LACOMBE, Alta. — Rachael Homan's Ottawa team, which includes vice-skip Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes, stole a single point in the 10th end to defeat South Korea 6-5 and win the women's Pan Continental Curling Championship on Saturday night.
It was Canada's first-ever gold medal in the women's competition. Homan's Canadian squad had defeated Eunji Gim and the Koreans 8-2 in round-robin play on Wednesday.
Canada and South Korea traded deuces in the first two ends and Canada went up 3-2 with a steal of one in the fifth end.
The teams traded singles in the sixth and seventh ends and South Korea scored a deuce in the eight to go ahead 5-4. Canada was held to one point in the ninth and had to steal to win, which Homan did.
“We definitely had to stay together. We were just a little bit on the wrong side of the inch on a couple of those (tough shots) through the game and kept battling through. We knew it would take 10 ends to beat them and we got a couple mistakes from them late and could capitalize on that,” Homan said.
“She was really close on her last one. The shot was barely there because she had to throw it light enough to get through that hole, but enough to tap it back. It was a great game by them and it took us every shot to steal the win.”
Homan curled 89 per cent in the final, while Gim finished at 75. South Korea won the 2023 Pan Continental championship.
“We’ve never played in this before and we know that Canada hasn’t been in that gold-medal game, so it’s nice to represent Canada, to be here and take home the gold,” said Homan.
“It’s just really exciting that we’re able to do that again with the Maple Leaf on our back. It’s something we never take for granted and we’re grateful to be able to put on these jerseys. We’re so proud.”
Rui Wang and her team from China defeated Miyu Ueno's team from Japan 7-3 to claim the bronze medal.
On Friday, Canada's Brad Gushue lost 10-8 to American John Shuster in the men's bronze-medal game.
The loss marked the first time the Canadian men's team will not reach the podium at this event, with Gushue, from St. John's, N.L., having won gold at the past two editions.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 2, 2024.
The Canadian Press