Double bronze-medal performance for Canada at 2026 World Senior Curling Championships

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND — Canada’s senior men’s and women’s teams both earned bronze medals at the 2026 ACE & Company World Senior Curling Championships on Saturday afternoon.

Although gold was the goal, Team Bruce Korte of Saskatoon and Team Sherry Middaugh of Barrie, Ont., leave Switzerland proud, finishing strong with bronze-medal victories at Centre Sportif-Moulin’s Curling Club Trois-Chêne Genève.

Team Korte defeated Switzerland’s Team Christof Schwaller 7-4, while Team Middaugh bested Team Margie Smith of the U.S.A. with an 8-1 win.

Both teams rebounded after semifinal losses earlier in the day.

In the men’s game, skip Korte, third/vice-skip Darrell McKee, second Kory Kohuch, lead Rory Golanowski, and alternate Arlen Hall trailed by one in the seventh end and scored a deuce with a tap. Then Canada stole two points in the eighth for the win after guarding a great setup in the house and forcing Switzerland to draw on the untouched side of the sheet.

“It was tough to come out, but we really wanted to bring a medal home, and we’re very grateful right now,” Korte said. “We still had a chance to bring home a medal, and we just didn’t want to give up. We wanted something to bring home, and we were going to give it our best, even though it was a tough game to be in.”

Canada started the game without the hammer, but that didn’t deter the team, as it produced back-to-back steals of one for a quick lead. Switzerland tied the game with a deuce in the third, and Team Korte made a draw to the button for one in the fourth. Switzerland blanked the fifth and scored two in the sixth for a one-point lead.

Earlier, Canada fell 6-5 to Scotland’s Team Tom Brewster in the semifinals, conceding a stolen point in the eighth end. Despite coming for gold, Korte is pleased to leave with a medal.

“To play in these, you have to be willing to let your heart get broken, because you can’t win everything, and it’s tough out there,” Korte said.

On the women’s side, skip Middaugh, third/vice-skip Karri-Lee Grant, second Melissa Foster, lead Jane Hooper Perroud, and coach Wayne Middaugh opened with a single and then stole three in the second after crowding the four-foot. The early lead set the tone for a convincing bronze-medal win over the U.S.A.

Canada broke the game open in the fifth end with a hit for three, then added a steal in the sixth, prompting the United States to concede.

In the semis, Canada could not get the upper hand in a 4-1 loss to Germany’s Team Sabine Belkofer-Kroehnert. Trailing by two and with hammer in the seventh, Canada gave up a steal of one and could not put together an eighth end to win or extend the game to extra ends.

“After the semifinal, we went and debriefed and had some pizza. Debriefs can be hard when you lose, and everyone’s disappointed. But you have to say ‘you have another game’, change the goal a bit, and still come out to play. And we did,” Middaugh said. “We have a couple of mission statements where we said we want to represent Canada with pride. We want to have no regrets on and off the ice.”

After their world championship experience, Team Middaugh is eager to return. Having won provincials, they will represent Ontario at next season’s Canadian Senior Curling Championships in Saskatoon.

“If I were to end my career right now, I’d be pretty happy, but still going to try and get another Maple Leaf when we go to the Canadians next year,” Middaugh said.

In the gold medal games, the U.S.A.’s Team Mike Farbelow defeated Scotland 7-5 in men’s action, while Scotland’s Team Jackie Lockhart bested Germany 10-1 for that team’s second consecutive world seniors title.