16 March 2026
Historic first World Women’s win for Australia on Day two
Sunday at the BKT World Women’s Curling Championship was a historic day for the Australian curlers.
This is the first appearance ever by an Australian women’s team at a world championship, and on the day that they were honoured, with national anthem ‘Advance Australia Fair’ ringing out, they also managed to record their first-ever win — a 7-6 extra-end victory over Norway.
The game was tied at 6-6 after the regulation ten ends. Then, in the extra end, Australian skip Helen Williams cleared out three Norwegian stones with her last. But it took an umpire’s measure to determine that the Australian shooter had just stayed within the remaining Norwegian stone to score the one point that gave them their historic 7-6 win.
Afterwards, Williams said, “It’s amazing to be here. And I’m glad that measure went our way. I’m also thinking that the need to have a measure in an extra end reflected the game. Both teams did really well — it was a tight game.”
She added, “We definitely feel like we belong here. We know the areas we need to improve on to be able to compete with teams at this level. And we’ve put in the hard work.”
In the evening session, the Australians faced Italy and lost by 4-9, giving the Italians their first win of the competition so far.
Meanwhile, Canada, Japan and Turkiye continued their unbeaten records to share the round-robin lead, on three wins and no losses.
Canada only had one game on Sunday — against China. By the eighth end, Canada had built a 7-3 lead, and when their skip Kerri Einarson judged the angles well as she played a hit with her last stone of the end, she scored two more points and moved onto a 9-3 lead. China then conceded.
Afterwards, Einarson said, “We’re making those clutch shots when we need them, and capitalising on any opportunities that come our way. We’re having fun and we’re enjoying it. We’re just going to have to take it one game at a time.”
Japan played twice on Sunday, beating Korea by 9-5 and then following that up with a 10-9 win over Norway.
Against Korea, Japan held a 7-5 lead as the teams played the ninth end. In this end, Korea’s Gim Eunji attempted a raise take-out but was unsuccessful, giving Japan a steal of two more points and a 9-5 lead. Korea conceded after this.
In the afternoon session, Norway were still looking for a first win when they faced Japan.
In the seventh end, Norway led by 6-3 when Japan’s skip Fujisawa Satsuki delicately raised one of her own stones to score four points and take a 7-6 lead. This game went to an extra end before Japan eventually won by 10-9.
Speaking after this tight game, Japan skip Fujisawa said, “We were down on the scoreboard, but we didn’t feel down. We used our skill to recover in the seventh.”
And about being pushed all the way to an extra end, she added, “After the tenth end, we thought we still had a chance to win.”
In the afternoon session, Turkiye beat Scotland by 5-3. This was a low scoring game at the start, with two blank ends in the first half. But in the sixth end, with Scotland leading by 2-1, Turkiye’s skip Dilsat Yildiz had a chance to draw for three points. However, her stone caught a guard on the way in and she had to settle for just two, taking the lead for the first time in the game, at 3-2. Turkiye then went on to win by 5-3.
Turkiye came back onto the ice in the evening session to face United States. After being down 2-5 in the first half, Turkiye bounced back, sealing their 9-5 win with a steal of two in the ninth end.
After this, Turkiye’s skip Dilsat Yildiz said, “That was a close game. I think we’re playing at a higher level now. We’ve got good communications and have great focus. We’re very happy because we’re playing well. We’re still trying to get to the play-offs.”
Behind the three joint leaders, Sweden, Switzerland and Denmark lead the chasing pack on two wins and one loss. Denmark sealed their extra end 8-7 win over China on Sunday evening with a lengthy extra end raise take-out.
At the foot of the table, Norway and United States are still seeking their first wins.
All World Women’s games will be broadcast on the Curling Channel, however, there may be restrictions due to broadcast partner agreements.
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