Don't compare me to Jennifer Jones, says Canadian curler Chelsea Carey
Chelsea Carey wants to be clear. She's not trying to fill Jennifer Jones's curling shoes.
Carey has been handed the skipping reins of Jones's young team ranked second in Canada and fourth in the world.
Six-time Canadian champion Jones, also a two-time world champ and an Olympic gold medallist, retired from team curling earlier this month after the final Grand Slam of the season.
"I don't feel comfortable being put in the same conversation as Jennifer because I think she's the greatest curler of all time at this moment," Carey said. "People keep saying 'you're going to try to fill her shoes.' I'm not going to try because no one can. I don't think that's possible."
Jones's former teammates, all Manitobans aged 25 and under, chose Carey to replace Jones and to skip them to the 2025 Olympic trials.
Third Karlee Burgess, second Emily Zacharias and lead Lauren Lenentine reached the last two national finals with Jones.
Carey skipped Albertan teams to Scotties Tournament of Hearts titles in 2016 and 2019. The 39-year-old from Winnipeg lives in Calgary where she's a marketing and communications director for KidSport.
Carey has curled out of Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan during a career that includes seven Hearts appearances.
She didn't have a full-time team in 2023-24, however. Carey subbed on various teams including Jones's.
Carey skipped Burgess, Zacharias and Lenentine to second place in Edmonton's Saville Shootout and the Stu Sells 1824 Halifax Classic.
She also skipped Michele Jaggi's Swiss team in four tour events, and spared for Kate Cameron in January's Canadian Open.
"After my last team split up, I purposely didn't put a team together last year," Carey said. "That was a conscious choice on my part to take a bit of a step back. When I did that, I assumed that I wouldn't play on a full-time team the rest of the (Olympic) cycle, maybe end up as a fifth or just fill in. I had made my peace with that."
She saw subbing for different teams as potential auditions for the next Olympic quadrennial.
"It was more just an opportunity to stay relevant in Canada for when shifts start to happen," Carey said. "I wanted people to know I'm still around, but I'm not going to do anything until next cycle unless something extraordinary happens, which it has.
"You change your plans when something like this happens."
When Jones declared this year's national championship in Calgary would be her last, Carey waited until after February's Tournament of Hearts to reach out to the team.
She knew in doing so she would set herself up for comparisons to Jones.
"It's sort of the only thing that made it hard to do. No one really wants to be put in that position to be compared to her because she's incomparable at this point," Carey said.
Carey was given the nod after she was interviewed by Burgess, Zacharias and Lenentine.
"It's hard to wrap your head around a game of curling without Jennifer Jones," Carey said. "It's going to come eventually, but I think it surprised everybody a little bit that it was now, so I didn't expect that to be a vacancy.
"It's such a good opportunity that you know a lot of people are going to be chasing it."
Carey and company won't know how many events they'll play in their first season together until the World Curling Tour and Grand Slam schedules are released.
What's clear is they don't have to win a Manitoba championship to curl in the 2025 Tournament of Hearts in Thunder Bay, Ont.
Under new Curling Canada qualification rules, Carey gets an early berth as the No. 2 team in the Canadian Team Ranking System behind No. 1 Rachel Homan, who will return to the Hearts as defending champion.
The top three CTRS teams not already qualified at the end of the 2023-24 season gained national championship berths. They're all from Manitoba. Kerri Einarson at No. 3 and Kaitlyn Lawes at No. 4 join Carey and Homan in Thunder Bay's field.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 25, 2024.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canadian gov't proposes new foreign influence registry as part of wide-spanning new bill
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government is proposing a suite of new measures and law changes aimed at countering foreign interference in Canada, amid extensive scrutiny over past meddling attempts and an ever-evolving threat landscape.
Boeing Starliner capsule's first crewed test flight postponed
The long-awaited first crewed test flight of Boeing's new Starliner space capsule was called off for at least 24 hours over a technical issue that launch teams were unable to resolve in time for the planned Monday night lift-off.
Teacher charged in historical sexual assault of Calgary teenage girl
Calgary police have charged a teacher with the alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl more than 20 years ago.
Winnipeg man admits to killing four women, argues he's not criminally responsible
Defence lawyers of Jeremy Skibicki have admitted in court the accused killed four Indigenous women, but argues he is not criminally responsible for the deaths by way of mental disorder – this latest development has triggered a judge-alone trial rather than a jury trial.
Man banned from owning animals after fatal Calgary dog attack
The owner of three Calgary dogs that got loose and mauled a woman to death in 2022 has been ordered to pay a $15,000 fine within one year and banned from owning any animal for 15 years.
East-end Ottawa family dealing with massive rat infestation
Residents in Ottawa’s Elmridge Gardens complex are dealing with a rat infestation that just won’t go away. Now, after doing everything they can to try to fix the issue, they are pleading with the city to step in and help.
Mediterranean staple may lower your risk of death from dementia, study finds
A daily spoonful of olive oil could lower your risk of dying from dementia, according to a new study by Harvard scientists.
An El Nino-less summer is coming. Here's what that could mean for Canada
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
Newfoundland and Labrador latest province to tighten rules on Airbnbs
Newfoundland and Labrador is the latest jurisdiction to bring in stricter rules for short-term rentals, with a coming set of regulations that will force operators to register with the provincial government.