Canada breezes past OAR, clinches mixed doubles playoff berth
Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris top round-robin standings at 5-1
CBC Sports
Canadians Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris have won five straight after defeating Olympic Athletes from Russia 8-2 on Saturday in Pyeongchang to clinch a semifinal berth.
Both teams held records of 4-1 heading into the draw, but Canada jumped out to a 4-0 lead against the Olympic Athletes from Russia team before adding a deuce in the fourth end to take a 6-1 lead. Morris and Lawes added another deuce in the sixth end before shaking hands.
Click on the video below to watch Canada in action:
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"We're just being patient. We are playing good, consistent curling and grinding out some good wins, Morris said. "It helps when Kaitlyn is making some great last shots.
"It's feeling good but we know we are in for some really tough games."
That's 5 in a row for <a href="https://twitter.com/LKLawes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LKLawes</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/johnnymocurler?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@johnnymocurler</a>! They're 5-1 in mixed doubles round-robin play, alone atop the standings after beating OAR.<br><br>Canada has clinched a spot in the semifinals. <a href="https://t.co/blYCRiaoEX">pic.twitter.com/blYCRiaoEX</a>
—@CBCOlympicsDespite the loss, the Russians also qualified for the semifinals.
Canada wraps up round-robin action on Sunday morning against South Korea.
Earlier in the day, Canada had a similarly dominating performance with a 7-2 win over Switzerland.
While eight teams are taking part in mixed doubles curling at the Olympics, only the top four qualify for the medal round.
Mixed curling is making its debut at the Olympics, and the basics are relatively simple.
- Each team consists of only two players — one man, one woman instead of the usual teams of four players of the same gender.
- Each team throws five stones per end, with the player delivering the team's first stone of the end also delivering the team's final stone of the end. One stone per team is pre-positioned before the start of play in each end.
- The game lasts eight ends.
- The scoring is the same as in regular curling.
With files from The Canadian Press