BEIJING, China – Deprived of the women’s and men’s podiums in Pyeongchang (South Korea) four years ago, Canada, which had saved the honor with the new mixed event, will not be satisfied this time with a only medal in the curling events of the 2022 Olympics (February 4-20).
Since entering the Olympic curling program in 1998, Canada had consistently finished on the podium in both men’s and women’s tournaments, with five titles (three for men and two for women) – plus three silver medals – out of ten possible.
But in Pyeongchang, the maple leaf curlers missed the target for the first time and had to settle for the mixed team title, then new to the Olympic programme.
It is precisely this mixed event that will launch the Beijing Games competitions from Wednesday 2 February, in the “Water Cube”, the swimming pool of the 2008 Summer Games transformed for the winter version into an “Ice Cube”.
Olympic champion in 2014, but absent in South Korea, Jennifer Jones returns to the ice at the age of 47 with brooms in hand for this Canadian reconquest, while the men’s team is no longer as dominating as in the past.
Absent from the mixed competition four years ago, Sweden is this time in a position to achieve the Olympic treble. The men’s team are reigning Olympic champions and have won both world titles since Pyeongchang (2019 and 2021, in 2020 the Worlds were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
To arbitrate this mano a mano between Canada and Sweden, leading nations in the discipline, Switzerland seems best equipped to regain its former glory: the men had won the Olympic title in 1998 in Nagano, and the women had reached the Olympic final in 2002 in Salt Lake City and in 2006 in Turin.
