Canada’s Team Einarson shows grit in win over Scotland at 2026 BKT World Women’s Championship

Night shifts are proving to be a grind for Canada’s Team Kerri Einarson at the 2026 BKT World Women’s Curling Championship, presented by Pharmasave.

But unlike Tuesday night’s extra-end loss to Switzerland’s Team Xenia Schwaller, another grinding effort 24 hours later produced the desire result as Team Canada defeated Scotland 7-5 before a lively crowd at Calgary’s WinSport Event Centre.

With the victory, Einarson, vice-skip Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard, lead Karlee Burgess, alternate Krysten Karwacki, team coach Reid Carruthers, national coach Viktor Kjell, improved to 7-1 in the 13-team round-robin standings, tied for first place with Switzerland.

That also puts the Canadian champions from Gimli, Man., a solid shot at securing one of the six available playoff spots after completing a two-win day that opened in the morning draw with a 9-3 win over Turkey’s Team Dilsat Yildiz.

While the win over Turkey was completed in just six ends, Wednesday night was another story with numerous shifts in momentum, but in the end, the Canadians hung tough for the win.

“We know that about ourselves, and we know that sometimes when things get tough, that’s when we shine the most,” said Birchard. “Fortunately, things have been pretty great so far this week, and things have been coming together pretty well, and we’re playing well in that scenario as well, so I think we just have to keep up the momentum.”

The game turned in the ninth end when Henderson, who was in time-clock trouble, attempted a very tough — maybe impossible — shot for two, trying to squeeze her shooter into the button between her team’s counting shot stone and a Canadian stone. But she was heavy and wide, and ended up pushing her counting stone back and leaving Canada counting one for a timely steal to take an unexpected two-point lead into the 10th. Canada then ran Scotland out of stones to nail down the victory.

It was suggested to Einarson afterward that the game looked like a roller-coaster ride.

“It felt that way, too,” she said with a laugh. “We started really well out of the gate. And in the middle (of the game), we just kind of had a little bit of a lull and struggled getting things going. But we don’t give up on each other. We just tried to find ways to help each other to make the shot.”

Canada had the early momentum. In both the first and third ends, Einarson had open draws to score deuces, and they were sandwiched around a fortunate shot by Henderson just to score a single in the second when her last stone tap attempt was wide of the broom, but barely rubbed on a guard to redirect it to the target stone.

But the young Scots fought their way back into the game with a similar narrative as the Canadians over the first three ends. Henderson had an open hit for two in the fourth, forced Einarson to make a tough shot for one looking at three Scottish counters, and then tied it in the sixth when Einarson wrecked on a guard with her last, and Henderson drew for a game-tying pair.

After a blanked seventh, Canada was forced to take one in the eighth.

“I think we just had to simplify a little bit,” said Birchard of the team’s thought process down the stretch. “I think it was easy to get down on ourselves because we had a lead early and let it go a little bit, but I know that this team can stay together and be gritty throughout the 10 ends, so we just have to stay with it.”

The three other Draw 12 games all ended in 8-2 decisions: China’s Team Rui Wang (4-4) over Australia’s Team Helen Williams (1-8); Norway’s Team Torlid Bjoernstad (2-6) over Team Delaney Strouse (1-8) of the United States; and Japan’s Team Satsuki Fujisawa (6-2) over Sweden’s Team Isabella Wranaa (6-3).

Switzerland, Turkey (5-3), South Korea’s Team Eunji Gim (6-2), Denmark’s Team Madeleine Dupont (3-5) and Italy’s Team Stefania Constantini (3-5) all had byes on Wednesday night.

The 2026 BKT World Women’s Curling Championship continues Thursday with draws at 9 am., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. (all times Mountain).

Canada will complete its stretch of three straight morning-night split-draws Thursday with games against South Korea at 9 a.m. and Norway at 7 p.m.

Round-robin play runs through to Friday, with the top six teams making the playoffs; no tiebreakers will be played, so ties for playoff spots will be broken based on head-to-head results, and if that doesn’t resolve the tie, then the pre-game Last-Shot Draw distances.

The top two teams from round-robin play will be seeded directly into the semifinals on Saturday at 4 p.m., while third will play sixth and fourth will play fifth in the qualifying-round games earlier on Saturday, at 10 a.m.

The winners of the qualifying-round games will advance to the semifinals. The semifinal winners will play for gold on Sunday at 3 p.m., with the semifinal losers battling for bronze Sunday at 9 a.m.

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2026 BKT World Women’s Curling Championship are available by CLICKING HERE.

TSN and RDS2 will provide coverage of all Team Canada games, and all playoff games, at the 2026 BKT World Women’s Curling Championship. CLICK HERE for the broadcast schedule.

For ticket information for the 2026 BKT World Women’s Curling Championship, go to www.curling.ca/2026worldwomen/tickets/.

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/fr/2026worldwomen/nouvelles/.