Two Canadian curling teams won the titles on Sunday at the 2022 Champions Cup in Olds, Alberta to close out the 2022 curling season. Canadian Olympic gold medalist Brad Gushue of St. John’s, Newfoundland was the winning skip in the men’s tournament and Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Manitoba was the winning skip in the women’s tournament. In the finals, Gushue beat Kevin Koe if Calgary, Alberta in an all-Canadian final 8-5, and Einarson defeated Un-chi Gim of South Korea 10-6.
On the men’s side, Gushue posted a record of six wins and two losses. He qualified for the playoffs by finishing in third place in Pool A with a record in three wins and two losses. Gushue’s defeats were a 5-4 loss to Karsten Sturmay of Leduc, and a 8-5 loss to Calgary’s Kevin Koe. However, Gushue got to the playoffs with round robin wins over John Epping of Peterborough, Ontario by a score of 7-4, Ryan Jacques of Edmonton, Alberta by a score of 8-2, and Canadian Olympic gold medalist Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario 7-4. In the quarterfinals, Gushue beat Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton, Alberta 6-3, and then in the semifinals, Gushue beat reigning Olympic gold medalist and world champion Niklas Edin of Sweden 6-5.
Einarson meanwhile posted a record of seven wins and two losses for the week. While competing in Pool B, she posted a record of three wins and two losses, and was tied for first. Her wins came over Cory Christensen of the United States (9-4), Rachel Homan of Ottawa, Ontario (5-4), and Eun-jung Kim of South Korea (7-3). Einarson was also beaten 5-3 to Tracy Fleury of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and 7-6 to Un-chi Gim of South Korea.
Due to the fact there was a five-way tie for first in Pool B, Einarson needed to play a tie-breaker game to reach the quarterfinals. She beat Kim 7-4. Einarson then beat Homan 5-3 in the quarterfinals, and Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg, another Olympic gold medalist, 6-4 in the semifinals.
Gushue won Olympic gold at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin. Jacobs won Olympic gold at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. Hasselborg won Olympic gold at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang. Edin won Olympic gold at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
