Canada's Jones, Laing suffer first loss at mixed doubles worlds

GANGNEUNG, Korea, Republic Of — Canada’s Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing suffered their first loss of the world mixed doubles curling championship on Sunday in South Korea.

The duo fell 7-4 to Estonia's Marie Kaldvee and Harri Lill.

Holding a 4-3 edge after the sixth end, the Canadians surrendered a deuce in the seventh. Down 5-4 with the hammer in the eighth, Jones was light with her last-rock draw to the four-foot in an effort to tie the game and Estonia stole two to pad the victory.

“It was disappointing, but we know what we’re capable of and we know there is room for improvement,” Jones said. “We learned a lot about the ice and rocks and we’re going to keep trying to get better as the week goes on.”

Canada enjoyed some early momentum with a deuce in the first end and having a 3-1 lead after three. However, that lead disappeared with singles in each of the next two, including a stolen one in the fifth from Estonia.

“They're a good team,” Laing said. “But we had that game kind of in control and we missed the bad one in the fifth and they got a steal that got it close. But that’s not the story of the game.

"All the credit to them, they won, but we kind of let it get away a little bit.”

Canada opened round-robin play with a pair of wins over Scotland and the Netherlands on Saturday.

The Canadians will have another two-game day on Monday, taking on Italy in the morning draw and Australia in the evening draw.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 23, 2023.