At the world women’s curling championship Canada’s Kerri Einarson beat Japan 6-5 to reach the semifinals, capping pool play in Calgary Friday (ET) and earning direct entry to the Saturday evening semifinal slot. The Canadian rink finished pool play 10-2 behind Switzerland at 11-1, with Switzerland taking top place in the standings. Playoff games earlier Saturday (ET) will send two more opponents into the final four, with medal games set for Sunday (ET).
World Women’s Curling Championship: Pool leaders and path to semifinals
Canada’s victory over Japan ensured a Canadian presence among the four semifinalists. The win kept Canada’s pool record at 10-2 and confirmed that the two top round-robin teams — Canada and Switzerland — advance directly to the Saturday evening semifinals. Japan will meet Turkey and Sweden will take on South Korea in earlier Saturday playoff games (ET); the winners of those matches will join Canada and Switzerland in the final four. Switzerland rose to the top of the round-robin table with an 11-1 record.
Across pool play at the world women’s curling championship Switzerland had knocked Canada from first place earlier in the week with a 6-5 extra-end win, with Swiss skip Xenia Schwaller drawing to the button for the decisive point. Schwaller said, “I felt quite comfortable about the draw, ” and added, “I’m very proud, we’re doing an amazing job. ” Those round-robin results set the bracket that moves into semifinals and medal play on Sunday (ET).
Einarson’s decisive shots and team reaction
Kerri Einarson, with third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard and lead Karlee Burgess representing Manitoba’s Gimli Curling Club, executed the critical shots that swung the game. Einarson’s last throw through a tight port for a double takeout in the eighth end scored two for a 6-3 lead. Earlier, her triple takeout in the sixth produced a deuce and a wide double hit in the third held Japan to a single point.
Sweeting posted a 99 per cent shooting percentage, Birchard 93 and Burgess 97 in the match, statistics that underline the front-end and vice-skip support that Einarson credited. “We definitely upped it this game, ” Einarson said. “Right from lead to skip, we played really well and put a lot of pressure on them. Very good rock placement. We had a couple that slid a little deep but we definitely didn’t get any full misses. We got something out of every shot and I think that’s key. ” The Canadians recovered from an extra-end loss the previous evening to beat Australia 11-2 in an earlier session and finished pool play with momentum.
The world women’s curling championship crowd at Calgary’s WinSport Event Centre delivered lively support for the home team; Einarson noted the difference from her prior world-staged appearance in the same building. The schedule now funnels four teams toward the semifinals, with semifinal winners meeting in the medal games scheduled for Sunday (ET).
What’s next: semifinal matchups are set for Saturday evening (ET), with Japan or Turkey and Sweden or South Korea producing the two teams that will join Canada and Switzerland in the final four. Expect the intensity at the world women’s curling championship to spike as teams move from round-robin positioning into single-elimination play; medal games will conclude the event Sunday (ET).
