Posted April 22, 2023 2:04 PM ET
Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing pose with their gold medals and trophy at the Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Sudbury, Ontario in a handout photo March 26, 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Curling Canada, Duncan Bell)
GANGNEUNG, KOREA — The Canadian combo of Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing rolled to two impressive victories on the opening day of the Mixed Doubles World Curling Championships in South Korea on Saturday.
The Winnipeg couple beat Scots Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds in the opening game to start the week-long 20-team competition. Canada then capped a successful first day by doubling Vanessa Tonoli and Wouter Goesgens of the Netherlands 10-5 in the evening’s draw.
“It calms you down a bit,” Laing said of the victories. “It’s nice to be able to make a big win with certainty. And then you’re happy about it and you regroup and you have to go out and do it again then you just have to do it every day.”
The Canadians scored four goals in the first end, stole one in the second and then drove to an 8-4 win over the Scots.
Canada allowed Scotland to score one goal in the third, two in the fifth and one in the seventh while scoring in the fourth, two in the sixth, leading to handshakes after seven ends.
Jones curled 89 percent in the game while Laing was 73. Dodds curled 70 percent while Mouat was 65.
Jones’ precise fifth-end draw resulted in a 6-1, three-point lead. The Netherlands regained those three in the sixth but after trading singles Jones made an open hit for three in eighth to secure the win.
Canada are tied 2-0 with Australia at the top of Group A. Japan, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey and the United States, all 1-1, are top of Group B.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on April 21, 2023.
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