Third verse, different from the first.

Canada and Switzerland will face off for gold at the World Women’s Curling Championship for the third consecutive year, but this isn't Part III of a trilogy.

Although the song may sound the same, the players are different, with Kerri Einarson and Xenia Schwaller’s teams set to meet Sunday at Calgary’s WinSport Event Centre.

Einarson swept past Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa 11-3, and Schwaller eliminated Sweden’s Isabella Wranå 8-5 in Saturday’s semifinals.

Canada's Rachel Homan defeated Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni to win gold at the past two women’s worlds.

Einarson looks to make it three straight for Canada and is playing in her first final at the event after earning back-to-back bronze medals in 2022 and 2023.

Schwaller, whose team won the world juniors only two years ago, is playing in her first women’s worlds, period. It's been a standout week for Team Schwaller. After losing their opening game to Japan 6-3, Schwaller rattled off 11 straight wins to top the table.

That includes a 6-5 extra-end victory Tuesday night over Einarson, whose team finished second overall with a 9-2 record. Switzerland opened that game with the hammer and earned a key steal in the seventh to hold a two-point advantage as both teams struggled to generate offence. Einarson finally converted for the game’s first deuce in the 10th end to tie it, but Schwaller prevailed in the extra.

The Swiss squad has been sharp all week, shooting a tournament-leading 88.8 per cent during round-robin play. The game against Japan, with an 82 per cent average, was just a blip as the team hasn't dipped below 92 per cent in its last three games.

Canada isn't far off in second place at 87 per cent and will be out to flip the hammer fast in the rematch.

The teams have met four times in the past two years, with Schwaller holding a 3-1 head-to-head advantage, including 2-0 this season. Schwaller was also victorious 5-4 when they met during the opening draw of the AMJ Masters in September.

Schwaller, third Selina Gafner and second Fabienne Rieder were named all-stars at their positions, joined by Canadian lead Karlee Burgess. It’s remarkable how well Burgess has adjusted to her role, having joined Team Einarson at second last year with Shannon Birchard on the LTIR and shifting over to lead when Birchard returned at the start of this season.

SHOOTING PERCENTAGES BY POSITION

Canada (Percentage — Rank) Position Switzerland (Percentage — Rank)
Kerri Einarson (82.5 — 2nd) Skip Xenia Schwaller (85.2 — 1st)
Val Sweeting (83.1 — 2nd) Third Selina Gafner (88.9 — 1st)
Shannon Birchard (89.0 — 2nd) Second Fabienne Rieder (89.1 — 1st)
Karlee Burgess (93.6 — 1st) Lead Selina Rychiger (91.9 — 2nd)

Pun intended, Burgess led the way in the semifinals, keeping things 100 per cent, and helping to set the tone in each end.

Japan was scrambling right from the start, with the sweepers backing right off on Fujisawa’s last shot of the first end as it slid all the way to the back of the house, allowing Einarson to hit for a big score. Already sitting two, Einarson drove her shooter into her other rocks to unlock Fujisawa’s lone stone among the mix to count three.

Fujisawa was forced to tap for a single in the second, and Einarson hit for a deuce in the third to lead 5-1, but couldn’t save her shooter for an extra point.

Things went from bad to worse for Fujisawa in the fourth as she wrecked on a guard with her first skip stone, and a desperate double angle raise attempt on her last crashed out as well to surrender a steal of two points to fall behind 7-1.

This is the point when you look up the rulebook to confirm that yes, you have to play at least eight ends in the playoffs.

Fujisawa drew into the four-foot circle for a single in the fifth and stole one in the sixth, but Canada regrouped in the seventh with Einarson drawing for three more to put the game well out of reach at 10-3.

Japan shook hands before an official reminded both teams that they must play one more end. Einarson added another point to her tally, but Fujisawa earned style points by performing a spin-o-rama shot that almost made it.

Canada shot 87 per cent, with Japan having their worst game of the week — and maybe in a long time — at 67 per cent.

It was the second straight night that Canada and Japan played each other, with Einarson earning a 6-5 victory Friday to wrap up round-robin play.

While Canada had a bye to the semis, Japan detoured through the qualification round, defeating Türkiye 7-5 earlier Saturday. Sweden also beat South Korea's Eunji Gim 9-5 to advance to the final four.

Sweden and Japan meet for bronze at 9 a.m. local time (11 a.m. ET), followed by Canada and Switzerland in the gold medal game at 3 p.m. (5 p.m. ET).

Lead photo courtesy of Curling Canada/Michael Burns