CANADA TAKES FISU BRONZE

ZHENG AND PIETRANGELO FINISH FISU MIXED DOUBLES WITH DOMINANT WIN FOR BRONZE 

Canada has won the first medal in the history of mixed doubles at the FISU World University Games.  

While the bronze-medal win may be a bittersweet achievement – Jessica Zheng and Victor Pietrangelo certainly played well enough all week to play for gold – the pair finished with a convincing win over Italy, knocking them off the podium with a 9-3 win. The Italians conceded after a seventh-end double takeout from Zheng put the game out of reach. 

“We’re obviously thrilled to be coming home with a medal,” said Pietrangelo. “Although we wanted to come back with gold, one of our goals was coming back with some hardware, and it feels amazing to be medaling with so many great teams here.” 

Canada opened the bronze medal game with three scores in the first three ends. The Canadians took a 5-0 lead into the fourth, when Italy scored two. Canada answered with three in the fifth and forced Italy to a single in the sixth. With an 8-3 lead, Zheng’s double for one was enough to convince the Italians it was over. 

“The final was their best game of the week,” said coach Helen Radford following the win. “I’m so proud of them, and after this morning, very happy that they’re going home with a medal.” 

Earlier in the day, Canada dropped their semifinal matchup in a close battle with Germany. The turning point was an uncharacteristic miscommunication and an unforced error which gave Germany a score of three in the seventh end. Germany took a three-point lead to the eighth end and hung on for the 7-5 win – relegating the frustrated Canadians to the bronze-medal match. 

“It was a tough way to lose the semi obviously,” said Pietrangelo. But at the end of the day all we can do is come out and give it our all in the last game and try to make the most of the day. “ 

The Canadians were well supported by friends and family, but also the four-player teams from the University of Alberta (women) and University of Regina (men). Their events will begin Wednesday and Thursday. 

“We played our best,” said Pietrangelo. “It was nice to have all that support from Team Bryden and Gray Withers.”  

For Zheng and Pietrangelo, the bronze medal at the Torino, Italy event is yet another achievement on their ever-growing mixed doubles resume. The duo has won Junior Slam Series titles, the NextGen Mixed Doubles classic twice, and marched through qualifier for the FISU event, before playing Canada’s best teams at the Mixed Doubles Curling Trials.  

The students – Zheng studies computer science at the University of Waterloo while Pietrangelo studies accounting at Brock – have put themselves on the mixed doubles map, not just in Canada but now at an international level. 

“It’s been unreal wearing the Maple Leaf at an international event,” said Pietrangelo. “It still feels like a fever dream every time we put on the jacket.  We were honoured to wear it, and glad we were able to come home with bronze for Canada. Hopefully it’s a sign of things to come.”