Team New Zealand snatches first world women’s win

Team New Zealand, skipped by Jessica Smith, broke new ground at the 2024 BKT Tires World Women’s Curling Championship, winning New Zealand’s first game ever at the global event, edging Team Scotland 8-6 Sunday morning.

The Kiwis survived a furious comeback by the Scots, skipped by Rebecca Morrison, to even its record at 1-1. Smith made a double runback with her last rock to secure the win. 

Team Smith is making its second appearance at the worlds after going 0-12 at the 2023 championship, having made their historic qualification at the 2022 Pan Continental Championships hosted in Calgary.

Team Canada and Team Switzerland remained alone at the top of the 13-team championship standings with 2-0 records after the Scots (1-1), the only team that could move alongside them, were upset.

Smith is supported by third Courtney Smith, second/vice-skip Bridget Becker, lead Holly Thompson, alternate Natalie Thurlow, and coach Sean Becker. 

The other three games on the morning draw at Centre 200 in Sydney, N.S., featured teams with 0-1 records, all hungry for their first wins.

While the Scots were upset, so were the Swedes. Skip Anna Hasselborg’s Team Sweden (0-2) was downed 8-7 by skip Marianne Roervik’s Team Norway (1-1). Hasselborg skipped Team Sweden to an Olympic gold at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

In other morning games, Team Denmark (1-1), skipped by Madeleine Dupont, bounced back from a first-round defeat to post a 10-4 win over skip Dilsat Yildiz’s Team Turkey (0-2), while skip Eunji Gim’s Team South Korea (1-1) scored a 9-6 victory over Team Estonia (0-2), skipped by Liisa Turmann. 

Team Canada, which had the morning bye, swings back into action Sunday afternoon with a clash against Team United States (0-1). Team Canada, skipped by Rachel Homan and backed by vice-skip Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew, lead Sarah Wilkes, alternate Rachel Brown and coached by Don Bartlett and national coach Viktor Kjell, from the Ottawa Curling Club, opened play Saturday with convincing wins over Team Sweden and Team Denmark.

Skip Silvana Tirinzoni, gunning for a fifth consecutive world title, doesn’t play again until the evening draw when her Team Switzerland plays against Team Estonia.

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 draws at 2 p.m. and 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