SASKATOON — Brad Jacobs defeated Kevin Koe 8-3 in the men’s semifinal at Canada’s Olympic curling trials on Saturday afternoon to move one win away from returning to the Winter Games.
Jacobs made an in-off double-takeout to score four points in the third end and did it again in the fifth to put the game away.
Koe conceded after making a deuce in the sixth end.
Jacobs advanced to the men’s final against Brad Gushue on Sunday night. The winning team will represent Canada at the Feb. 4-20 Beijing Olympics. Gushue earned a bye to the final after taking the first seed in round-robin play.
In women’s play, Kerri Einarson beat Casey Scheidegger 8-6 in a morning tiebreaker to set up an afternoon tiebreaker against Krista McCarville. Jennifer Jones awaited the winner in an evening semifinal.
Koe represented Canada at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, where he finished off the podium. Jacobs led Canada to Olympic gold at the Sochi Games in 2014.
Jones, who also won Olympic gold in Sochi, secured the semifinal berth as the No. 2 seed. Tracy Fleury went unbeaten in round-robin play to earn the berth to the final on Sunday morning.
Gushue won Olympic gold at the 2006 Turin Games.
Einarson, McCarville and Scheidegger were tied for third place in the round-robin standings at 4-4. The men’s semifinal was moved to the afternoon from the evening due to the women’s tiebreaker schedule.
The change allowed both semifinals to be televised and kept the feature games on the same sheet at SaskTel Centre.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 27, 2021.
Follow @GregoryStrongCP on Twitter.
Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press