Canadian rinks book semifinal spots at world junior championships

KRASNOYARSK, Russia – The Canadian women and men have secured semifinal spots at the world junior curling championships.

Jacques Gauthier’s Manitoba men’s rink improved to a tournament-best 7-1 with a 6-1 win over host Russia skip Andrey Dudov on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Mackenzie Zacharias’s Manitoba women’s rink upped its record to 6-1 with a 7-4 win over Denmark’s Mathilde Halse.

Zacharias, third Karlee Burgess, second Emily Zacharias and lead Lauren Lenentine are second behind Korea (7-0) with two draws left in the round-robin.

Denmark, Russia and Japan are all 4-3, while Latvia and Switzerland both are 3-4.

Canada wraps up the round-robin with games against Latvia and Korea.

On the men’s side, Canada has won seven in a row after dropping its opener against the United States.

Gauthier, third Jordan Peters, second Brayden Payette and lead Zack Bilawka can wrap up first place in the round-robin with a win over Scotland on Thursday.

Scotland and Germany are tied for second at 6-2 with Sweden fourth at 5-3 heading into the final draw of the round-robin. Russia and Switzerland (both 4-4) remain in contention for a semifinal spot.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 19, 2020.