Curling teams skipped by Rachel Homan and Brad Jacobs are representing Canada this week in Virginia, Minn., at the Pan Continental Curling Championships, which serve as qualifiers for the 2026 men’s and women’s world championships.
Jacobs, from Calgary, will begin round-robin play Monday at 8 p.m. ET against Xiaoming Xu and China. Jacobs, vice, Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant and lead Ben Hebert defeated Xu and company 11-2 last April for a bronze medal in Moose Jaw, Sask.
The Glencoe Club foursome opened with a three and pulled away with five points in the fourth end.
“We wanted to come out of this thing strong, hold our heads high, get ourselves on the podium,” Jacobs said at the time.
Xu drew against four counters in the third end to pick up his first point. The rout was on in the fourth when China missed an in-off that allowed Jacobs to make a hit for five.
Brad Jacobs and his Canadian rink crushed China 11-2 to take the bronze medal at the world curling championships in Moose Jaw, Sask.
Homan’s team out of the Ottawa Curling Club will attempt to be the first to repeat as Pan Continental women’s champion after prevailing last year in Lacombe, Alta.
Women’s play in Minnesota — the first time the event has been held outside Canada — starts Tuesday at 10 a.m. ET, with Homan facing Satsuki Fujisawa of Japan.
The Canadian rink is assured of a spot at women’s worlds next year as host in March.
Homan’s team includes vice Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew, lead Sara Wilkes and alternate Rachelle Brown.
‘Terrific opportunity’ before trials
The Jacobs team will represent Canada for the first time after Brad Gushue’s rink participated in the first three editions of the tournament. Gushue won twice before finishing fourth last year.
Jacobs seeks a top-five result in Minnesota to ensure a Canadian entry at next year’s men’s world championship, March 28 to April 5 in Ogden City, Utah.
“This is a terrific opportunity for us to not only get the job done for Canada, but also get some high-stakes games in for the lead-up to the Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials [Nov. 22-30 at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax],” Jacobs said in August.
As the host country of the women’s world championship March 14-22 in Calgary, Canada is already assured a berth in the tournament.
Homan, Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew and Sarah Wilkes won this year’s women’s world championship in Uijeongbu, South Korea.
“We don’t take these occasions to wear our national uniform lightly, and we’re already working hard to be ready to play in Minnesota in October,” Homan said.
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