Canadian Mixed Doubles Trials
Timing – December / January 2024-2025
The dates of the Mixed Doubles Olympic Curling Trials (MD Trials) will be moved forward to holiday season December 2024 to January 2025, a year earlier than previously scheduled. The Winner of the MD Trials will be nominated to represent Canada (* Canada would still need to qualify through the World Curling Federation Olympic Qualification process for Milan-Cortina 2026 as approved by the IOC) in the Mixed Doubles discipline at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games (Olympics) AND will also represent Canada at the 2025 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship (WMDCC).
Canadian athletes will also be granted access to play in both Mixed Doubles and Four-Person Teams at the 2026 Olympics. Athletes are not mandated to do both and can choose one or the other but that decision will be made with consultation of their teammates, team coaches and National Team Program staff while outlining the realties of what playing in both disciplines would entail.
Curling Canada strives for success in each of these disciplines and wants to work alongside our athletes to provide them with every opportunity for success in whatever disciplines they choose to pursue.
Moving the qualification for MD a year earlier provides the winners of the MD Trials time to plan and prepare their following years training program to maximize both their chances to win the Four-Person Curling Trials (if they are a part of a team attempting to do that) and medal at the Olympic Games in one or both disciplines. Curling Canada already had tentative plans of what a training schedule would look like for an athlete to do both which they will share and discuss with anyone with questions or considerations when making their decisions. Please reach out to David Murdoch, High Performance Director Curling Canada, or Scott Pfeifer, National Team Coach, Mixed Doubles, at your earliest convenience to discuss what this could look like to ensure your success as an athlete.
Please note that the Winners of the 2025 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship (CMDCC) will not lose an opportunity to represent Canada at the World Championship. That team will represent Canada at the 2026 WMDCC and the winner of the 2026 CMDCC will represent Canada in 2027 WMDCC. Curling Canada reserves the right to adjust this for the 2027 CMDCC and qualification for the 2028 WMDCC in the future.
Rationale for hosting MD Trials one year earlier
- The current 2.5-week timeframe between winning the MD Olympic Trials in January 2026 and departing for the Olympics is very compressed for those athletes who choose to play both disciplines and not conducive to success. There is not enough time for rest, recovery and all the Olympic planning/co-ordination that is required.
- This planning also becomes compressed if Canada is unsuccessful in earning a place in the Olympic Games through the 2024 and 2025 WMDCC, and a team would have to play in the OQE in mid-December 2025 and then the MD Trials a week later.
- NTP leadership will be able to assemble the best individualized support group possible and work with the winning team for a full year leading up to the Olympics. Their training and competition schedules can be optimized for the 2025/26 season towards recovery, periodization, and peak Olympic readiness.
- This would include planning for both disciplines if the athlete were to choose to attempt to represent Canada in both.
- A January 2025 MD Trials (instead of Fall 2025) means there will be little disruption to the training and preparation of teams for the November 2025 Curling Trials
- If the MD Trials winners are also competing towards four-person Olympic qualification, the extended year allows NTP leadership to work with their respective four-person teams to align training/competitive schedules and avoid conflicts without negatively affecting the other athletes on their four-person teams.
- Several athletes from other countries have successfully competed in both disciplines at the 2022 Olympics, including medallists in Mixed Doubles who started competing in four-person Olympic events the following day. Our new HPD has direct experience working with two athletes who competed in both disciplines in Beijing 2022 in planning and preparation for both.
- Pre-qualifying a team a year in advance will allow Sport Canada/ OTP funding to be directly targeted toward performance measures that will increase Canada’s success on the World/Olympic stage.
- The MD Trials will be held four (4) months ahead of the 2025 WMDCC, an event that will be very important for Olympic qualification. An extra three (3) months of preparation time for the 2025 WMDCC will increase Canada’s chances of qualifying for the 2026 Olympics without needing to compete in the Olympic Mixed Doubles qualification event in December 2025.
- If they happen to be unsuccessful, they would have the opportunity to plan accordingly for the Olympic Qualification Event in December 2025, which would be their final opportunity to earn Canada’s berth in Mixed Doubles at the Olympic Games.
- The MD Trials winning team will gain valuable competitive experience at the 2025 WMDCC and ensure our MD Olympic Team will already have felt the weight of the Maple Leaf on their back when they step on the ice at the Olympics.
Format – 16 Teams
- Single round robin, two pools of eight (8)
- Top three teams from each pool earn playoff berths
- Format mirroring the playoff structure announced for the Scotties and Brier through end of 2026 season. See below
- Hammer & stone allocations for playoffs to be discussed and finalized by January 1, 2024
Qualification 2025 Mixed Doubles Curling Trials (MDCT)
Dates – December 30, 2024 to January 4, 2025
Location – To be determined
Deadline for CMDR Registration is August 1, 2024
- Teams 1 through 3 – 2024 CMDCC Gold, Silver and Bronze Medallists
- Teams 4 and 5 – Next highest-ranked teams not already qualified on the 2023-2024 season ending CMDR
- Teams 6 through 8 – Canadian MD Tour Event Winners in Fall of 2024 (events to be named)
- If the winners of the Tour Events already have earned a berth in the 2025 MDCT, the next highest ranked team from the event played will earn the berth
- Teams 9 through 16 – Next highest-ranked teams not already qualified on the CMDR as of December 9, 2024
Teams 9 through 16 ranking calculations as follows:
Seven (7) Available “event slots” filled through any combination of:
- One and a half seasons of MD up to seven (7) MD events between August 1, 2023, and December 9, 2024
- One and a half seasons of CTRS up to two (2) CTRS events between August 1, 2023 and December 9, 2024
Qualification for 2024 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship
Dates – March 17-22, 2024
Location – Fredericton, NB
Deadline for 2023-2024 CMDR Registration is January 1, 2024
- Teams 1 through 14 – Member Association Champions
- Teams 15 through 18 – Four semifinalists from 2023 CMDCC
- Teams 19 through 32 – Next highest teams not already qualified on the CMDR as of February 20, 2024
Teams XX through 32 ranking calculations as follows:
7 Available “slots” filled through any combination of:
- Current season MD up to seven (7) MD events between August 1, 2023, and April 30, 2024
- Previous season MD up to two (2) MD events between August 1, 2022, and April 30, 2023
- Current and previous season CTRS up to two (2) CTRS events between August 1, 2022, and April 15, 2024
Qualification for 2025 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship
Dates – March 16-21, 2025
Location – Location TBD
Deadline for 2024-2025 CMDR Registration is January 1, 2025
- Teams 1 through 14 – Member Association Champions
- Teams 15 through 18 – Four semifinalists from 2024 CMDCC
- Teams 19 through 23 – Four MDCT semifinalists
- Teams 23 through 32 – Next highest teams not already qualified on the CMDR as of February 18, 2025
Teams 23 through 32 ranking calculations as follows:
7 Available “slots” filled through any combination of:
- Current season MD up to seven (7) MD events between May 1, 2024, and April 30, 2025
- Previous season MD up to two (2) MD events between August 1, 2023, and April 30, 2024
- Current and previous season CTRS up to two (2) CTRS events between August 1, 2023, and April 15, 2025
Rationale for CMDR point adjustments
The point values awarded for CTRS events have decreased over the past two years, so we believe it is necessary for Curling Canada to do the same for CMDR points to create fairness when including CTRS events in our MD ranking. The specific changes will be posted shortly on the Curling Canada Mixed Doubles website.
Some things we have taken into consideration:
- Elevating the importance of Tier 1 MD events over smaller regional Tier 2 MD events to encourage teams to travel and compete against the top competition.
- Striking a decent balance between our MD dedicated athletes and those competing at in four-person elite events. CTRS can be counted from across two seasons and two MD events carried forward from the past season.
- We would like to ensure there are at least three Canadian MD Tour events being held in Fall 2024 with strictly Canadian teams. These would be events where we would award MD Trials spots to the winners. It would be great preparation for all our Canadian MD teams prior to playing in a Jan 2025 MD Trials.
- Teams would need to register on the CMDR by a certain date for all Championships. This will eliminate any players showing up multiple times on our CMDR with different partners, possibly creating qualification issues.