement than being nervous. Just grateful to be here. I mean, we’re getting old so you don’t know how many times you’re going to get to do this again.”
Canada sits tied with Australia at 2-0 atop the Group A standings. Japan, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey and the United States, all at 1-1, sit tied for first in Group B.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 21, 2023.
