Team Canada has qualified for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing in women’s curling. On Friday at the 2021 Women’s World Curling Championship in Calgary, the Canadian team skipped by Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Manitoba finished in the top six, and was able to clinch an Olympic spot.
Canada entered the final day of the round-robin with a record of six wins and six losses. They then beat China 6-4 to improve to a record of seven wins and six losses. Canada clinched a spot to the Olympic Winter Games when Switzerland beat Germany 8-3 on Friday afternoon.
In addition to Canada, five other teams qualified for the Olympic Winter Games in women’s curling. They were Switzerland (12-1), Russia (11-2), Sweden (10-3), Denmark (8-5), and the United States (7-6).
Saturday’s playoff result was not a good one for Canada, however. That is because they were steamrolled by a much more talented Swedish squad in the qualification round. Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg dominated Einarson from start to finish in an 8-3 victory. In the gold medal game of the 2021 Women’s World Curling Championship in Calgary on Sunday, Switzerland is facing Russia.
Despite Einarson winning a spot for Canada in women’s curling at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing and Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton, Alberta winning a spot for Canada in men’s curling at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, they did not win a medal for Canada at the World Championship. In the process, this was the first year ever that Canada was unable to medal in either men’s or women’s curling at the World Curling Championship.
Now is the time for Curling Canada to evaluate how they can improve Canada’s results at the international level because having the national champion represent Canada at the World Championships is no longer good enough. The best four curlers need to start representing Canada internationally, and not just the best team.
