Colton Lott and Kadriana Sahaidak defeated John Morris and Danielle Schmiemann Wednesday night to punch their ticket to the final at the Canadian mixed doubles curling championship in Calgary. 

Lott and Sahaidak will now sit back and watch Morris and Schmiemann take on Brad Gushue and Kerri Einarson in the semifinal, after they beat Laura Walker and Kirk Muyre in the 3 vs. 4 Page Playoff. 

Lott and Sahaidak were national mixed doubles runners-up in 2018 and bronze medallists in 2019.

The duo has clinched a berth in the next Olympic mixed doubles trials as the top team in Calgary not already qualified.

Einarson and Gushue, with a combined five Canadian team titles between them, are playing mixed doubles together for the first time.

Lott, 25, and Sahaidak, 21, may lack the big-game experience of Einarson and Gushue, but they've played mixed doubles much longer together.

Sahaidak doesn't play with a women's team, but concentrates on mixed doubles instead.

"Through our accomplishments and through the time we've been playing, we've learned so much about the game," Lott said.

"Personally, the strategy I call during the game is way different than when we started. It's a little bit more aggressive and really trying to get the best angles as possible."

The three teams still in contention in a field of 35 also learned Wednesday when and where they could wear the Maple Leaf at the world championship if they win the Canadian title Thursday.

The World Curling Federation announced there will be a world mixed doubles championship May 17-23 in Aberdeen, Scotland.

The top seven duos in the world championship will qualify their countries to compete in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Canada's mixed doubles is the third Curling Canada event held in Calgary's bubble, in which no spectators are allowed and the participants are confined to the hotel and the arena to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

The men's world championship April 2-11 follows the three domestic events.

When the WCF cancelled the women's championship in Switzerland, the tournament was added to Calgary's bubble April 30 to May 6.

There was apparently little appetite to also tack the world mixed doubles onto Calgary's bubble.

A WCF spokesman told The Canadian Press in an email that Calgary wasn't considered a candidate for mixed doubles and, after several months of working with the Scottish government to gain approvals, Aberdeen was given the green light this week.

Morris believes Calgary's bubble provided a template for elite curling in a pandemic. No one involved has tested positive for the virus yet.

"If this didn't go well . . . I think the whole world was using this as kind of a guinea pig event," Morris said.

"I think it's wonderful that the World Curling Federation is kind of taking the initiative to follow what Curling Canada has done here."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 24, 2021.