Team Canada won the gold medal in men’s and women’s competition at the 2020 World Junior Curling Championships in Krasnoyarsk, Russia on Saturday. The Canadian men’s team comprised of skip Jacques Gauthier, third Jordan Peters, second Brayden Payette and lead Zachary Bilawka of Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Canadian women’s team comprised of skip MacKenzie Zacharias, third Karlee Burgess, second Emily Zacharias, and lead Lauren Lenentine.
Canada finished with identical records of seven wins and two losses in men’s and women’s action. The Canadian men lost 5-4 to Luc Violette of the United States in the first draw before winning their next seven games. Gauthier then closed out the round robin with an extra end 6-5 loss to James Craik of Scotland to finish in second place. Canada then beat Germany 7-4 in the semifinal and then Switzerland 7-2 in the final. Scotland won the bronze medal.
In women’s action, Zacharias lost her first match of the tournament by a score of 8-7 to Japan. She then went on to win her next seven games in the round robin before losing 7-1 to Min-ji Kim of South Korea. In the semifinal, Canada beat Russia’s Vlada Rumiantseva 9-8 before getting revenge on Kim with a 7-5 win in the gold medal game. Before the gold medal game, South Korea had gone undefeated. Russia won the bronze medal.
