Published November 3, 2023, 6:20 am ET
Canada’s Kerri Einarson in action during Round Robin Game 1 between Canada and Sweden at the World Women’s Curling Championship at Goransson Arena in Sandviken, Sweden, Saturday, March 18, 2023. (Jonas Ekstromer/TT News Agency via AP )
Canada’s Kerri Einarson lost an 8-4 decision to South Korea’s Eunji Gim in the women’s semifinals at the Pan Continental Curling Championships on Thursday night.
Einarson’s team from Gimli, Man., gave up a tackle in the ninth round and ran out of pieces in the 10th round.
The Canadians will settle for an appearance in Friday’s bronze medal game against American Tabitha Peterson. Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa beat Peterson 10-8 in an extra end in the other semifinal.
Einarson, who won bronze in the inaugural Pan-Continental event last year, has yet to reach the top step of the World Curling Federation podium.
“It’s getting old,” she said of the game for third place. “I love playing for a medal, but it’s hard when you just can’t overcome that hurdle.”
On the men’s side, Brad Gushue’s team from St. John’s, NL, capped its round-robin appointment earlier in the day with an 11-1 win over Rayad Husain of Guyana.
“In the first couple of ends the focus for us was to go out and play strong, get some pieces in play, make some good shots and hopefully get ourselves a little bit of a lead,” Gushue said. “We did that, and I thought we played pretty well.”
Gushue was tied with Japan’s Riku Yanagisawa at 1-6, but Canada secured first place thanks to its head-to-head record. Canada will face American Andrew Stopera (4:3) in the semifinals on Friday.
Einarson defeated Mexico’s Adriana Camarena 17-1 in her early game and finished with a round-robin record of 4-3.
The World Cup qualifier runs until Saturday at the Kelowna Curling Club.
Canada has already secured a spot at the World Championships later this season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 2, 2023.
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