Canada downs Sweden to capture second straight world women's curling bronze medal
SANDVIKEN, Sweden -- Canada's Kerri Einarson captured another bronze medal at the world women's curling championship.
Einarson's rink from Gimli, Man., defeated Sweden 8-5 on Sunday. Canada captured a bronze medal in last year's event with an 8-7 victory over Sweden.
Canada finished round-robin play with a 7-5 record. After downing Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa 6-4 in the qualification round, the squad dropped an 8-5 semifinal decision to Norway's Marianne Roervik on Saturday.
"I feel pretty excited to come here and medal," Einarson said. "I know it's not gold like we wanted, but at least it's a medal.
"To win bronze two years in a row is pretty special."
Canada opened the contest with two in the first end. A steal of one in the second and two more in the fourth staked the Canadians to a 6-1 lead.
Sweden scored two in the sixth and added one in the eight to cut Canada's lead to 8-4 before a steal in the ninth pulled the Swedes to within 8-5 but that's as close as they'd get.
Skip Einarson's team consisted of third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard, lead Briane Harris and alternate Krysten Karwacki with coach Reid Carruthers.
"The fact that we were able to still get the bronze with not our strongest performance this week is big for our team," Birchard said. "It's lit a fire under us.
"We want to come back and we want to challenge for the gold, obviously, we had hoped to do that this week but it wasn't in the cards, so we'll just look forward to next year."
Added Sweeting: "It is very special. It was an up-and-down week, but we put ourselves in a good position (Saturday) and it was really hard to lose that semifinal again. But I'm super proud of how we came out today and getting up against the hometown team isn't easy either. We have a really good support crew here with our coaching and families and everything and it definitely helped us get through that."
Norway was slated to take on defending-champion Switzerland in the tournament final later Sunday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 26, 2023.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's housing market sees largest improvement in affordability in four years: National Bank
Canada’s housing market saw the largest improvement in affordability in nearly four years in the first quarter of 2023, according to a report from economists at the National Bank of Canada.

Prison service to review decision to transfer killer Bernardo to medium security
The federal prison service says it will have a second look at its decision to move convicted killer Paul Bernardo to a medium-security facility as political leaders of all stripes react to the news with shock and outrage.
About ducking time: Apple to tweak iPhone autocorrect function
One of the most notable happenings at Apple's event for developers on Monday is likely the iPhone maker's tweak that will keep its autocorrect feature from annoyingly correcting one of the most common expletives to 'ducking.'
Poilievre threatens to filibuster budget bill if Liberals don't meet demands
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is threatening to use procedural tools to delay passage of the federal budget in the House of Commons if the Liberals don't meet his demands.
Here's what Quebec's wildfires look like from outer space
A photo taken from NASA show what the wildfires burning in Quebec look like from up above.
Facing evacuations due to a forest fire or flood? Here’s what to pack in a grab-and-go bag
While some natural disasters or bouts of extreme weather may require sheltering in place until authorities can restore power to the area, others require residents to evacuate quickly, sometimes in a matter of hours — and if you want to be prepared, you should create a grab-and-go bag.
Canada facing critical shortages of leukemia and thyroid cancer drugs
Canada is currently facing a critical shortage of drugs used to fight thyroid cancer and a form of leukemia.
Using melatonin for sleep is on the rise, study says, despite potential health harms
More and more adults are taking over-the-counter melatonin to get to sleep, and some may be using it at dangerously high levels, a study has found.
Small-brained ancient human cousins may have buried their dead, according to a surprising study
An ancient human cousin may have buried its dead and carved symbols into cave walls, surprising findings for a creature with a small brain.