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U.S. Mixed Doubles Curling Trials Day 5: Pair of juggernauts eliminated

Posted at 9:07 AM, Oct 31, 2021
and last updated 2021-10-31 10:54:04-04

The U.S. Olympic Mixed Doubles Curling Trials continue in Eveleth, Minnesota. Saturday saw two of the competition's best duos fall out of the race as the pairings of Cory Christensen and John Shuster, along with Matt and Becca Hamilton, both lost in the tiebreaking round.

The final matches of the Trials get underway at 12 p.m. ET. NBCOlympics.com will be streaming the action live. Below is a roundup of Saturday's featured matchups along with on-demand replays.

SEE MORE: How to watch the U.S. Olympic Curling Mixed Doubles Trials

Tiebreakers

Any team with John Shuster involved typically performs quite well. Saturday, however, just wasn't their day. Christensen/Shuster fell to Jamie Sinclair and Rich Ruohonen, ultimately ending their hopes of representing the U.S. as its mixed doubles representative.

Christensen/Shuster found themselves in an early hole when Sinclair/Ruohonen took a 2-0 lead, and Christensen/Shuster was never able to recover. They never led at any point throughout the game, eventually losing by a score of 8-5.

SEE MORE: U.S. Curling Trials: Mixed Doubles Tiebreaker 2 (if necessary)

Meanwhile, the Hamilton siblings fell to Tabitha Peterson and Joe Polo by a score of 8-5 as well. The Hamiltons represented the U.S. in mixed doubles at the PyeongChang Olympics in 2018, but with them now eliminated, Team USA will have a new pairing in the mixed doubles field this time around.

Sinclair/Ruohonen could very well be one of the likeliest teams gunning for the opportunity to head overseas for the Games. Sinclair/Ruohonen narrowly defeated Peterson/Polo in the page contest, earning them a spot in the semifinal matchup against Sarah Anderson and Korey Dropkin. Anderson/Dropkin lost to Vicky Persinger and Chris Plys in the battle of the top seeds, but still has a chance to advance to the championship with a win over Sinclair/Ruohonen Sunday.

SEE MORE: U.S. Curling Trials: Mixed Doubles Page Playoffs

You can find the full scores from Day 5 of the U.S. Mixed Team Curling Trials here, and standings can be found here.