Gangneung-based Kim wins Western Showdown

By Staff · Sun, 10 Dec 2023 22:00:00 +0000
Korea's EunJung Kim ended Jolene Campbell's cinderalla run through the Nutrien Ag Solutions Western Showdown Final. Down one with hammer coming home, Jolene Campbell appeared set to continue her unbeaten run at the Nutrien Ag Solutions Western Showdown. Instead a couple of late mistakes proved costly in a 6-4 loss to South Korea's Eunjung Kim in Sunday's final at the Swift Current Curling Club. Campbell's first stone of the eighth end overcurled and her draw to the button to force an extra end was heavy, giving Kim a steal and the title. "When they didn't make the perfect shots, we were able to make ours pretty good," said Team Kim coach Peter Gallant. "So we were never really in much trouble there." Both skips entered the final with spotless 6-0 records. Campbell's Winnipeg-based team defeated Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa 8-2 in the semifinals earlier in the day while Kim scored five in the last end for an 11-6 victory over Sweden's Isabella Wrana. In the final, Kim opened with a deuce and forced Campbell to a single in the second end. Down 3-2 in the fifth, Campbell made a great soft-weight tap to sit shot stone and Kim missed the double-takeout attempt to give Campbell a steal. Campbell stole another point in the sixth to take a 4-3 lead after Kim was light on her draw. "Watching that game, (Campbell) had me really worried because they were really playing well and putting pressure on us," Gallant told CurlingZone. "We had a sloppy end there in the sixth where we made a bunch of half-shots and they ended up stealing a point." The South Koreans rebounded with a pair in the seventh to regain the lead and forced Campbell's side to make difficult throws in the eighth. "The quality of the teams that they played and were able to beat this week was impressive," Gallant said. "It just shows that they've gotten their game back to where you would expect it to be after basically taking a year off after the Olympics. "They only played 30 or so games last year. The Olympic year is such a grind and they were quite burned out. So it's good to see them getting back to where you'd expect them to be, which is among the top 10 teams in the world." Campbell and teammates Abby Ackland, Rachel Erickson and Sara Oliver were in strong form all week, earning wins over Gim and world No. 15 Kate Cameron of Winnipeg en route to the final weekend. Campbell, who's ranked 11th in Canada and 30th overall on the WCF World Team Rankings, reached the finals at two of her first three events this season, taking the title at the MCT Shootout in Selkirk, Man. She also reached the semifinals at the Grand Slam's Tier-2 event in Niagara Falls, Ont. Kim's side, meanwhile, has big-game experience on its side. They won silver at the 2018 Winter Olympics and earned silver at last year's world women's championship. Gallant said the foursome is enjoying a strong season with four titles and playoff appearances in every bonspiel they've entered. "They're rolling really well," Gallant said. "You can just see it in their shot-calling and just their poise. Even when things go bad, (Eunjung) is able to rebound. It's a really solid team and when she's going good, they're a tough team to beat." Links for all game replays are available on the www.curlingzone.com website.
Nutrien Ag Solutions Western Showdown
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