Chiaki Matsumura and Yasumasa Tanida sealed their spot in the semi-finals for Japan by topping the group at the Gangneung Curling Centre.

They recorded an eighth win from eight by seven points to five against Spain's Oihane Otaegi and Mikel Unanue, meaning their 9-1 defeat to Switzerland's women's world champion Briar Schwaller-Hürlimann and men's World Championship bronze medallist Yannick Schwaller had no bearing on the standings.

The Swiss suffered an elimination thanks to a win for the United States and two for Norway on the final day in the round-robin.

Switzerland beat Germany's Pia-Lisa Schöll and Klaudius Harsch, but the US' Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin triumphed by the same scoreline over Turkey's Dilşat Yıldız and Bilal Ömer Çakır.

The US lost 9-8 to Spain in an extra end of their last match, but finished above Norway and Switzerland who also finished on seven wins and two defeats by virtue of beating both opponents.

Martine Rønning and Mathias Brænden sealed the crucial third place with a 9-2 thrashing of winless English pair Lina Opel and Michael Opel and a 6-4 victory over Germany.

The final day of results meant England were consigned to the qualification event for next year's World Championship, while Austria's Hannah Augustin and Martin Reichel together with Germany are set to compete in the relegation playoffs after ranking seventh and eighth respectively.

Austria went down 10-2 to Sweden's Therese Westman and Robin Ahlberg, and their 8-2 win against England was not enough to escape the bottom three.

Group A concluded with Canada on top spot and with an automatic place in the semi-finals thanks to a narrow 7-6 victory for Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics gold medallist Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing against hosts South Korea's team of Kim Ji-yoon and Jeong Byeong-jin.

Estonia's Marie Kaldvee and Harri Lill went down 8-6 to The Netherlands' Vanessa Tonoli and Wouter Gösgens to finish with seven wins and two defeats, but held on to second place by virtue of their triumph over Scotland, for whom Olympic champion Jennifer Dodds and silver medallist Bruce Mouat overcame the Czech Republic's Julie Zelingrová and Vít Chabičovský.

Hungary were relegated to the qualification event after a 7-5 defeat to Australia's Linda Joó and Lőrinc Tatár, with Czech Republic and South Korea entering the relegation playoffs.

Estonia are set to play Norway and the US take on Scotland tomorrow for a place in the semi-finals, where the winners would face Japan and Canada respectively.

The losers of the relegation playoffs between South Korea and Austria, and Germany and Czech Republic, will have to play in the qualification event for next year's World Championship.