OFF AND RUNNING

Team Canada wins opener as BKT Tires World Women’s Championship kicks off

Skip Rachel Homan’s Team Canada hit the ground running Saturday by winning its opening game of the 2024 BKT Tires World Women’s Curling Championship at Centre 200 in Sydney, Nova Scotia.

So what else is new? Homan’s team has set a torrid pace winning games this season, and a 7-6 triumph over skip Anna Hasselborg’s Team Sweden in the world lid-lifter only underlined how good the Canadians have been from their very first event.

“Phenomenal feeling, battling out here for Canada and for everyone that’s cheering their hearts out,” said Homan, who is backed by vice-skip Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew, lead Sarah Wilkes, alternate Rachel Brown, team coach Don Bartlett and national coach Viktor Kjell, from the Ottawa Curling Club.

The win was the 17th in a row for the Canadians and pushed their overall record this season to an eye-popping 49-5.

Suffice it to say, Team Canada is on a roll and even Hasselborg, skipping one of the best teams in the world, couldn’t stop it. 

Homan was looking for a good start and got it, especially important in Sydney considering the tough opening schedule her team faces. And she got it. The Canadians shot a blistering 93 per cent in the game.

Quick starts will not guarantee world championships for anybody, but it’s a good opening against a dangerous opponent. Hasselborg, who won Olympic gold at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and bronze in Beijing in 2022, is appearing in her seventh world championship, with silver medals collected in Silkeborg, Denmark (2019), and 2018 in North Bay, Ont. 

The Canadians would normally have their hands full with Team Hasselborg in their opener, but did catch them off their game in the first four ends when the Swedes made a series of half-shots. Team Canada jumped off to a quick start when Fleury, throwing her first stone in a world championship, made a perfect hit-and-roll behind cover to set up a deuce.

“You always want to start out with a made shot and have a good feel for the ice,” said Fleury. “Not too many jitters. It felt very much like the Scotties.”

The Canadians came back with another deuce in the third end to go up 4-1 when Hasselborg stuffed an attempted double. One end later, Hasselborg was unable to complete a short double and was forced to take a single.

Homan didn’t face any major headaches until the fifth when she needed to make a runback and stick for a single, facing two Swedish counters.

Team Sweden did collect themselves in the second half of the game, but the Canadians cracked another deuce in the seventh, thanks to a terrific angle-raise double takeout by Homan with her first.

The Swedes, who never scored more than a point in an end, manufactured a couple of late steals as Team Canada played defensively, but it was too little, too late.

“They’re a phenomenal team,” Homan said of the Swedes. “When you have to play defensive a team can definitely claw back and we were ready for that.”

“It’s first game,” said Hasselborg. “We didn’t have second practice so we took a while to get into the ice and learn the ice. I think we did that a lot better through the game and we will take that moving on.”

In other key opening game, reigning world champion Silvana Tirinzoni skipped her Team Switzerland to a 7-4 victory over Team South Korea, skipped by Eunji Gim, in a clash of two pre-event favourites. Tirinzoni and last-rock shooter Alina Paetz are looking to become the first women to win five consecutive world titles while South Korea is ranked third in the world by World Curling.

In other games, Team United States, skipped by Tabitha Peterson, knocked off skip Dilsat Yildiz’s Team Turkey 8-4, and Team Japan, skipped by Miyu Ueno, posted an 8-6 win over Team New Zealand, skipped by Jessica Smith.

The top two teams in the standings advance directly to the semifinals. The third- through sixth-ranked teams compete in playoff qualification games (3 vs. 6; 4 vs. 5) with the winners advancing to the semifinals. The semifinal winners play in the gold-medal game and the losers play for bronze. 

The final goes March 24.

The 2024 BKT Tires World Women’s Curling Championship continues with a draw at 7 p.m. (all times Atlantic).

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2024 BKT Tires World Women’s Curling Championship are available by CLICKING HERE.

TSN and RDS2 will provide complete coverage of the 2024 BKT Tires World Women’s Curling Championship. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule.

For ticket information for the 2024 BKT Tires World Women’s Curling Championship, go to www.curling.ca/2024worldwomen/tickets/.

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/2024worldwomen/nouvelles/?lang=fr