When Canada hosted the inaugural Mixed Doubles Super Series preliminary curling tournament in Ottawa this past weekend, there was a pretty good chance that 2021 world champions Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds would make their presence felt.
Sure enough, the Scottish duo lived up to their winning pedigree by emerging victorious in the Super Series final, as they defeated Canada’s Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres 7-6 in an extra end on Sunday.
Mouat, who came out as gay eight years ago, is no stranger to championship-level competition. In addition to last year’s mixed doubles title, he won a silver medal in Men’s Curling at the 2022 Winter Olympics with Team Great Britain.
Additionally, he and Dodds finished in fourth place in Mixed Curling at the Beijing Games. Mouat was the only out athlete competing in 2022 Olympic curling.
Dodds and Mouat’s Super Series victory concluded with a dramatic flourish. During the extra end, Dodds used the hammer to land on the button on her draw and take home the tournament win.
As Mouat told the CBC’s That Curling Show immediately afterward, the match was a back-and-forth affair, with neither team feeling like they were in complete control until the final end.
“[Walker and Muyres] got really good position,” he said, “They were like top button every time so we were playing really tough shots to try and move them off the button. And the end that they stole, we just had a few bad shots that kind of led them into it. Apart from that end, I think we played pretty well, apart from my last stone in the game but I’ll take it.”
Despite a bit of self-deprecation, Mouat and Dodds played exceedingly well throughout the Super Series, finishing with a perfect 6-0 record for the tournament.
According to Mouat, the two of them plan to return for another Super Series prelim later this season in Winnipeg. The Super Series Championship will be held Dec. 16-18 in Brantford.
