Revenge for silver in the cards for Toronto
Silvana Tirinzoni and Brad Gushue rebounded from world silver to Grand Slam gold at the Prince Auto Players’ Championship in Toronto.
The finale of the 2023-24 Grand Slam season saw the Swiss side defeat Sweden’s Isabella Wraana at Mattamy Athletic Centre in a 6-5 reversal of last year’s championship women’s final.
Tirinzoni and company struck first, second and last with deuces in the second, fourth and seventh ends to control the match.
It was the Swiss squad’s third straight Slam final, and first Slam tournament win since the 2022-23 season.
“It’s indescribable,” Tirinzoni told Sportsnet. “We work so hard all season and to finish the season like that is crazy for us. We lost so many finals this year, so it’s for sure nice to win this.”
Tirinzoni defeated Canada’s Rachel Homan 5-3 in the semifinal round. The Canadians had ended the Swiss team’s wild run of four consecutive world women’s championships in late March.
Meanwhile, Italy’s Joel Retornaz made it back to a Slam men’s final—he’d won three titles in a row heading into January—but a sixth-end steal dropped his squad 6-4 behind Gushue with two ends to play.
After a next-to-last runback miss, a nervy draw/chip/settle by Gushue on last stone gave the St. John’s crew the 7-6 victory, which marks Gushue’s 15th Grand Slam victory as a skip.
Kevin Martin holds the record with 18.
Retornaz tipped his ballcap to Gushue—literally—during the handshakes. The Canadians had lost the world final to Sweden’s Niklas Edin the previous weekend in Schaffhausen, Switzerland where the Italians won bronze.
“I said to all of them, what an incredible season,” the six-time Brier champion told Sportsnet.
“Three Slams, losing the final of another one, a world bronze medal. They were the No. 1 team in the world this year and there’s no question about that. For us to knock them off here and get a Players’ championship, it’s a satisfying way for us to finish the year.”
In the other women’s semifinal, Wraana defeated Korea’s Un-Chi Gim 6-5 on a last-end steal, sparking an enthused celebration.
In one of the two men’s semis, Retornaz took out Brier finalist Mike McEwen in a wild 6-5 finish.
McEwen’s Saskatchewan crew had scored three in the seven the end to claim a 5-3 lead heading home, whereupon the excitable Italians cracked their own three-ender for the victory.
In the other semi, Gushue ended the hopes of Scotland’s Bruce Mouat by a 6-5 count. The Canadians had stunned Mouat in their world championship semifinal with a win largely due to an unforced Scottish error.
The first women’s playoff round saw Tirinzoni defeat Korea’s EunJung Kim 6-3, while Gim upended Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg by an 8-7 scoreline.
The initial men’s playoffs saw world champion Niklas Edin fall 7-2 to Retornaz, while Gushue edged Scotland’s Ross Whyte 6-5.
The event saw strong final weekend crowds amid headlines both expected—the final fours tournament for the semi-retiring Jennifer Jones—and unexpected, with the reveal of a new Slam ownership group.