Brad Gushue secured a playoff berth in the Grand Slam of Curling’s Canadian Open with a 5-4 win over his international archrival Niklas Edin on Thursday in Nisku, Alta.
Gushue remained unbeaten at 3-0 in the second event of the Grand Slam season, while Edin dropped to 2-1 in their group.
The St. John’s skip defeated Edin to win the 2017 world championship, but lost to the Swede in the 2018, 2022 and 2024 finals.
Gushue executed a finesse raise in the seventh end to score three at the Silent Ice Centre. Edin countered with just two in the eighth.
Gushue joins Canada’s Brad Jacobs and Scotland’s Bruce Mouat and Ross Whyte among men’s teams at 3-0 atop their respective groups with playoff berths assured.
The top eight teams advance from 16. The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday followed by the men’s and women’s finals Sunday.
Whyte defeated Canada’s Reid Carruthers (0-3) by a 6-2 score in Thursday evening’s draw.
Canada’s Kevin Koe (1-2) picked up his first win of the tournament with a 5-3 decision victory over Switzerland’s Michael Brunner (0-3).
Italy’s Joel Retornaz was 2-1 after an 8-2 loss to Scotland’s James Craik.
Homan locks up playoff spot
On the women’s side, reigning world champion Rachel Homan was also 3-0 and playoff-bound after a 9-3 defeat of Chelsea Carey.
Ottawa’s Homan scored three points in the second end and added three more in the seventh.
Carey, who succeeded Jennifer Jones as skip of her Winnipeg-based team, fell to 2-1.
Lindsey Burgess is filling in this week at second for Emily Zacharias, who is playing a limited schedule this season.
Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa was also unbeaten at 3-0 following a 10-6 win over countrywoman Ikue Kitazawa.
Four-time women’s world champion Silvana Tirinzoni’s 6-4 win over Italy’s Stefania Constantini had both teams tied at 2-1 with South Korea’s Seung-youn Ha in Pool B.
Canada’s Kerri Einarson and South Korea’s Eun-jung Kim were tied atop Pool D at 2-1.
The Canadian Open features the top 16 men’s and top 16 women’s teams based on World Curling Federation rankings as of Oct. 8. The tournament offers a prize purse of $400,000.