United States will play Japan for gold medals and the world title in Saturday afternoon’s final of the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship.
The Americans beat Canada by 6-2 in one semi-final, and after an umpire’s measure on the last stone, Japan were 5-4 winners over Norway in the other semi-final.
Canada and Japan both took the direct route to the semi-finals because they had emerged from the round-robin stage as group winners. To join them, United States had beaten Scotland by 8-6 and Norway were 8-5 winners over Estonia in Friday morning’s qualification games.
In their game against Canada, the Americans took the early advantage with a single steal in the first end. After that, the teams swapped singles to go into the break tied at 2-2.
In the fifth end, United States’ female player Cory Thiesse got her last draw inside three Canadian counters in the house to score one more and take a 3-2 lead.
The Canadians gave up a single steal in the sixth and then a steal of two in the seventh when Jennifer Jones’ last stone wrecked on a guard.
United States then ran Canada out of stones in the eighth end, to complete their 6-2 win.
In the third end of the game between Japan and Norway, with the score tied at 1-1, Japan’s Matsumura Chiaki was facing three Norway stones in scoring positions when she played a hit, to score one point and take a 2-1 lead.
By the sixth end, Japan held a 3-2 lead when Norway’s Martine Roenning had a chance to score three. However, after her hit, a Japan stone jammed on the way out at the back of the house, and Norway had to settle for two points and a 4-3 lead.
In the next end, Japan’s Matsumura was facing three Norwegian counters when she played a hit, to score one point and level the game at 4-4.
In the eighth, Norway’s Roenning was a touch heavy with her final draw, and, after an umpire’s measure, Japan stole a single, for the 5-4 win that puts them into the final against United States.
Norway and Canada will face off for bronze.
The bronze and gold medal games will be staged on Saturday, at 10:00 and at 14:00, respectively.
The times are KST (Korea Standard Time) which is Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) +9 hours.
During the morning session, Czech Republic had beaten Germany by 5-3 while Korea won against Austria by 8-6 in relegation play-off games. These results mean that the Czechs and Korea took the last two direct qualification slots in next season’s world championship, while Germany and Austria now go to next season’s World Mixed Doubles Qualification Event alongside Hungary and England, last-place finishers in their round-robin groups.
Find all the results from the championship here. Find the medal games’ schedule here.
Engage with the World Curling Federation during the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2023 on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Weibo and be searching the hashtags #curling #WMDCC2023
