Live Blog: Play-offs at the #WMDCC2023
Japan's Tanida Yasumasa © WCF / Stephen Fisher
See you tomorrow!
Tomorrow Norway will meet Canada for bronze medals at 10 am, and Japan will meet United States in the gold medal final at 2 pm (KST, which is UTC +9 hours).
Join us tomorrow for the last two games of the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2023!
Update on the World Seniors
Click here to read all about Friday’s happenings at the World Seniors.
Post-win reaction from Team Japan
Matsumura Chiaki said, “We are happy to be in the final.”
Her teammate, Tanida Yasumasa added, “It was a tight game and we were without hammer in the last end. So it wasn’t a great situation for us, but we just tried to never give up.”
Post-win reaction from Korey Dropkin
“I’m just speechless right now. I mean Cory played great in that game and saved us a couple of times there. I’m super happy, very pleased right now. We came up with a great game, we had a couple of breaks towards the end there. I’m just excited for being in the gold medal game.”
Semi-final results
RESULTS | United States and Japan will play for #WMDCC2023 GOLD! 🇺🇸🥇🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/9G5wYq8zdX
— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 28, 2023
Our second finalists: Japan
After a thrilling eighth end and brilliant shots by both teams, a measure was needed to decide that Japan qualified for the gold medal final.
The final score is Japan 5, Norway 4.
Norway will play Canada for bronze medals tomorrow.
Our first finalists: United States
United States ran Canada out of stones in the eighth end to be the first to qualify for the gold medal game.
A huge steal of two for United States
Canada’s Jennifer Jones attempted a very difficult double take-out to score two points with power-play in the seventh.
However, her stone wrecked on a guard and Canada gave up a steal of two, as it turned out after a measure.
United States are now leading by 6-2, going into the eighth.
Japan settle for a single with power-play
A perfectly played end by Norway saw Matsumura Chiaki needing to nose hit for a single in their power-play end. She executed the hit perfectly to score that single.
The teams are tied at 4-4, playing the eighth.
United States steal a single in six
Jennifer Jones wasn’t perfect with her last draw attempt and United States stole a single in the sixth. United States 4, Canada 2, going into the seventh.
Now it’s time for the Canadian power-play!
Norway score two with power-play
Norway’s Martine Roenning had an open hit for three in the sixth end. However, a slightly miscommunicated line call led to a jam and a score of only two points.
Norway are now leading the game by 4-3, going into the seventh. It is time for Japan’s power-play!
Norway call power-play!
We are here for an exciting power-play end in the Japan v Norway semi!
We are back with more singles
United States’s Cory Thiesse played a perfect draw with her last, facing three Canadian counters, to pick up a single in the fifth. United States are now leading by 3-2.
Drawing against three, the pressure is on, but Cory Thiesse 🇺🇸 just keeps making everything today as she finds the edge of the button to score. 👏
Watch live on the Curling Channel at https://t.co/fy3vfdBx89#WMDCC2023 #curling pic.twitter.com/Zx5yEb1vFz
— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 28, 2023
Japan’s Matsumura Chiaki threw her last through and settled for one that was already sitting on the button. Japan take a 3-2 lead, going into the sixth.
Something to read in the break
Alison Umlah, from Halifax, Canada, is one of this year’s winners in the Sports Media Trainee Programme, and has traveled to Gangneung, Korea to take up journalistic and social media duties with the World Curling Media Team.
In her role, she’s been looking at broadcasts done by World Curling TV (WCTV). How the footage is produced, which broadcasters are sharing it, and how the World Curling Federation is making quality products available to curling fans all over the world.
Read her feature here.
Half-time scores
The teams continued to trade singles in both games.
Jennifer Jones decided to throw away her last stone and settle for one in their game against United States.
Norway’s Martine Roenning was a bit light with her last draw attempt, and the Norwegians needed to settle for a single against Japan as well.
United States 2-2 Canada
Japan 2-2 Norway
More forces in the third
The third end was all about forces again.
United States’ Cory Thiesse needed to draw to the four-foot to score a single. She did it, and as a result, United States are now leading by 2-1 against Canada.
Japan’s Matsumura Chiaki needed a precise hit-and-roll to pick up a single, which she executed without a problem. Japan are now leading the game by 2-1 against Norway.
Shot watch
Make the double and roll buried. 😎 No problem for Brent Laing 🇨🇦 whose line and weight are spot-on.
Watch live on the Curling Channel at https://t.co/fy3vfdBx89#WMDCC2023 #curling pic.twitter.com/nReili2PQ6
— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 28, 2023
Single scores back
The eight-foot was packed in both houses in the second end.
In the end, both teams with hammer – Canada and Norway – could only score a single.
Both games are tied at 1-1 after two.
Japan score one, US steal one in first
After a slight mistake from both Norway’s Martine Roenning and Japan’s Matsumura Chiaki with their last, Japan scored a single with hammer in the first end.
In the other semi-final, Jennifer Jones was heavy with her last draw and Canada gave up a single steal to United States.
Shot watch
Cory Thiesse 🇺🇸 piles up the pressure as she runs the top red back and lies three, eventually achieving not only the force, but indeed a single steal. 🙌
Watch live on the Curling Channel at https://t.co/fy3vfdBx89#WMDCC2023 #curling pic.twitter.com/jPJqs0lZ8F
— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 28, 2023
Here we go!
The two semi-finals are now underway!
Watch them both live on The Curling Channel.
Japan v Norway in the other semi!
Who’s gonna advance to the gold medal game?
Canada v United States in the semi-final!
Are you ready?
See you tonight!
We are now taking a break at the Gangneung Curling Centre and we’ll be back tonight with the semi-finals at 6 pm (KST, which is UTC +9 hours).
In the meantime, watch the replays of the earlier games on The Curling Channel.
Reactions from our new semi-finallists
Norway’s Martine Roenning said, “That’s amazing, we’re so happy. It was our goal the whole week, so to be in the semi-finals, it’s such a good feeling.”
Talking about the game, her teammate, Mathias Braenden added, “I think we just made more shots today. We played solid as a team.”
Reflecting on the upcoming game against Japan, he added, “We’re ready to play. We’re up for a revenge!”
United States’ Cory Thiesse said, “Right off the bat we just wanted to make sure that we dialled in draw weight right away. I think we had a great practice and got that dialled in and then capitalised on a couple of opportunities early.”
Reflecting on playing Canada in the semi-finals, she added, “We had a great game today and I think we just feel like we’re playing really well, so I think we just wanna continue that momentum tonight.”
Post-win reactions from Korea and Czech Republic
Korea’s Jeong Byeongjin said, “It was a very important game, because it was a relegation game. Thinking of the next year’s national team, we played really hard for them as well.”
His teammate, Kim Jiyoon added, “This week, we didn’t play according to our expectations, so if we have a chance again, we’ll play much better next time.”
Czech Republic’s Vit Chabicovsky said, “We are so relieved! Especially for us, we are juniors. The qualification for this event next year will be on the same dates as our junior championships. So it would make it really difficult for us.”
“We are so relieved that we got through. We’ll celebrate for sure. I guess we’ll join the seniors. They seem to be celebrating the whole week. I guess that’s what we are gonna do,” he added.
All the results from the session
RESULTS | Norway and United States advance to the semi-finals, Germany and Austria get relegated #WMDCC2023 pic.twitter.com/ZkG9bxuDdZ
— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 28, 2023
Czech Republic and Korea earn their spot in the #WMDCC2024
Czech Republic scored a single point in the eighth end using their power-play to win the game by 5-3 against Germany.
Korea won their game against Austria by 8-6, scoring a single with their power-play in the eighth.
With these victories, Czech Republic and Korea secured a spot in next year’s world championship line-up, while Germany and Austria are now relegated to the World Mixed Doubles Qualification Event.
The fourth semi-finalists: Norway
Estonia could only score a single point in the last end against Norway, which means an 8-5 final result in favour of the Norwegians and a spot for them in tonight’s semi-final line-up. They will meet Japan at 6 pm (KST, which is UTC +9 hours).
United States: semi-final bound!
United States were up by 8-6 against Scotland going into the eight end. In that end, the Americans opted to use their power-play.
After Korey Dropkin’s successful take-out with his last, Scotland conceded the game. This victory means that United States qualified for tonight’s semi-finals and will play Canada.
Seventh ends: time for some power-play
Three teams playing the red stones decided to use their power-play in the seventh end.
Norway capitalised on theirs, picking up three against Estonia. Now the Norwegians are leading the game by 8-4, playing the eighth.
Germany were down by 2-4, going into the seventh end. Their power-play resulted in a single point, as Pia-Lisa Schoell was heavy with her last draw attempt to score two. Czech Republic are now leading by 4-3, going into the eighth.
Korea were up by 7-4 against Austria after six. In the seventh, Austria used their power-play to score two and narrow the gap between the teams to a single point. Austria 6, Korea 7, going into the eighth.
United States score two more
United States put two more on the board in the sixth and are now leading the game by 8-4 against 2021’s world champions, Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat.
Two for Estonia with power-play
Estonia put two on the board in the sixth, using their power-play.
Norway are now leading the game by 5-4, coming into the seventh. It’s time for their power-play!
Czech Republic: back-to-back single steals
Czech Republic are leading the game for the first time after five, due to single scores in the last three ends.
Germany 2, Czech Republic 3, playing the sixth.
A steal for Norway
Norway stole a single in the fifth end, when Marie Kaldvee’s double take-out attempt didn’t turn out as she planned it.
Norway 5, Estonia 2, playing the sixth.
Half-time scores
Germany 2-2 Czech Republic
Norway 4-2 Estonia
United States 6-3 Scotland
Austria 3-5 Korea
Watch all games live (or later as replays) on The Curling Channel.
Norway score three
Martine Roenning made a perfect take-out with her last in the fourth end, and it resulted in three points for Norway to go up, 4-2, after four.
Austria steal a single and take the lead
Austria stole a single in the third end when Korea’s Kim Jiyoon wasn’t successful with her tap attempt.
Austria 3, Korea 2, playing the fourth.
Four for United States in three
Perfect stone-placement resulted in a big score of four for United States in the third end.
They are leading the game against Scotland by 6-1, playing the fourth.
With shots like this, it seems easy to score a big end.
‘That’s what I’m talking about!’ 👊 The angles are all in United States’ 🇺🇸 favour as Korey Dropkin capitalises on great set-up work and makes the tap to lie four.
Watch live on the Curling Channel at https://t.co/fy3vfdBx89#WMDCC2023 #curling pic.twitter.com/9UCb80Xjp7
— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 28, 2023
Norway v Estonia: a forcing game
Both Estonia and Norway picked up single points with hammer in the first three ends. Therefore, Estonia are leading by 2-1, playing the fourth.
Shot watch
Cory Thiesse makes the double to get the force. pic.twitter.com/kgrEW673uY
— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 28, 2023
Germany start strong
After scoring a single in the first end, Germany put another single on the board in the second, when Czech Republic’s Julie Zelingrova decided to throw her last one away.
The situation in the house before Zelingrova’s last stone. Germany are playing red.
United States pick up two
United States put two on the board in the first end against Scotland, partly due to an excellent draw by Cory Thiesse with her last.
Korea steal two
Hosts Korea stole two in the first end, when Austria’s Hannah Augustin was unsuccessful with her tap-back attempt.
Shot watch
‘That’s absolutely the best call.’ 🤩 Bruce Mouat gets Scotland 🏴 out of some trouble with a terrific hit and roll over right into the pocket.
Watch live on the Curling Channel at https://t.co/fy3vfdBx89#WMDCC2023 #curling pic.twitter.com/DpTb97W48d
— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 28, 2023
So, what's at stake?
On Sheet A, Germany are taking on Czech Republic and the winner secure a spot in next year’s world championship line-up.
On Sheet E, Austria and Korea are fighting for the same.
On Sheet B, Norway are playing Estonia and the winner earn a spot in the semi-finals.
Similarly, on Sheet D, the winner of United States v Scotland qualify for the semi-finals.
Canada and Japan are already in the semi-finals due to finishing the round robin on the top of their group rankings.
Here we go!
Warm-ups and pre-game practices are done, the mood is great, let the games begin!
Good morning, welcome to Day 7!
This morning, we’ll have four exciting games in the Gangneung Curling Centre.
Two qualification games with the winners advancing to the semi-finals:
Norway v Estonia
United States v Scotland
And two relegation games with the winners earning a spot for their Member Association in next year’s world championship line-up:
Germany v Czech Republic
Austria v Korea
We’ll start at 10 am (KST, which is UTC +9 hours).
Watch all games live (and later as replays) on The Curling Channel.
