Round robin finale in Gangneung
Playoff teams are being decided at the world mixed doubles curling championship in Gangneung, Korea.
Canada’s Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing defeated Hungary’s Linda Joo and Lorinc Tatar 8-7 to clinch their playoff berth from Group A.
The final result came on an extra-end steal after the Hungarians had built a 7-5 lead after a power play three-count in the seventh end.
The Canadians had a crack at their own three for the win in the eighth, but back-to-back double-takeouts from Joo and Tatar limited Canada’s score to two, forcing the extra end.
In the ninth, Laing froze to a pair of Hungarian stones buried behind a centre guard. Two peeled and replaced guards later, Joo faced a draw to a tiny portion of the button, but came up heavy.
“Looking back, it’s good to get a little bit of frustration in a game,” said Laing. “We haven’t had a ton of adversity this week. It’s good to have to battle back and have some tight games, see what we’re made of, and make some big shots, and we did that. It’s fortunate they missed their last, but it was a really tough shot.”
The Hungarians didn’t look like a one-win team that has already been relegated to next season’s 2024 “B” championship.
Also clinching Group A playoff spots were Estonia (Marie Kaldvee and Harri Lill) and Scotland (Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat). The Estonians handed Canada their sole loss of the week thus far, and both teams are tied atop their pool standings at 7-1. Scotland sits at 6-2.
Canada faces home favourites Korea in their Thursday round robin finale. A win combined with a loss by Estonia to the Netherlands (3-5) would give Canada first place and a bye to Friday night’s semifinals.
Any other result would mean Canada will finish second in the pool and play in the playoff qualification round on Friday morning against the third-place finisher in Group B, with the winner moving on to the semifinal.
The Scots are locked into third place regardless of what happens on Thursday.
Australia and Italy are both at 4-4.
In Group B, Japan (Chiaki Matsumura and Yasumasa Tanida) leads the way with a spotless 7-0 won/loss record, while USA’s Corie Thiesse and Kory Dropkin are second at 6-1.
Norway (Martine Roenning and Mathias Braenden) and Switzerland (Briar and Yannick Schwaller) are both 5-2.