'I'm definitely going to miss my girls': Olympian Kaitlyn Lawes weighs in on mixed doubles curling

Athleticism, focus and mental energy are all things Winnipeg-born Kaitlyn Lawes loves about mixed doubles curling.

Back in 2014, Lawes won gold as a third on Jennifer Jones's team at the SochiWinter Olympics. This year, she'll become the first-ever two-time female Olympian curler for Canada, but she won't be returning as a third.

Instead, she'll be curling in South Korea alongside another former Olympian, John Morris, as the first Canadian players to compete in Olympic mixed doubles a new curling eventadded to the roster for this year's Winter Olympic Gamesin Pyeongchang.

• John Morris, Kaitlyn Lawes return to Olympics with mixed doubles victory
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"It's very different. I'm definitely going to miss my girls [from Jones's team] over there,"Lawessaid in an interview onCBCManitoba'sRadio Noon.

"Our goal, four years afterSochi, we wanted to try to get back together as a team. But now going over with John, it's just two people on the ice, so that dynamic is a little bit different."

As Lawes prepares to leave Canada on Feb. 1, her former teammates are getting ready for the Scotties Tournament of Hearts on Saturday. She can't play with them but she'll be cheering them on from a distance, she said.

"We have a lot of respect for each other and we're so happy that everyone's having lots of success," Lawes said.

In mixed doubles curling, each team has five stones instead of eight and players have to rely more heavily on their individual skills, Lawes said.

"I love the athleticism that it takes to be able to throw and sweep your own rocks, and the mental side of the game is almost just as fatiguing, if not more fatiguing, than the physical part of it, because you have to be engaged on every shot," she said.

"It just goes by a lot quicker so you have to really make sure that you don't miss a beat otherwise the other teams will take advantage of it. But it's a really fun game to play and it's really physically demanding."

Looking ahead to Pyeongchang, Lawes said she'll be keeping an eye on all her competitors.

"All of these teams have a shot at winning a medal. They've all had a lot of success at the world championships and they all deserve to be there," she said.

"We'll have to be playing our best come the 8th of February, and we look forward to some great games."

Mixed doubles curling will make its Olympic debut in Pyeongchangon Feb. 8 a day ahead of the official opening ceremony for the 2018 Winter Olympics.

• Full coverage of the 2018 PyeongchangWinter Olympic Games