中华时报/中华新闻网（赵雪湄）两位北京冬奥金牌得主将在斯特灵混双邀请赛半决赛上演队友内战。海莉·达夫与罗斯·怀特先后击败世界排名第一的爱沙尼亚组合卡尔德维/利尔，以及2022年世界冠军拉米/莫里森，强势闯入四强，将迎战珍·多兹和布鲁斯·穆奥特。
多兹/穆奥特已被锁定为明年米兰-科尔蒂纳冬奥会混双代表，上赛季出战所有国际赛事均打进决赛，本次小组赛亦保持全胜。相比之下，达夫/怀特是久别重组，赛前仅打过两场，却配合默契，爆冷取胜。
“我们算是全新组合，本没把握，但沟通顺畅，结果超出预期。”达夫表示，“进入季后赛已是巨大成就，对阵奥运组合更是宝贵机会。”她坦言，混双已是奥运正式项目，“这意味着又多一枚奖牌机会，绝不能轻视。”
另一场半决赛，美国前世界冠军蒂斯/德罗普金将对阵澳大利亚世界排名第二的吉尔/休伊特。赛事半决赛（8:30）和决赛（12:00）将于8月25日至27日在国家冰壶学院举行，并通过 Curling Stadium Europe 平台直播。
（By May Zhao)Two Beijing Winter Olympic gold medalists will meet in a teammate showdown at the semifinals of the Stirling Mixed Doubles Invitational. Hailey Duff and Ross Whyte stormed into the last four after defeating the world No. 1 Estonian duo, Marie Kaldvee and Harri Lill, followed by 2022 world champions Bobby Lammie and Rebecca Morrison. They will now face Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat.
Dodds and Mouat, already confirmed as Great Britain’s mixed doubles representatives for next year’s Milan-Cortina Olympics, reached the final of every international event they contested last season and remained unbeaten in this tournament’s round-robin stage. By contrast, Duff and Whyte are a reunited pairing, having played only two games together before this event, yet showed strong chemistry and produced upset wins.
“We’re basically a new team, so I wasn’t sure how it would go, but our communication has been smooth and the results exceeded expectations,” said Duff. “Making the playoffs is already a huge achievement, and playing an Olympic duo is a valuable opportunity.” She added that with mixed doubles now an Olympic discipline, “it means another chance to win a medal, which can’t be taken lightly.”
In the other semifinal, former world champions Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin of the USA will face Australia’s world No. 2 ranked pair, Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt. The semifinals (8:30am) and final (12:00pm) will take place August 25–27 at the National Curling Academy and be streamed live on the Curling Stadium Europe platform.