Clash of titans!

Team Canada wins battle of unbeatens to take over top spot at BKT World Women’s Championship

Streaks are one of the biggest attention-grabbers in sports. Fans love them.

Skip Rachel Homan’s Team Canada added to one streak and brought another to a screeching halt Tuesday evening at the 2024 BKT Tires World Women’s Curling Championship in Sydney, N.S.

The Canadians, in a much-anticipated match, defeated skip Silvana Tirinzoni’s four-times defending champions Team Switzerland 8-5 in a battle of unbeaten teams at Centre 200. The win boosted Team Canada to the top of the 13-team standings with a 6-0 record, while the Swiss fell to 6-1 and second place.

Team South Korea, skipped by Eunji Gim, moved into a third-place tie with idle Team Italy with 5-1 records. The South Koreans posted a 10-3 victory over Team Turkey (1-6), skipped by Dilsat Yildiz.

The win has huge implications for the Canadians, both as a confidence builder and in the chase for one of the top six playoff positions available. Beating the Swiss at a world championship is no easy thing to do.

“Lots of fun. We knew they were going to come out with a huge game and they did,” said Homan, supported 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.

The victory was the 22nd in a row for the Canadians in various competitions. Homan’s last loss was Jan. 17 at Grand Slam Co-op Canadian Open.

At the same time the Canadians ended the amazing 42-game world championship winning streak of Tirinzoni and vice-skip Alina Paetz, who have been together for four straight world championship victories.

Tirinzoni was proud of the streak.

“You never play for something like that,” she said. “For me it’s almost unbelievable that we were able to win 42 games in a row at that level. It had to come to an end at some point, we knew that.

“They played so great I don’t think anybody would be able to beat them today. We tried everything but not today, so 42 it is.”

Miskew admitted Tirinzoni’s streak was impressive. The physical and mental toughness it takes to keep an edge over a perpetual conveyor belt of world-class opponents is mind boggling.

“They’re an impressive team, obviously done very, very well over many, many years,” she said. “A crazy win streak but that’s not what we were focused on.” 

Homan put on another spectacular display of clutch shooting against the Swiss, who could only applaud her handiwork. It started in the second end when Homan made a stunning wide-angle double-raise on her own rocks that picked out a Swiss stone on the button. What looked like a sure steal of one for the Swiss was suddenly a miraculous 2-0 lead for Team Canada.

“We really didn’t have another option to play,” said Miskew, “so I thought it’s worthwhile to just fire it down there and I think the angles are going to work. I’m glad I was right. I talked her into it.”

Homan agreed it was a big end.

“Getting that two was huge to go up two against a team like that and make them fight back. They did so we had to keep fighting for our twos.”

Homan also made a superb long double takeout in the fifth end for a deuce, sending a Swiss stone at the front 12 all the way through to the back 12, clipping out a second enemy stone, while avoiding a jam.

But the game decider came in the seventh end when the Canadians caught a huge break. Paetz, in attempting a through-the-port takeout, clipped a front stone, angled into the house and killed one of her own, leading to a four-ender for Team Canada.

Game, set and match.

It was the second big win of the day for the Canadians. Earlier they defeated Team Italy 8-7 in an extra end.

Meanwhile, Team Sweden (4-3), skipped by Anna Hasselborg, stayed alive after defeating Team Denmark (5-2), skipped by Madeleine Dupont, 6-5 in an extra end.

In another game on the evening shift, Team Scotland (2-5), skipped by Rebecca Morrison, posted a 12-8 win over skip Liisa Turmann’s Team Estonia (1-6).

Other teams with the evening bye included Italy (5-1), Japan (2-4), Norway (2-4), U.S.A. (2-4) and New Zealand (1-5).

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. 

Homan won the 2017 world championship in Beijing, China, with Miskew, Joanne Courtney and Lisa Weagle. Jennifer Jones skipped the last Canadian team to win it in 2018 in North Bay, Ont.

The final goes Sunday.

The 2024 BKT Tires World Women’s Curling Championship continues Wednesday with draws at 9 a.m., 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