Canada’s Homan beats South Korea’s Gim to reach final at world curling championship

March 23, 2024 Canuck

Sydney, N.S. –

Canada’s Rachel Homan scored three points in the 10th end for a 9-7 semifinal victory over South Korea’s Eunji Gim on Saturday at the world women’s curling championship.

The Ottawa-based team of Homan, Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew and Sarah Wilkes will play defending champion Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland for gold on Sunday.

Tirinzoni defeated Italy’s Stefania Constantini 6-3 in the other semifinal at Centre 200. South Korea and Italy will play for bronze.

Down one point with hammer in the 10th, the Canadian team put the pressure on and forced the South Korean side to make some hit-and-roll attempts that weren’t fully buried.

Homan made a double-takeout with her first rock to sit three points. Gim replied with a draw that was only half-covered and Homan picked it out for the win to the delight of the partisan crowd.

Homan had earned a direct berth to the afternoon semifinal as the top seed after posting an 11-1 round-robin record. Her lone loss was to Gim in a playoff tune-up on Friday night with the top spot already secured.

Gim earned a spot in the final four with a 6-3 victory over Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg in a morning qualification game.

Homan’s draw weight has been on point all week and she drew for a pair in the second end to open the scoring. Gim answered in the third with a double-takeout for three.

The teams exchanged singles over the next four ends before Canada picked up a deuce on a Homan draw to the button. Gim was heavy with two straight draws ahead of the Canadian skip’s last throw.

In the ninth, Homan rubbed South Korea’s stone on the four-foot ring to set up Gim for a soft hit to score two.

Canada threw 91 per cent overall to 82 per cent for South Korea. Gim was a game-low 75 per cent and shot just 57 per cent on draws.

Constantini beat Denmark’s Madeleine Dupont 7-4 in the other qualification game.

Homan is looking for her first world title since winning gold in 2017 in Beijing. Canada last won gold at this event in 2018 when Jennifer Jones was victorious in North Bay, Ont.

Tirinzoni, the world No. 2, has won four straight world titles. The top-ranked Homan beat her in round-robin play to end the Swiss skip’s 42-game winning streak at this competition.

Homan’s lone round-robin loss ended her team’s 27-game overall win streak. Her rink has a season record of 61-6.

The third-ranked Gim and ninth-ranked Constantini are both playing in this event for the fifth time. Neither skip has reached the women’s world podium before.

The March 30-April 7 world men’s curling championship will be played in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., will skip the Canadian team.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 23, 2024.

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