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Mitch Young of the Yukon's junior men's curling team finished first in the mixed doubles competition at the junior championships in Fort McMurray, Alta.

Young was matched up with Sarah Sears of Nova Scotia, in what was the first-ever mixed doubles exhibition event at the M & M Meat Shop Junior Canadian Championship.

Wade Scoffin, coach of the Yukon's team, said with the mixed doubles event gaining popularity around the world, Canada is now beginning to put more emphasis on the event.

Mixed doubles is played with two curlers, and not the standard four, he explained.

Scoffin said the shooter, essentially, calls the line while whoever's holding the broom gauges the speed and is responsible for sweeping the rock into the house.

"It has been catching on quickly in other parts of the world,鈥� he said, adding that it's being talked about as an Olympic sport in 2018 for the Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.

"This is fairly well suited for the Yukon because in our small communities there is sometimes just a couple of people in town who are really involved in the sport and its hard to get four.

Scoffin pointed out a couple of Mayo residents were in Whitehorse earlier this month for the Yukon's first-ever mixed doubles championship to select a rink to represent the territory at the national championships in Leduc, Alta. next month.

Bob and Jody Smallwood of Whitehorse won the event and will be travelling to Leduc on behalf of the Yukon.

Canada, said Scoffin, is playing catch-up to some degree, and introducing the mixed doubles event to the junior's last weekend was part of the effort.

He said the junior men and women from the teams who finished in fourth to fourteenth place were matched up with curlers from different regions of the country for the single-elimination format. And Mitchell and his teammate from Nova Scotia pulled it off.

Danny Lamoureux, director of championships for the Canadian Curling Association, explained today the World Curling Federation is pushing the International Olypmic Committee to include mixed doubles in 2018.

There's been a world championship for about five years now, he pointed out.

Lamoureux said the first national mixed doubles championship scheduled for Leduc and the inclusion of the event junior's last week is all part of the effort to get Canada caught up to the rest of the world and be ready for PyeongChang.

"The reason we introduced it to the juniors was two fold,鈥� he said. "A, it gave the kids something to do if they did not make it to the playoffs and B, to get them trained in the game so they know how to play it,鈥� said Lamoureux. "It was an absolute success, and the kids absolutely had a ball.鈥�

Yukon and Yukon's junior men's rink did not make it to the championship round after finishing the initial round robin with a 2-4 record, which could easily have been a 3-3 record and a shot at the championship round.

In the game against B.C., the Yukon surrendered a 7-5 lead after seven ends.

Scoffin said the men's record at the end of the national championship was nothing to sneeze at.

In the seeding round, the team won all three games to finish out the week 5-4.

"We were pretty pleased with that,鈥� Scoffin said finishing above 500. "Finishing ninth overall and beating five other teams at the national is pretty pleasing.鈥�

The Yukon's Sarah Koltun rink finished fourth with a 7-3 record, and just missed making history by being the first junior rink from the Yukon to make the medal round when they lost a tiebreaker to Ontario on the last rock in the tenth end.