Jacobs, Hasselborg earn Humpty’s Champions Cup spots
UPDATE: Sportsnet and the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling have cancelled the 2020 Humpty’s Champions Cup.
KIOTI Tractor Tour Challenge Tier 1 winners Team Brad Jacobs and Team Anna Hasselborg are the latest to secure berths to the Humpty’s Champions Cup.
The season-ending Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event — running April 29 to May 3, 2020, at the Olds Sportsplex in Olds, Alta. — requires teams to win a high-profile title in order to receive an invitation.
Jacobs, from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., defeated Team Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., 6-4 in a thrilling showdown for the KIOTI Tractor Tour Challenge Tier 1 men’s title Sunday in New Glasgow, N.S., while Hasselborg, from Sweden, beat Team Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man., 8-5 for the women’s title.
“It’s great to be in the Champions Cup now,” Jacobs said. “Every single one of these events are just huge. To win one is a thrill for your season. It’s a great accomplishment. We know that this bodes well for our standings in the Pinty’s Cup and now we’re in the Champions Cup, so lots of good things come out of this win. We’ll see you at the Champions Cup.”
TICKET INFO: Tournament packages are now available for the 2020 Humpty’s Champions Cup, visit thegrandslamofcurling.com/tickets to learn how to purchase yours today.
Jacobs is joined by his cousins E.J. and Ryan Harnden at second and lead, respectively, plus new third Marc Kennedy, who is from St. Albert, Alta.
“It’ll be good to play close to home,” Kennedy said. “I love that event and I’m looking forward to playing in it. We’ve been out east a lot so far this year so I’m looking forward to playing some events out west.”
Meanwhile, Team Chang-min Kim of South Korea and China’s Team Yu Han also qualified for the 2020 Humpty’s Champions Cup after winning the Pacific-Asia Curling Championships this past Saturday in Shenzhen, China. Kim cruised past Japan’s Team Yuta Matsumura 11-2 in the men’s final while Han topped Japan’s Team Seina Nakajima 10-3.
A total of 12 men’s teams and 12 women’s teams will compete in the Humpty’s Champions Cup. The men’s field so far also includes Edmonton’s Team Brendan Bottcher (2019 Players’ Championship), Calgary’s Team Kevin Koe (2018-19 Pinty’s Cup) and Regina’s Team Matt Dunstone while the women’s side features Team Einarson (2019 Players’ Championship), Team Fleury of East St. Paul, Man., (Masters) and Switzerland’s Team Silvana Tirinzoni (2019 Humpty’s Champions Cup).
2020 Humpty’s Champions Cup qualifying events
- 2019 Players’ Championship
- 2019 Humpty’s Champions Cup
- 2019 Masters
- 2019 KIOTI Tractor Tour Challenge (Tier 1)
- 2019 BOOST National
- 2020 Meridian Canadian Open
- 2019 European Championship
- 2019 Pacific-Asia Championship
- 2020 Tim Hortons Brier/Scotties Tournament of Hearts
- 2020 U.S. National Championship
- 2020 World Junior Championship
- 2020 World Championship
Note: In the event of duplicate winners of the qualifying events, World Curling Tour event winners will be invited based on the strength of field of the event. In the event that a single team wins both the Players’ Championship and Humpty’s Champions Cup in the previous season, the Pinty’s Cup winners from that season will be awarded a spot. In the event that the same team wins all three, a winning team from a top WCT event based on strength of field will be invited to participate.
