Team Australia featuring Dean Hewitt and Tali Gill has finished in thirteenth place overall at the 2021 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championships in Aberdeen, Scotland.
 
Taking part in their first competition since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic, Hewitt and Gill were one of 20 teams at the event, with the top seven nations achieving direct qualification to the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
 
Team Australia finished its Group A Round Robin with a record of 3 wins and 6 losses, missing out on advancing to the playoff stage.
 
The highlight was no doubt the 3-point win over curling powerhouse, Canada, with Hewitt and Gill emerging victorious 8-5.
 
Wins were also recorded against Hungary and Spain.

The event was won by Scotland, who defeated Norway in the final 9-7.
 
Hewitt and Gill have one last chance to qualify for Beijing later this year at the Olympic Qualification Event, with the top two teams securing a place in the Olympic field. One of the ten places in the Olympic field will be taken up by China, who is already guaranteed a place as host nation.

IMAGE © WCF

Alpine Skiing
Greta Small continued her injury rehabilitation at the AIS in Canberra making great progress with the Strength and Conditioning Staff in the gym before heading to Jindabyne for most of the winter to return to on snow training. After leaving Jindabyne, Small returned to the AIS for a further six-week intensive Strength and Conditioning bock.
 
Small is planning on heading to Europe for on snow training in mid December.
 
Bobsleigh
Bree Walker has been in Europe since last winter preparing for the northern hemisphere season, and has taken part in a number of successful push and sliding camp activities.
 
Unfortunately, Walker was unable to compete at opening two World Cup events in Sigulda, Latvia, after a member of her support team tested positive for COVID.
 
Bree is now planning for the next event on the Bobsleigh World Cup tour in Innsbruck, Austria, on December 12-13.
 
Curling
Mixed doubles pair Dean Hewitt & Tahli Gill have been training in their home states, with Hewitt at the Victorian Institute of Sport and Gill at the Queensland Academy of Sport.

With International travel restrictions in place it has been very difficult to access overseas Curling Ice to date.

The pair are aiming to be back on the ice training perhaps in Asia, by January in preparation for the 2021 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championships in late April. The event has been moved to Europe, with the exact location to be announced.
 
Figure Skating
Brendan Kerry has been based in Europe, training in France and Russia.
 
Kerry was scheduled to compete in the Internationaux de France ISU Grand Prix event in mid November, but it was unfortunately cancelled due to COVID restrictions in France.
 
Kailani Craine has remained at home in Newcastle training at her local ice rink, with Ice Dance couple Chantelle Kerry Andrew Dodds also training in Sydney.
 
Skeleton
Jackie Narracott has been training in Bath, UK, preparing for the northern hemisphere winter.
 
Narracott is currently evaluating the best plan, locations and opportunities for training and competition during the international season due to the difficult COVID situation in Europe.

Australia's leading mixed doubles curling team, Dean Hewitt and Tahli Gill, have achieved their best result of the 2019/2020 international season, claiming silver at the Sutherland Mixed Doubles Curling Classic in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

After convincing wins in the quarter final and semi final rounds, the team advanced through to the gold medal playoff, facing the team of Chaelynn Kitz and Brayden Stewart of Canada, narrowly going down six points to four.

"We had a great event here in Saskatoon, Canada", Hewitt commented after the event.

"There were a number of great teams including some going to the World Championships with us in April."

"It was promising to see that we could put together all that we built on from our training camps and different coaches we’ve been working with over the past seven weeks."

"We had three good events leading up to this one but we were always one win or just centimeters away from making the playoffs.

"Reaching the final in our last event here gives us more motivation for when we head to Europe in March. We’re feeling great out there on the ice and can’t wait until Scotland."

"We head home now for a little rest and build up our gym work for the next month."

The next event on the schedule for Hewitt and Gill is the International Mixed Doubles competition in Dumfries, Scotland, during March 19-22.

IMAGE: © Team Gill/Hewitt Instagram

The OWIA Curling Mixed Doubles team of Dean Hewitt and Tahli Gill, have commenced their international season campaign at a number of World Curling Tour events in Canada.

The first event for the team was the Qualico Mixed Doubles Classic, which took place in Canmore/Banff, Alberta, Canada, on January 2-5. At the event they had three wins and two losses in round robin play, and finished second in Group C, but did not advance to the playoff stage.

The next event was the Brantford Mixed Doubles Cashspiel in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, on January 10-12, with Team Hewitt (VIS Scholarship) & Gill (QAS Scholarship) recording two wins and three losses to place fourth in Pool A, and did not progress to playoffs.

Over the weekend, the team competed in the Stu Sells Toronto Cricket Mixed Doubles Cashspiel in Toronto, Canada, but unfortunately did not advance though to the playoffs.

The next event for the team will be the Sutherland Mixed Doubles Curling Classic in Saskatoon, Canada, during February 7-9
 
IMAGE: © Team Gill/Hewitt Instagram