Men’s medal matches confirmed at Pan Continental

Thursday’s final round robin sessions were important as they would determine both world championship qualification and relegation to the B-Division in both the men’s and women’s events.The teams who had already qualified for the play-offs couldn’t take a back seat either, as their games would decide the semi-final draw.

The men’s semi-finals took different approaches – United States played Japan with an open house and few guards, while Canada and Japan were busy with draws and tap-ups.

In a game that was “just unbelievable” for Japan skip, Shimizu Testuro, a miss from Brad Gushue, skip of Canada, in the fifth end gave Shimizu a chance to split his tight guard into the house to score three. With the shooter rolling out of the rings, the Japanese had to settle for a two and finish 5-3 up at the break.

After Canada placed themselves at the top of the table by beating China 7-4 in the morning session, Japan kept the pressure on the host nation with a force in the sixth, and set up the ninth end to have Gushue questioning his shot choice. The game finished 8-4 to Japan after Canada missed his final runback.

Japan sweep © World Curling / Sarah Boeke

In the other semi-final, United States skip John Shuster, had a double to remove two Chinese shot stones with his last in the sixth end. But just clipping the guard, he gave up a steal of one, increasing China’s lead to 5-2. Multiple take-outs made by China in the ninth end had the United States concede with a final score of 7-4. Xu Xiaoming, skip of China found the game “a little exciting, but we need to calm down and prepare for the gold medal match”

United States skip John Shuster © World Curling / Sarah Boeke

Friday brings the bronze medal match-up of the North American teams, Canada and the United States. On Sunday Japan and China will meet to battle for the gold.

Korea and Australia men’s teams faced each other in the morning session – both had missed out on the semi-finals but the winner of their game would still qualify for the BKT Tires World Men’s Curling Championship 2025. After a full ten ends, it was Korea who secured the qualification, when Australia’s fourth player Dean Hewitt caught a guard with his final stone, to go down by 9-7.

Australia examine the house © World Curling / Sarah Boeke

Afterwards, Korea’s skip Lee Jaeboem said, “it was tied and we’ve come out alive, so I’m truly happy. Going through this competition, we’ve realised what we need to improve on and what we need to work on going into the worlds. “

New Zealand and Chinese Taipei battled to avoid relegation in their game, and the New Zealanders emerged as convincing 13-3 winners. Chinese Taipei now move down to next year’s B-Division.

Afterwards, Anton Hood, New Zealand’s skip, said: “when you come to events where there’s relegation, you don’t want to be at the bottom of the heap. We played really well at times and not at others. It was certainly our consistency that let us down this week.

“It’s bittersweet to be staying in the A, because we’ve got the long road to the Olympics, but if we play as well as we can, the long road’s not going to hold us up.”

New Zealand’s Jared Palanuik © World Curling / Sarah Boeke

Womens teams secure play-off positions

In the women’s final round-robin session, play-off positions, world championship places and relegations were also all at stake.

Japan and Canada faced each other and, in a close game, Canada won by 8-6 when Canada skip Rachel Homan played a double take-out to leave two of her own stones counting for two more points and an 8-6 win. This placed Canada in first, on seven wins and no losses, while Japan finished second.

Afterwards, Canada’s second Emma Miskew, said, “it was a great game, they are a great team. They made a lot of shots, we made a lot of shots too. We’re going to go into tomorrow and give it all we got. They’re tough opponents so we’re going to have to be sharp.”

Canada’s Sarah Wilkes and Emma Miskew © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

China and United States faced each other with the final place in the semi-finals at stake. China came out on top, beating United States 9-4 to become the fourth team to qualify for the medal games. Not all was lost for United States, as they finished in fifth place and secured their place in the LGT World Women’s Curling Championship 2025.

After the game, China’s skip Wang Rui said, “We’re very happy to make the semi-finals now. That was a good performance and now what we have to do is try to improve for the semi-final.”

China’s Dong Ziqi & Han Yu © World Curling / Sarah Boeke

Korea, who had already qualified for the play-offs yesterday, faced Mexico in their final round-robin match. After eight ends, Korea secured a convincing 11-4 win, placing them in third place in the table, with Mexico in seventh, just avoiding relegation.

New Zealand faced Chinese Taipei in the game that would determine which team would be relegated. The New Zealanders pulled out all the stops, producing a 10-3 win, meaning Chinese Taipei are relegated to the B-Division next year.