Lawes earns spot at the Olympics

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This article was published 07/01/2018 (2980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE — Winnipeg’s Kaitlyn Lawes is going back to the Winter Olympics.

Lawes and her mixed doubles curling partner, John Morris, defeated Brad Gushue and Val Sweeting 7-6 here Sunday afternoon in the final of the Mixed Doubles Curling Trials.

The victory means Lawes and Morris will represent Canada in mixed doubles curling in Pyeongchang next month as the fledgling discipline makes its debut as a full medal event at the Winter Olympics.

It will be the second consecutive appearance at the Winter Olympics for Lawes, who won gold in Sochi in 2014 as third for Jennifer Jones.

Morris is also a previous Olympian, winning gold in Vancouver in 2010 as third for Kevin Martin.

Lawes becomes the fifth Olympian from Manitoba headed to Korea next month. She joins Winnipeg speed skater Heather McLean, who over the weekend was named a provisional member of Canada’s long track team in Korea, and three women’s hockey players — Ste. Anne’s Bailey Bram and Jocelyn Larocque and Mallard’s Brigette Lacquette.

Morris was also born in Winnipeg — his father, Earle, skipped the 1980 Manitoba men’s champion — but the younger Morris moved away as a toddler and it’d be a stretch to call him a native Manitoban.

Sunday’s final turned on the fourth end. With Lawes/Morris already lying three counters on the back four-foot, Sweeting attempted to draw into the pocket with her team’s final stone but was heavy and her rock chipped off and into the open. That left Lawes with a quiet tap with the final rock of the end for a decisive four-ender.

A steal of two more the next end had Lawes/Morris holding a 7-3 stranglehold on the scoreboard.

But Sweeting and Gushue weren’t done yet. A deuce in the sixth end got them within two and then a steal of one more in the seventh end had Lawes/Morris clinging to a 7-6 lead coming home with the hammer.

They never needed that last rock. With Lawes/Morris lying shot, Sweeting rolled out with her team’s final rock and the two teams shook hands.

Sunday’s win was the second consecutive trials final Lawes has won on home ice. The Jones squad won the 2013 women’s trials final in Winnipeg at what was then called MTS Centre.

Sunday’s victory is the culmination of a wild turn of events for Lawes, who a month ago at this time didn’t even have a team in the mixed doubles trials and was still focused on qualifying for the Winter Olympics with her women’s team.

But after the Jones foursome failed to win last month’s Roar of the Rings in Ottawa, Lawes became a valuable free agent for players like Morris, who had a berth in the mixed doubles trials but had lost his playing partner, Rachel Homan, when Homan won in Ottawa and qualified for Pyeongchang with her Ottawa-based women’s team.

email: paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek