Canada’s Rachel Homan qualifies for playoffs at Pan Continental Curling Championships

VIRGINIA — Defending champion Rachel Homan of Canada clinched a playoff spot at the Pan Continental Curling Championships with a 9-1 win over Australia’s Helen Williams on the final day of competition Friday.

The reigning two-time Canadian and world champion will play in Saturday’s semifinals. The medal games are set for Sunday.

Homan’s Ottawa-based squad improved to 4-2 when they broke open the game against Australia with five points in the fifth end.

In other Friday afternoon women’s games, China improved to 8-0 and clinched first place in the round robin with a 7-6 extra-end win over the United States, Japan beat New Zealand 7-2, and South Korea was a 12-2 winner over Mexico.

The 5-1 Americans, who are also playoff-bound, faced Canada later Friday in the final round-robin draw. Canada would finish second in the round robin and have last-rock advantage in the semifinal with a win over the U.S. and a South Korean win over Japan.

Later Friday, Canada’s Brad Jacobs (7-0) defeated John Shuster of the United States (6-1) 6-5 in extra ends to clinch first place in the round robin and last-rock advantage for the men’s playoffs.

Canada will play fourth-place Team Xiaoming Xu of China (4-3) in one Saturday semifinal, while the U.S. will take on third-place Team Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi of Japan (5-2).

The winners move on to Sunday’s gold-medal game, while the losers will battle for bronze on Sunday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2025.