Defending champs a perfect 10 at BKT Tires & OK Tire World Women’s Curling Championship

Can anyone slow down skip Silvana Tirinzoni’s Team Switzerland at the 2022 BKT Tires & OK Tire World Women’s Curling Championship, presented by Nature’s Bounty, in Prince George, B.C.?

So far nobody has, as the Swiss have rolled to a perfect 10-0 record on Thursday afternoon with an 8-5 victory over Team South Korea (6-3) in one of three games on the afternoon slate at CN Centre.

The win assured the two-time defending champs have earned first place and a first-round bye into the playoffs, with only two more games on their schedule.

The top six teams qualify for the playoffs after the 13-team round-robin play ends Friday. The top two teams get an automatic bye into the second round.

Team Sweden skip Anna Hasselborg also qualified for the playoffs by improving her record to 8-2 with a narrow 6-5 win over Team Germany’s Daniela Jentsch, who saw her record drop to 5-5.

It could be a rough day for the Koreans, skipped by EunJung Kim. The loss was the third in a row for the 2018 Olympic silver-medallists, and after a short break, they are up against a red-hot Team Canada, skipped by Kerri Einarson, that has ridden a five-game winning streak to a 7-2 record and third place.

The Canadians, who had the bye, defeated Team United States, skipped by Cory Christensen, 9-3 earlier in the day.

The playoff battle will likely go down to the final day of round-robin action Friday with several teams still in the hunt. 

Team Japan (6-4), skipped by Ikue Kitazawa, helped its cause immensely with a key 9-5 win Thursday afternoon over skip Marianne Roervik’s Team Norway (5-5). 

Team Denmark (skip Madeleine Dupont) and Team United States follow, tied for sixth place, with 5-4 records. Both teams had the afternoon bye.

Other teams sitting out with the bye were Team Czech Republic and Team Turkey.

Team Italy, skipped by Stefania Constantini, improved to 3-7 with a default win against Team Scotland, forced to withdraw after multiple positive tests for the COVID-19 virus.

The 2022 BKT Tires & OK Tire World Women’s Curling Championship continues Thursday with a draw at 7 p.m. (all times PT).

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2022 BKT Tires & OK Tire World Women’s Curling Championship are available by CLICKING HERE.

TSN and RDS2 will provide complete coverage of the 2022 BKT Tires & OK Tire World Women’s Curling Championship. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule.

For ticket information for the 2022 BKT Tires & OK Tire World Women’s Curling Championship, go to www.curling.ca/2022worldwomen/tickets/

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/2022worldwomen/nouvelles/?lang=fr