Photo: World Curling Federation/Richard Gray
Photo: World Curling Federation/Richard Gray

Team Canada advances to world mixed doubles curling playoffs

With only one loss on their account, Team Canada has secured a spot in the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship playoffs in Lethbridge, Alberta.

After clinching the women’s world championship title in March, Joanne Courtney teamed up with partner Reid Carruthers to play for gold once again. The pair is off to a strong start, registering five wins and only one loss thus far in the round-robin tournament. It was the team’s 4-1 victory over Great Britain that secured the nation’s playoff berth, after the Canadians were able to steal the winning point from Annan and Ben Fowler of England to win 4-1.

Related: Team Canada wins women’s curling championship

Before defeating the Brits, Canada topped Turkey (10-4), France (9-1), Kazakhstan (14-0), before coming back from a their sole loss against Czech Republic (5-7) with a win over Germany (10-6).The Canadians will complete round-robin play on Thursday against Team USA, before beginning elimination play on Friday.

Related: Get to know mixed curling before its Olympic debut

Mixed curling is one of four events being added to the Olympic program at PyeongChang 2018. This week Courtney and Carruthers will look to clinch an Olympic berth a for Canada through a top five finish in Lethbridge. Courtney is also hoping to make history as the first player to ever win two world championships gold medals in the same season.