A North Vancouver curler has helped bring home a medal for Canada on the world stage.
Grace McCusker secured a bronze for Team Canada at the World Junior Curling Championships, after a 7-4 win against Sweden on April 20.
The tournament was held in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, the site of next year’s Winter Olympics.
Team lead McCusker – who’s from North Vancouver but attends Dalhousie University – and her teammates qualified for worlds after claiming victory at U21 nationals last year.
After a gruelling seven-day, nine-game round robin in Italy, Canada qualified for the semi-finals. But they fell to Germany 5-8 in that game, after a back-and-forth match.
In the bronze match, Canada bounced back and defeated Sweden 7-4 to claim the team’s first medal at worlds since 2020.
Germany would go on to lose to Korea in the final 8-2. It’s the first time the Koreans have won gold at the tournament, and the first-ever medal for the Germans.
McCusker played in the junior program at the North Shore Winter Club before curling was largely swept from the facility in 2015. She moved on to play at the Royal City Curling Club in New Westminster, where she won with her first competitive team at the 2016 BC Winter Games at age 11.
The Windsor Secondary grad also played with North Shore Girls Soccer until 2020, going to two provincial tournaments with the U14 and U15 Interceptors.
McCusker is related to Canadian Olympian curler Joan McCusker, who was cheering on this year’s junior team from home via live stream.
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