Canada’s Brad Jacobs maintained his flawless record and secured a spot in the semifinals of the Pan Continental Curling Championships by defeating Australia’s Hugh Millikin 8-2 on Thursday. The victory not only guaranteed a place for a Canadian team in the upcoming world men’s curling championship in Ogden, Utah from March 27 to April 4.
Jacobs’ team, based in Calgary, took an early lead with two points in the first and third ends, establishing a 4-1 advantage. Subsequently, Jacobs’ team secured one point in the fourth end and three additional points in the fifth end, leading to the concession by the Australian team after scoring a single point in the sixth end.
With a perfect 5-0 record, Jacobs will conclude the round-robin phase on Friday, facing off against Japan’s Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi (4-1) and John Shuster of the United States (5-0).
In the women’s competition earlier on Thursday, Canada’s Rachel Homan staged a comeback after falling behind initially, ultimately triumphing 11-9 against South Korea’s Eunji Gim. Despite Gim’s early lead of 4-1 with four points in the second end, Homan’s Ottawa team rallied back, outscoring their opponents 6-1 in the subsequent ends and securing a lead with a two-point steal in the sixth end.
Although South Korea briefly reclaimed the lead 8-7 with three points in the seventh end, Homan responded strongly by scoring three points in the eighth end and maintaining a three-point advantage with a steal of one point in the ninth end. In a later match, Homan narrowly lost 7-6 to China’s Rui Wang.
Following these results, Canada’s record stands at 3-2 while China remains undefeated at 5-0. Round-robin play for both men’s and women’s teams will continue on Friday.