Successful opening draw for Team Canada in mixed doubles curling at Milano Cortina 2026

Even a power outage wasn’t going to stop Team Canada’s Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant from posting an opening-day victory on Wednesday in mixed doubles curling at Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.

About halfway through the first end of their eventual 10-5 win over Team Czechia, some lights went out in Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium, built in 1955, halting play for several minutes.

“Not unsettling at all,” Peterman said of the stoppage. “We were ready to expect the unexpected. A short power (outage) and totally fine. We laughed it off and chatted about what we wanted to do.”

What the married couple did was steal one in the first end thanks to two ideal draws by Peterman, a key hit and roll by Gallant, and a missed last-rock double attempt by Czechia’s Julie Zelingrová.

“Our goal was to get the feel of the ice,” Gallant said of the pair’s attitude going into the game. “We wanted to make some precise draws.”

Peterman said she was happy to get the Games underway.

“We’ve been preparing for this for a long time,” she said. “It was nice to finally get out there and throw those first few rocks.”

A pair of misses by 19-year-old Zelingrová and 21-year-old teammate Vít Chabičovský – by far the youngest team in the competition — gave Canada a steal of four in the second end and a comfortable 5-0 lead. Zelingrová’s last-rock runback attempt was inches wide and left Canada with the four counters.

“In that second end when we got the steal, was a dream start,” said Gallant. “But you can’t get too comfortable in doubles. There’s a lot of points to be had. They got three coming back in the third. It was okay we’re still in there. Was happy to see we carried it through to the end.”

Czechia jumped on an early miss by 35-year-old Gallant to score three in the third end, but Canada replied with two in the fourth. After giving up a single in the fifth, Peterman and Gallant scored three in the sixth for a 10-4 margin. The 32-year-old Peterman, from Red Deer, Alta., had near perfect draw weight all game and used it again on a last-rock tap back of the lone Czechia stone in the house to give Canada the three.

Czechia scored one on a measurement in the seventh and then shook hands.

In the other first round games: Sweden defeated South Korea 10-3; Great Britain beat Norway 8-6; and Switzerland nipped Estonia 9-7.

Defending champions Amos Mosaner and Stefania Consitantini of Italy open their title defence Thursday against South Korea.

The ten teams play nine games each in the round robin with the top four countries qualifying for the semifinals on Feb. 9. The medal games will be played on Feb. 10.