Stunning Shot Sets Up Curling Playoffs

Canada’s Jocelyn Peterman made the shot of the tournament as the playoff picture at the world mixed doubles was finalized.

Peterman broke open a tight game against USA with a sixth-end angle raise—very high and just off the side board—and remarkably stuck her shooter to count three for a 7-3 lead.

America’s Becca and Matt Hamilton responded with a deuce in the seventh end, but Peterman and teammate Brett Gallant stayed out of trouble in the eighth and scored one for the 8-5 victory.

The loss kept USA out of the playoffs, as Germany defeated England 7-3 to claim Group B’s third and final playoff spot.

Canada and front-running Scotland had qualified on Wednesday.

Matt Hamilton gave a high-five to Peterman after her incredible sixth-end throw.

“Yeah, it was good, we hit it right where we wanted,” said Peterman. “Brett told me exactly where I needed to hit it and coming in I knew we were pretty close.”

The 10 teams in Group A played their last round-robin session on Thursday afternoon and it was only when the last stone came to rest that their final rankings—and playoff contenders—became clear.

Switzerland qualified for the playoffs by defeating Korea 9-2, and Norway made it in after a 9-1 win over New Zealand.

The third qualifier came down to a head-to-head battle between Japan and Sweden, with Isabella and Rasmus Wraana ending up with an 8-5 qualifying victory.

Sweden moves on to Friday’s qualification games and will face Germany, with the winner facing Switzerland.

“We’ll just try to keep the flow we’ve got now,” said Rasmus Wraana, who won men’s Olympic and world gold in this memorable 2022 season. “We’ll keep making shots and see how it goes with that.”

Switzerland ended up in joint top spot in the group rankings and, with the best Draw Shot Challenge result of the teams involved, they finish first. This means the Swiss earned the direct route into Friday evening’s semifinals.

“It feels really good, I think we just played our best game of the week, so that was a good win and we’re happy,” said Alina Paetz, who is partnered with longtime boyfriend Sven Michel. “We’re also happy about qualifying direct—happy feelings, happy faces right now.”

Norway’s result, and their Draw Shot Challenge numbers, places Maia and Magnus Ramsfjell in third place and they will face Canada, who finished second in Group B, in Friday’s qualification games.

The winner takes on Scotland in the other semifinal.

Italy defeated Finland to finish fourth in the group, one win out of the playoff picture. The Finns finish ninth and face a relegation game against England, with the winner staying in the 2023 world championship lineup and the loser going to the World Qualification Event.

Denmark ranked sixth overall while Estonia finished in seventh place, both safely qualified for next season’s world championship.

Korea also meets Spain on Friday in another relegation battle for a 2023 worlds berth.