Canada’s Team Lott/Lott opens World Mixed Doubles on winning note

OESTERSUND, Sweden — Team Canada started its 2024 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship podium quest in near-perfect fashion Saturday afternoon at the Oestersund Arena.

The Canadian championship tandem of Kadriana Lott and Colton Lott from Winnipeg Beach, Man., cruised to a 7-2 win over New Zealand’s Courtney Smith and Anton Hood.

Any rookie jitters for the first-time participants in the World Mixed Doubles Championship were calmed quickly as the Lotts missed rarely, and took advantage of some New Zealand gifts en route to wrapping up the game after the minimum six ends.

“That was huge for myself, just getting that confidence throwing that last stone, especially here at a world event,” said Kadriana Lott, who shot a spectacular 96 per cent and had thorough command of draw weight, particularly in the first end when she made a delicate tap to promote a Canadian stone into the button to score two. “I kind of got those jitters out of the way and it helped me feel more comfortable throughout the rest of the game. Putting that big score up in the first couple of ends, that’s huge.”

She made a similarly precise draw in the second end to freeze to a Canadian shot stone on the button, leaving the Kiwis with a Hail Mary long angle raise to somehow score; they didn’t, and the Canadians added a steal of two and never looked back.

While Colton Lott has played at two World Junior Championships, and attended one more as an alternate, it was his wife’s World Championship debut, but her strong rookie performance under the circumstances hardly surprised him.

“For sure, I have full confidence in what she’s doing out there,” he said. “Every time she kicks out of the hack, I just know that she’s close every time.”

As for those rookie nerves? Well, they simply weren’t a factor for Kadriana Lott.

“I actually slept pretty good,” she said with a smile. “This morning, sure, you could kind of feel those butterflies in the stomach, feeling a little bit uneasy, but that’s before every event and every game. But yes, getting this first one out of the way, and getting this first win, that’s building our confidence even higher.”

The Canadian team — rounded out by coaches Scott Pfeifer and Viktor Kjell — returns to action Sunday at 4 a.m. ET against Czechia’s Zuzana Paulova and Tomas Paul (0-1).

World Curling’s live-streaming platform The Curling Channel will be the only way to watch games from the World Mixed Doubles Championship, with all sheets being shown.

For the latest scores, draw and list of teams, CLICK HERE.

The 2024 World Senior Men’s and Women’s Championships are also being played in Oestersund, with Canadian teams skipped by Susan Froud (Alliston, Ont.) and Paul Flemming (Halifax) looking to defend the gold medals won by Canadian teams in 2023. Canadian result stories from the 2024 World Seniors will be posted at www.curling.ca throughout the event.

The French version of this story will be posted as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/?lang=fr