NORTH BAY, Ont. — Victoria Moiseeva drew the four-foot ring for a game-winning deuce as Russia edged the United States 6-5 on Sunday to win bronze at the world women’s curling championship.
American skip Jamie Sinclair was a touch heavy with her final draw and Russia used hammer to its advantage. Moiseeva went for the win knowing that she’d get another chance in an extra end if she missed.
"Every skip wants to finish with that kind of shot," Moiseeva said. "If you make it."
Sinclair, a dual citizen who grew up in Manotick, Ont., had great draw weight through the competition and was confident settling into the hack.
"I thought I threw it pretty well," she said. "I thought it was a touch heavy out of hand but I knew I could be back four-foot. But it just kept gliding."
Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg was scheduled to play Canada’s Jennifer Jones in the final later Sunday at the North Bay Memorial Gardens.
After a tentative first half, Moiseeva was light on her draw in the sixth end to give the Americans a steal and a 3-2 lead. A blank was followed by a Russian pair in the eighth end and Sinclair answered with a deuce in the ninth.
Announced attendance was 3,336 to bring the overall total to 65,472. A sellout crowd of nearly 4,000 was expected for the final.
Hasselborg won Olympic gold last month at the Pyeongchang Games. Jones won the 2014 Olympic title in Sochi with teammates Kaitlyn Lawes, Jill Officer and Dawn McEwen.
Officer recently announced she is stepping away from competitive curling at the end of the season. She’ll be replaced next season by Jocelyn Peterman.
Canada ran the table in round-robin play at this event for the second straight year. Ottawa’s Rachel Homan was unbeaten en route to winning gold last year in Beijing.
Homan represented Canada at the Pyeongchang Games but did not reach the podium.
Jones, from Winnipeg, defeated Hasselborg 8-4 in round-robin play. Sweden’s other loss came to Scotland in the round-robin finale after Hasselborg had already secured the second seed.
Sweden’s Anette Norberg is the only women’s skip to win Olympic and world titles in the same season. She accomplished the rare double in 2006.
Jones, who won her lone world title in 2008, is making her sixth career appearance at this event. She won silver in 2015 and bronze in 2010.
Canada has won a leading 16 gold medals since the inaugural world women’s championship in 1979. Sweden is next with eight titles.
Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., will represent Canada at the world men’s curling championship starting Saturday in Las Vegas.
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