Team Canada Curling Betting Odds for Olympics Games Beijing

Olympic curling will include mixed doubles and the men’s and women’s divisions this year at Beijing. The men’s and women’s tournaments start on Feb. 9, with nine-game round robins taking place before the playoffs start on Feb. 17.

On the mixed side, round-robin play begins on Feb. 2 with the playoffs beginning on Feb. 7.

Men Favoured to Win Gold

All three Canadian teams are at the top off the Olympic betting odds boards as favourites to win a gold medal in Beijing.

On the men’s side, Team Gushue, with Brad Gushue, Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant, Geoff Walker and Marc Kennedy, are the favourites to win gold at +175 on the ProLine+ Sportsbook in Ontario. Great Britain (+200), Sweden (+300) and Switzerland (+800) are the other favourites.

Canada will start its men’s competition on Feb. 9 against Denmark, which was the last team to qualify for the Olympics. Team Gushue will also face Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, the United States, Italy, China, the Russian Olympic Committee and Great Britain to close out round-robin play.

Canada’s Women Favoured For Olympic Gold

On the women’s side, Canada has the best odds to win gold at +250. Team Jones, with Jennifer Jones, Kaitlyn Lawes, Jocelyn Peterman, Dawn McEwen and Lisa Weagle start play on Feb. 10 when they take on South Korea. Canada will also face Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, the Russian Olympic Committee, Great Britain, the United States, Chine and Denmark.

Reigning Olympic champion Sweden is second on the sports betting odds board at +300, followed by Great Britain (+350), Switzerland (+750) and Japan (+1000).

Morris Looks to Repeat in Mixed Doubles

Earlier this month, Curling Canada announced Rachel Homan and John Morris would represent Canada in the mixed doubles curling competition in Beijing.

Curling Canada was forced to make a selection on its mixed doubles team because of the Olympic Trials being called off during the COVID-19 pandemic. Numerous athletes testing positive before the Dec. 28 start of the event forced the cancellation.

“John and I are eager to get to Beijing and make Canada proud,” Homan said in a statement. “We know these are difficult circumstances, and we truly appreciate the faith being shown in us by Curling Canada.”

Beijing will be the second Olympic games for Homan and will be the third for Morris. At PyeongChang in 2018, Morris won the inaugural Olympic mixed doubles gold with Kaitlyn Lawes. He was also a gold medalist in the men’s event at Vancouver 2010.

“Rachel and I have played a lot of mixed doubles together over the years with the dream of playing for Canada at the Olympics,” Morris said in a statement. “We can’t wait to get over there and give it our best. We know it’s a tough field, but we’ve worked extremely hard this season and we’ll be fighting hard for gold in Beijing.”

Morris and Homan are the favourites for the gold at +200 with Great Britain (+250), Switzerland (+450) and Norway (+700) the other leading favourites.

Canada will have its first match on Thursday when it takes on Great Britain. Round Robin play ends on February 7 with the bronze and gold medal matches taking place on February 8.

PointsBet Partnered with Curling Canada

In October, PointsBet announced it was expanding its presence in Canada through a new partnership with Curling Canada.

As part of the deal, PointsBet is the title sponsor of Curling Canada’s championship event in the 2022-23 season. PointsBet will have complete category exclusivity for all Curling Canada broadcasts, including 300 live hours and over 350 hours.

“With the passing of legalised sports betting by the federal government this past summer, we knew that there would be many opportunities available for our sport to be part of a new, legal and regulated way for fans to enjoy our events,” Katherine Henderson, Chief Executive Officer of Curling Canada, said in a media release.

“PointsBet’s track record speaks for itself, as the company has existing partnerships with a variety of highly regarded partners around the world, and we couldn’t be happier to enter into this new venture with an industry leader.”