“We need to see some changes for the future.”

Curling Canada has made it’s call, and Rachel Homan and John Morris are going to next month’s Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.

The pair were officially announced on Thursday morning as appointees to Team Canada in curling’s mixed doubles discipline.

The decision was released after two weeks of debate amongst fans and media in the world’s largest curling nation. The debate intensified when Curling Canada issued an athlete communique on Tuesday, explaining its selection process—which included the previous four years of domestic mixed doubles rankings.

“John and I are eager to get to Beijing and make Canada proud,” said Homan. “We know these are difficult circumstances, and we truly appreciate the faith being shown in us by Curling Canada.”

“Rachel and I have played a lot of mixed doubles together over the years with the dream of playing for Canada at the Olympics,” said Morris. “We can’t wait to get over there and give it our best. We know it’s a tough field, but we’ve worked extremely hard this season and we’ll be fighting hard for gold in Beijing.”

Then appointment/appointments was/were necessary after Canada’s Olympic Trials for mixed doubles were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically the latest Omicron wave. A number of athletes tested positive prior to the event’s starting date of Dec. 28, forcing the cancellation.

This marks Curling Canada’s first-ever team appointment to the Olympic Winter Games. It’s believed that the appointment of the Kevin Martin and Julie Sutton (now Skinner) teams to the 1992 Games in Albertville, France—where curling was a demonstration sport—marks the only previous time the organization appointed athletes without hosting a direct qualifying competition.

As George Karrys recently wrote, a precedent has now been set which disrupts Canada’s long curling history of “win to get in”—and the effects may have ramifications for the future.

Kadriana Sahaidak and Colton Lott of Gimli, Man. are ranked third in this season’s Canadian Mixed Doubles Rankings and ninth on the cumulative Canadian Team Rankings System (CTRS) for the discipline.

“It’s been crazy, said Sahaidak on Thursday morning. “We’ve been stressed about (the announcement). Keeping low as we didn’t wanna catch Covid, pretty much isolating ourselves just in case. We weren’t sure what was going to happen. Putting so many scenarios into your mind about who they could choose.

“It wasn’t fun or the greatest feeling.”

Homan and Morris rank fifth on the CTRS.

“I respect their decision and congratulate the chosen team,” said Sahaidak. “But we need to see some changes for the future of mixed doubles or teams won’t want to compete.”

Homan and Morris, who both hail from Ottawa and reside in Alberta, have longtime experience in the mixed doubles discipline. They were slated to team up at the 2017 Canadian Mixed Doubles Trials before Homan’s four-player women’s team prevailed at the 2017 Canadian Olympic Trials. Morris eventually joined with Kaitlyn Lawes to win the mixed doubles trials and Olympic gold a few weeks later at PyeongChang 2018.

The Curling News recently hosted an unscientific Twitter poll asking Canadian curling fans to select their choice for the mixed doubles selection. Out of 2,400 total votes cast, Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant—who will be competing for Canada in four-player women’s and men’s competition in Beijing—scored highest with 55.1% of the vote.

Homan and Morris ranked second at 38.9%, while the next highest vote options were Nancy Martin and Tyrell Griffith (25.3%) and Lisa Weagle and Marc Kennedy (24.8%).

There were seven voting options listed. “None of these” ranked third overall, with 29.5% of the vote.

Today’s announcement means that Homan’s women’s team will have their recent appointment to the Canadian women’s championship rescinded by Curling Ontario. CurlON was forced to cancel the Ontario women’s provincial due to the pandemic, and announced on Jan. 7 that Homan would represent Ontario at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. However, the news release specified that if Homan is appointed to play mixed doubles in Beijing, the invitation goes to Toronto’s Hollie Duncan squad.

Curling fans have been alternately baffled and angered over the CurlON policy, which leaves Homan’s teammates—recently bolstered by the appointment of Alli Flaxey as alternate for the STOH—out of contention.

Homan’s foursome struggled at the recent Olympic Trials, placing dead last, after making a strong run to the 2021 STOH championship final when Homan was eight months pregnant.

Canada’s appointment of Morris as an athlete effectively removes him as Australia’s mixed doubles coach in Beijing. 

The two-time Olympic champion, most recently in 2018 mixed doubles play with Kaitlyn Lawes, has been coaching Australians Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt this season in Camrose, Alta. Morris was there, offering guidance, as Gill made her final shot at the Olympic Qualifying Event in Leeuwarden, Netherlands last month to qualify the Aussies.

Morris’ place will be taken by the pair’s domestic coach, Pete Manasantivongs.

Morris was following in his father’s footsteps. Well-known coach Earle Morris coached Hewitt’s father’s Australian men’s teams at world championships in the mid-2000s.

“They’re two of the hardest-working individuals I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with,” said coach John Morris of Gill and the younger Hewitt in December.

“We’ve trained together for most of this season. It’s been great to have a training partner for myself, but that’s the commitment you need if you want to make it to the next level.

“We’re having a really good time, keeping it light. I think Canadians and Australians are kindred spirits that way. We enjoy a lot of the same things and are pretty laid back.

“It’s been a really good relationship and I’m really proud of them.”

Morris will now take on his friendly opponents in the next-to-last round robin match on Feb. 6 in Beijing.