Team Canada’s wheelchair mixed doubles team ends first day at worlds on high note

It was a resilient opening day for Team Canada at the 2024 World Wheelchair Mixed Doubles Curling Championship at Gangneung Curling Centre in Gangneung, South Korea.

The team of Collinda Joseph and Dennis Thiessen, supported by head coach Dana Ferguson and team leader Kyle Turcotte, broke even on Day 1 of round robin play and sits in the middle of Group B at 1-1.

After a tough loss to Team Switzerland (Melanie Villars and Pierre-Alain Tercier) this afternoon, the Canadians came out hot for its evening tilt against Slovenia (Jovita Jeglic and Robert Zerovnik) and earned a critical win to keep it from falling behind early in the short six-game round robin.

“We just wanted to stay true to our strengths and true to the process,” said Joseph about the team’s response to dropping its first game. “We just ended up on the wrong side of the inch this afternoon, so we went back to what we know and how we play. I think that made a really big difference tonight. We knew we could have a bounce back game and we were really counting on that tonight.”

Canada potted three in the first end after a precise runback from Joseph picked a lone Slovenia stone off the button. The Canadian duo kept up the pressure and doubled down with a stolen three in the second, and ultimately cruised to a 9-1 win.

Joseph and Thiessen are back repping the maple leaf for the second straight year after a bronze medal finish at the 2023 championship in Richmond, B.C.

“It feels amazing,” said Joseph. “It’s always nice to wear a maple leaf and it’s always great to represent your country and I think it’s a privilege for us do be able to do something like that, and so for us to have this opportunity again, we’re really excited. We’re here to represent Canada and enjoy every single moment of it.”

After Day 1, Estonia and Slovakia are the only undefeated teams remaining in Group A at 2-0. Italy, Switzerland, and the United States won their only contests today and sit atop Group B at 1-0. China and Korea are still perfect in Group C and share the lead at 2-0.  

The group stage continues tomorrow when Team Canada plays its lone game of the day against Italy (Tuesday, 3 a.m. ET).

The top eight teams from the round robin qualify for playoffs.

The gold and bronze medal games take place Friday at 9 p.m. ET.

All games will be available to watch on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@curling1.

For live scores, standings, and statistics for the 2024 World Wheelchair Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, go to https://livescores.worldcurling.org/wwhcc/.

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at https://www.curling.ca/category-all-posts-fr/?lang=fr.