Canada sweeps Olympic medallists at Ford World Women’s Curling Championship

NORTH BAY, Ont. — Jennifer Jones and Team Canada completed a sweep of the 2018 Olympic gold and silver medallists Wednesday to move to the top of the standings as the only unbeaten team at the Ford World Women’s Curling Championship. Jones stole points in two early ends and scored three in the seventh to drop Anna Hasselborg of Sweden, the gold medallists from Pyeongchang, South Korea, 8-4 in eight ends. Earlier in the day Jones, backed by third Kaitlyn Lawes, second Jill Officer, lead Dawn McEwen, alternate Shannon Birchard and coaches Wendy Morgan and Elaine Dagg-Jackson, beat the silver medallists, EunJung Kim of South Korea, by the same 8-4 score. “It was a really big day and we obviously knew that coming in and we wanted to make sure we did what we could to win both games,” Officer said. “So it’s nice we were able to come out on top in both.” The results left Canada at 8-0, Sweden 8-1 and South Korea at 6-2. Victoria Moiseeva of Russia beat Daniela Jentsch of Germany 6-2 to move into a third-place tie with South Korea. Canada scored singles in the first, second and fourth ends before stealing two in the fifth to take control of the game at the Memorial Gardens. “It was great for us,” Jones said of the start. “We struggled the last few games in the first few ends. We could have got a deuce in the first if I had made that draw so we were happy with how we started.” And how they ended, obviously. “I felt like that was one of our first games we put together from start to finish so we’re really happy with where we’re at,” said Jones. “Still lots of games to go, but we’re trending in the right direction.” Hasselborg, with third Sara McManus, second Agnes Knochenhauer, lead Sofia Mabergs, alternate Jennie Wåhlin and coaches Maria Prytz and Peja Lindholm, struggled with the ice throughout the game and never did find their draw weight. “We didn’t manage the ice, we were missing on the wrong side and you cannot do that against this team,” said Hasselborg, who had a game-low 64 per cent shooting percentage. “It was a tough one. We didn’t manage where to put the broom … our misses made it worse instead of better.” And while it is only one loss and they’re in no real danger of missing the playoffs, Hasselborg wasn’t pleased. “(One loss) — that’s what I will try to think when I go home tonight,” said Hasselborg. “But now I’m (upset) of course.” In the other evening games, Tori Koana of Japan (4-4) took an 8-6 win over Diana Gaspari of Italy (2-7) and Hannah Fleming of Scotland (3-6) scored an 8-7 win over Yilun Jiang of China (3-6). South Korea (6-2), Anna Kubešková of the Czech Republic (4-4), Jamie Sinclair of the U.S. (4-4), Switzerland’s Binia Feltscher (3-6) and Angelina Jensen of Denmark (2-6) had the evening byes. The 2018 Ford World Women’s Curling Championship continues Thursday with the draws at 9 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. (all times ET). Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2018 Ford World Women’s are available at www.worldcurling.org/wwcc2018/livescores TSN and RDS2 will provide complete coverage of Canada’s games at the 2018 Ford World Women’s. Go to www.tsn.ca/2017-18-curling-broadcast-schedule-1.593081 for the complete schedule. For ticket information for the 2018 Ford World Women’s, go to www.curling.ca/2018worldwomen/tickets/ This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/2018worldwomen/?lang=fr