Brad Jacobs of Canada maintained his flawless record and secured a spot in the semifinals of the Pan Continental Curling Championships by defeating Hugh Millikin of Australia 8-2 on Thursday.
This victory also guaranteed a place for a Canadian team at the upcoming world men’s curling championship scheduled from March 27 to April 4 in Ogden, Utah.
Jacobs and his team from Calgary took an early lead with two points each in the first and third ends, establishing a 4-1 advantage. They extended their lead by stealing a point in the fourth end and adding three more in the fifth. The match concluded after Australia scored a single point in the sixth end.
Jacobs, with a record of 5-0, will conclude the round-robin phase on Friday, facing Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi of Japan (4-1) and John Shuster of the United States (5-0).
In the women’s competition earlier on Thursday, Rachel Homan of Canada staged a comeback after an early setback to secure an 11-9 victory over Eunji Gim of South Korea.
Gim took a 4-1 lead over defending champion Homan by scoring four points in the second end.
However, Homan’s team from Ottawa swiftly turned the tide, outscoring Gim 6-1 in the following ends and seizing the lead with a two-point steal in the sixth end.
Although South Korea briefly regained the lead with three points in the seventh end, Homan responded with a three-point gain in the eighth end and maintained a three-point advantage heading into the final end after securing one point through a steal in the ninth.
Subsequently, Homan suffered a narrow 7-6 defeat to Rui Wang of China.
This result brought Canada’s record to 3-2 while China continued their winning streak at 5-0.
The round-robin matches for both the men’s and women’s competitions will carry on into Friday.