PYEONGCHANG, Korea, Republic Of -- John Morris and Kaitlyn Lawes are veteran curlers who own Olympic gold medals, but they're not a veteran team.
They are Canada's first competitors at the 2018 Winter Olympics on Thursday morning -- Wednesday evening back home -- when the mixed doubles preliminary round gets underway at the Gangneung Curling Centre.
Ski jumper MacKenzie Boyd-Clowes of Calgary also competes in qualifying rounds later Thursday ahead of Friday's opening ceremonies.
Mixed doubles makes its Olympic debut in Pyeongchang with Canada among the eight countries introducing it.
In a decade of world championships, Canadian teams have won a silver medal (2017) and a bronze (2009). The Swiss have dominated winning six of 10 titles.
For all their success on traditional teams of four curlers, Morris, from Canmore, Alta., and Winnipeg's Lawes had little experience playing mixed doubles together prior to winning January's trials.
Morris, 39, won Olympic gold in 2010 playing third for Kevin Martin. Lawes, 29, won gold in 2014 as vice for Jennifer Jones.
"Having that experience for sure is something that isn't going to hurt us, but at the same time we're all stepping onto the ice along with the other teams competing here for the first time," Lawes said at a news conference Tuesday.
"Everyone is new to mixed doubles at the Olympics. Yes, both of us have that gold medal back home, but right now we're focusing on this week and it's a clean slate."
The top four teams make the semifinals with the medal games scheduled for Feb. 13.
Curling Canada's mixed doubles program manager believes the Canadians' skills and smarts can overcome their lack of reps as a team.
"At the end of the day, it still comes down to execution and who misses the least," Jeff Stoughton said.
"With these two we're very confident with their abilities, that they're going to have a great shot at getting on that podium."
In mixed doubles, each team comprises one male and one female and has six stones to play instead of eight. Games are eight ends instead of 10.
To start each end, two rocks are pre-positioned on the centre line -- one per team -- with one on the back button and the other a guard in front of the rings. Both rocks count towards scoring.
Each team throws five stones per end. One player delivers the first and fifth stones, while the teammate throws the second, third and fourth.
No stone in play, including the pre-positioned stones or those in the house, can be removed prior to the fourth stone thrown in an end.
A "power play" was added to mixed doubles in 2017. Each team gets one per game and not in an extra end.
The team with hammer pre-positions a stone on the tee line on the edge of the eight-foot rings, instead of the centre line. The opposing team's stone is placed in front of the rings as a guard.
Mixed doubles is a shorter, faster game with curlers sweeping their own rocks after throwing them.
For curling purists wrinkling their foreheads, Stoughton draws parallels to rugby with its 15 players aside and it's more compact version of rugby sevens.
"We went from a very traditional game that was longer and more people played the game, it was more strategic and slower paced," he said.
"Rugby sevens came on board and it's fast-paced, it's scoring, it's very athletic and that's sort of what mixed doubles is. It's very fast-paced, it's very athletic and it's a lot of scoring out there."
Morris believes when people see mixed doubles at the Winter Games, it could boost increased participation in curling.
"It's easier because you only need two people, it's more social, it's more athletic and the games are shorter," he explained. "In today's life that's really fast paced, I think a one-and-a-half hour game is bit more appealing than a three-hour game.
"I actually would have to say I enjoy mixed doubles right now at this time of my career more than I do team curling."
