ANNUAL REVIEW 2017-2018 - WORLD CURLING FEDERATION - Le curling
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WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2017-2018
Niklas Edin, skip of Sweden’s men’s team, was given the honour of carrying his country’s The Korean women’s team became a global sensation as they stormed to the top of the round flag into the arena at the head of the Swedish delegation at the Olympic Winter Games opening robin on their way to a final show-down against Sweden, skipped by Anna Hasselborg. ceremony in PyeongChang. Known as the ‘Garlic Girls’ because of the region in South Korea that they come from, the Sweden went on to place sixth on the overall medal table, with seven gold, six silver and one bronze Koreans, under skip EunJung Kim, went on to take silver, a first-ever global medal medal in total. Edin and his team of Oskar Eriksson (third), Rasmus Wranaa (second), Christoffer for Korean curling. The popularity of the team was emphasised when EunJung Kim was asked Sundgren (lead) and alternate Henrik Leek took silver, losing out to United States in curling’s gold medal to help Korea’s wheelchair curling skip Soon-Seok Seo light the cauldron at the Paralympic final. This added to the Olympic bronze Edin won in the 2014 Olympic Winter Games and his two world Winter Games opening ceremony. The Korean wheelchair curlers themselves just missed out on titles and six European titles. Edin won a third world title in Las Vegas a month after the Games. medals, losing the bronze medal game to Canada.
Contents President’s Message
President’s message 1 Once again, it is my pleasure to introduce the World Curling
Board & Staff 2 Federation’s Annual Review.
Key facts and figures 3
As you will see on these pages, the 2017-2018 season saw more remarkable
Operations and integrity 4 progress for our sport, with one clear highlight being our successful, history-
Governance Commission 4 making competitions in the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games of
World Mixed Curling Championship 5 PyeongChang, South Korea. Our involvement in these great multi-discipline
sporting games benefits the Federation and the whole curling family. In this
Zonal reports 6
Review, you will see how some of our Member Associations have capitalised
Pacific-Asia Curling Championships 7 on this once-every-four-years “shop window”, generating new involvement
Athlete Commission 8 and growing participants along the way – not least, following Team Shuster’s
historic win in the United States.
Development Assistance Programme 8
European Curling Championships 9 Our venue at these Games benefitted strongly from the experiences of our
test events and became the place to be, with games played in front of virtually
WCF/DCV Hummelt Junior Curling Camp 10
sold-out audiences and many interested influential sporting and political
World Junior Curling Championships 11 guests. Things happen as a direct result of the connections that we can make
Curling Night in America 12 at these events. For example, we have been able to persuade the Korean
During our men’s championship in Las Vegas we said our formal farewell
Olympic Celebration Tour 13 sporting authorities to maintain the Gangneung Curling Centre in top-notch
to our Director of Competitions and Development but more about Keith
condition as a dedicated curling facility for the next year so that it becomes
Olympic promotion 13 Wendorf later.
a community hub as well as an international and national competition
Olympic Qualification Event 14 venue. This is Olympic legacy in action. While there was much to admire As reported later in this Review, two new facilities were opened this season –
Olympic Mixed Doubles 15 about curling’s increasing role and profile through these Games, we also saw in Belgium – through the determined efforts of the local curling family – and
a negative doping result, when Olympic Athlete from Russia, Aleksander in Finland, where our prototype Portable Curling Facility opened for business
Olympic Men's 16
Krushelnitckii, failed a test. This issue is being dealt with. in Turku. I was privileged and delighted to be at both opening ceremonies.
Olympic Women's 17 At the Turku event, a young curler who had raised money for junior curling
There are many ways in which our sport is becoming more international, and
Social media attention 18 and wished to present a cheque, could hardly speak and was very emotional
this was brought home to me when, in applying for a visa, I had to list the
Paralympic Wheelchair 19 because he was so happy they now had this dedicated facility. Among all the
countries I had visited on curling business this past year… 18.
Olympic and global razzamatazz, this was a real reminder of the difference
Olympic opening ceremony 20 we can make as a Federation and as a sport.
Other international highlights of the year include China’s wheelchair curlers
World Curling Hall of Fame 21 winning a first-ever Paralympic gold medal for their country in any sporting
I hope you find this Review enjoyable and informative.
World Women’s Curling Championship 22 discipline; the first-ever all-South American game in one of our world
championships, with Guyana’s mixed doubles debutants beating Brazil in
World Men’s Curling Championship 24
the round robin; Korea’s skip EunJung Kim having a prominent role in the
Broadcast and media 26 Paralympic opening ceremony after her team had stolen hearts all round the
World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 28 world; and Sweden’s men’s skip Niklas Edin being given the honour of carrying
Sponsorship and marketing 30 his country’s flag into the Olympic opening ceremony.
Kate Caithness OBE, President
World Senior Curling Championships 31 All our championship events were successful and memorable, with growing
World rankings 32 television and media exposure and history-making performances. Every
event this season was terrific. We’re now a professional organisation running
Competition and Rules 33 a professional sport, and we’re really happy with the people who work with “Our outstanding
Curling World Cup 34 us and who work for us. Our outstanding volunteers and local organising volunteers and local
Development 35 committees all work so well, and we are so grateful to them. Now we’re at the
stage where we just go in produce the show and then move on to the next one. organising committees all
Fiscal year 36
A look forward 38 Our Congress was exceptional, and when we were there in Bled, I met with work so well, and we are
International curling events 2018-2019 39
Slovenian officials who promised us they would develop a dedicated so grateful to them”
curling facility in Ljubljana – just another example of the type of spin-off
Sponsors 40 that can happen.
WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2017-2018 1
Board & Staff
The Board Staff
Colin Grahamslaw Secretary General
Keith Wendorf Director of Competitions and Development
Scott Arnold Competitions and Development Officer
Eeva Roethlisberger Competitions and Development Officer
Darrell Ell Competitions and Development Officer
Paddy Kaeser Competitions and Development Officer
Susan Wendorf Competitions and Development Assistant
Richard Harding Development Officer
President Vice-president (Americas) Vice-president (Europe) Vice-president (Pacific-Asia)
Kate Caithness OBE Graham Prouse Bent Ramsfjell Hugh Millikin Saskia Mueller-Gastell Projects Officer
Scotland (Elected to 2018) Canada (Elected to 2021) Norway (Elected to 2019) Australia (Elected to 2020)
Joanna Kelly Broadcast Manager
Cameron MacAllister Communications and
Media Relations Manager
Chris Hamilton Digital Media Officer
Ashley Melville IT Officer
Thelma Black Finance Controller
Susan Keith Anti-Doping Administrator
Liz Munro Competitions and Development
Administrator
Gill Amatt Administrative Assistant
Director Director Director Director Jorge Vazquez Curling World Cup Manager
Hew Chalmers Toyo Ogawa Cathrine Lindahl Andy Anderson
Scotland (Elected to 2021) Japan (Elected to 2019) Sweden (Elected to 2020) United States (Elected to 2018) Lesley McCrae Curling World Cup Broadcast Officer
2 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2017-2018
Key facts and figures - development
Afghanistan,
Kyrgyzstan,
Canada’s Portugal and Qatar
John Morris and Kaitlyn Saudi Arabia join win first ever international Guyana
Lawes become first World Curling curling game (8-5 over win first ever international
Historic first Olympic medals Olympians to win team Federation Kazakhstan at PACC 2017) curling game (9-6 over
for Korea (silver) and and mixed doubles Austria at WMDCC
Japan (bronze) gold medals 2018)
women
Single largest
China sponsorship investment
became for the World Curling Federation from
United States Paralympic Kingdomway Sports
men win wheelchair curling
First ever for
all South American first ever champions Curling
Australia
curling game – Olympic for the
World Cup
first time
hosts first international Brazil v Guyana gold medal
curling event in at World Mixed Doubles
2018 (Guyana won 6-3)
21 years
First
dedicated curling ice WCF/DCV Hummelt
installed in Junior Curling Camp
First World Curling Championship
Belgium Portable Curling to be held on the United
in Füssen, Germany
World Curling Federation after successful celebrates
Facility States’ west coast and
extends partnership with
2022
crowd funding
project
is completed in Turku, in Las Vegas 20
InFront to Finland years
WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2017-2018 3
Operations and Governance
integrity Commission
Staffing In the past year, the World Curling Federation Governance
Commission has had in-person meetings during the Congress in
The end of this season saw the retirement of
Bled, Slovenia, and the Olympic Winter Games in Gangneung,
the Director of Competitions and Development,
South Korea.
Keith Wendorf.
At the Congress it was agreed to make a call for nominations to fill one
Keith’s contribution to the World Curling
vacant position in the Governance Commission and nominations were
Federation and curling in general cannot
received from all regional zones. At the spring meeting in Las Vegas, the
be underestimated, and he will be sorely
missed. Keith’s position is replaced by two Board appointed Gregor Rigler (of Slovenia) as the new World Curling
posts - a Head of Competitions, filled by Eeva Federation Governance Commission member. His knowledge and
Roethlisberger, and a Head of Development, expertise from a rapidly developing Members Association is expected to
filled by Scott Arnold. Eeva and Scott took up be extremely valuable and beneficial for the Governance Commission.
Unfortunately, this did not prevent a positive
these new positions on 1 July. It is also an encouragement for other developing Members in seeking
test happening at the Games. Aleksander
positions under the World Curling Federation umbrella.
Another change in the Competition and Krushelnitskii from the Olympic Athlete from
Development team saw the appointment of Russia team was disqualified following a The Governance Commission has provided template policy documents
Paddy Kaeser last September when he joined positive test for meldonium. Following the World Junior Curling Championships for Member Associations to improve their governance structures. This
the team as a Competitions and Development agreement made at last year’s Annual General 2018 includes templates for New Constitution, Conflict of Interest policy, Code
Officer. Paddy and Darrell Ell were joined by Assembly, the process for hearing the case has The World Curling Federation promoted of Conduct and Code of Ethics. The Governance Commission has also
Karri Willms on 1 July. been passed to Court for Arbitration for Sport the clean sport message #CurlClean at the aided one Member Association in a process of reviewing and improving
and is expected to be heard in September. World Junior Curling Championship 2018 in their constitution and governance structure. This reflects that the
The Curling World Cup is a major new project Aberdeen, Scotland, in February delivering an Governance Commission not only asks what the commission can do for
for the World Curling Federation and there In total the World Curling Federation conducted
anti-doping awareness Outreach Programme the Federation itself, but what the Governance Commission can do for
have been two new appointments over the 199 tests during the past season, with no
for the young curling athletes. the Member Associations.
past season – Jorge Vazquez leads the Curling recorded failures.
World Cup as Project Manager and was During the championships, athletes, coaches Good governance is costly – but bad governance can be even more
The McLaren Report continued to be the
joined on 1 July by Uli Kapp, as a part-time and their support personnel had the chance to costly, and that is why the Governance Commission will constantly
subject of on-going investigation as the
Sport Manager. visit the outreach booth to take part in fun and monitor and look for initiatives to improve governance issues within the
World Anti-Doping Agency released further
educational activities and to sign the Clean organisation as well as being a resource for Members who share the
Finally, former World Curling Federation Sports information during the season. All the available
Sport Pledge. same ambition.
Media Trainee, Emily Dwyer, joined the media evidence has now been passed to a member
team on 16 July as a Media Officer. of the World Curling Federation Anti-Doping Photos were posted on social media during Governance Commission members:
Hearing Panel who will make an assessment the championship to promote the hashtags
Anti-doping • Bent Ramsfjell (Norway, Board liaison and chair)
of whether or not there is sufficient evidence #CurlClean and #PlayTrue.
The year was dominated by preparations for available to declare an Anti-Doping Rule • Willie Nicoll (Scotland)
the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Violation against anyone. Integrity
Along with the World Anti-Doping Agency, In the run up to the Olympic Winter Games, • Jennifer Stannard (United States)
the International Olympic Committee set The World Curling Federation has the World Curling Federation worked with the • Gregor Rigler (Slovenia)
up a pre-Games testing taskforce to ensure also continued to be involved in International Olympic Committee to deliver
an adequate level of testing was in place for anti-doping education: education related to the prevention of result
those countries competing in the Olympic manipulation – more than two-thirds of the
Winter Games.
Olympic Winter Games 2018 athletes competing completed the online
Anti-Doping Administrator, Susan Keith, was course. The International Olympic Committee
The World Curling Federation worked with invited to join the World Anti-Doping Agency have also confirmed that there was no evidence
the National Anti-Doping Organisations of Outreach Team during the 2018 Olympic of any manipulation of results during the
the competing nations to ensure that as Winter Games to deliver anti-doping education Games.
many of the athletes as possible were tested to athletes competing in PyeongChang. The
prior to the Games. This represented the programme provided face-to-face interaction The World Curling Federation continue to work
most comprehensive set of tests carried out with athletes from around the world to raise with the Irregular Betting Information System
by the World Curling Federation before an awareness about fair play and the values of to monitor major events during the season and
Olympic Games. clean sport. once again there were no cases reported.
4 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2017-2018
World Mixed Curling Championship 2017
Champery, Switzerland, 6-14 October
MEDALLISTS International curling returned • G
roup C: Denmark, Ireland,
to Champéry, Switzerland when Kazakhstan, Korea, Luxembourg,
Ö SCOTLAND
37 teams took to the ice of the New Zealand, Scotland and Spain
Grant Hardie (skip and fourth)
Rhiann Macleod (vice-skip and third) Palladium de Champéry for the 2017 • G
roup D: Austria, Czech Republic,
Billy Morton (second) World Mixed Curling Championship. Finland, Hong Kong, Israel, Norway,
Barbara McFarlane (lead) Slovakia and hosts Switzerland
This was the third World Mixed
Ö CANADA Curling Championship to take place. • Group E: Australia, Canada,
Trevor Bonot (skip and fourth)
England, Germany, Netherlands,
Jacqueline McCormick Prior to the competition, the first-ever
Poland and Turkey
(vice-skip and third) mixed world rankings were released by
Kory Carr (second) the World Curling Federation, ensuring The round robin saw both Hong
Megan Carr (lead) that ranking points would be earned Kong and Luxembourg make their
Jim Waite (coach) from this championship, and all future international mixed curling debuts.
Ö CZECH REPUBLIC championships. It also saw a first mixed curling win
Jaroslav Vedral (skip and fourth) for Brazil and a historic first win at
The 37 competing Members were split
Andrea Krupanska world level for Hong Kong, by 11-5
into five groups for the round-robin stage.
(vice-skip and third) over Finland.
Lukas Klipa (second) They were:
Denisa Postova (lead) At the conclusion of the round-robin
• Group A: Croatia, Estonia, Hungary,
Jiri Candra (coach) stage, 16 teams progressed to the play-
Japan, defending champions Russia,
offs. The top three ranked teams in each
Slovenia and Wales
group received automatic entries while
• Group B: Belarus, Brazil, China, the 16th place was given to the fourth
France, Latvia, Sweden and placed team with the best Draw Shot
United States Challenge score.
Later, in the semi-finals, undefeated
Canada beat Norway 5-3, while Scotland
beat Czech Republic 6-2 to progress to
the gold medal final.
In that final, Scotland secured their first
World Mixed Curling title by defeating
Canada 8-5 in an extra-end. At the same
time, Czech Republic claimed the bronze
medals after fighting back from 5-0
down at the break to win 7-6.
The World Mixed Curling
Championship 2018 will take place
between 13-20 October in Kelowna,
Canada.
https://www.wcf.co/wmxcc2017results
WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2017-2018 5
Zonal reports
Americas Europe
Canada Europe is the biggest zone within the World Curling Federation in
As Curling Canada continued its ambition to not terms of Member Associations. At the Congress last year Portugal
only develop world and Olympic champions, but was accepted as the 41st European Member. Pacific-Asia
also recreational curlers from coast to coast - both The hugely successful 2018
In the last year the European Zonal Commission has met twice – in
young curlers and new Canadians - the Egg Farmers Olympic Winter Games in South
Bled, Slovenia, during the World Curling Congress and in St. Gallen,
Rocks & Rings programme taught curling to more Korea continued the Olympic
Switzerland, during the European Curling Championships.
than 215,000 students, using gymnasium-friendly Winter Games’ impact on
equipment. Egg Farmers Rocks & Rings also put on These meetings represent opportunities: participation and enthusiasm in
Brazilian Day and, in conjunction with the Korean the Pacific-Asia region for curling.
Culture Centre in Toronto, took 106 people • To consult about special topics that are arising and are of mutual
interest The 2018 legacy and the upcoming
curling in April at the Bayview Golf and Country 2022 Beijing Games have also
Club in Toronto. • To present and nurture European success stories assisted in the development of new
In addition, Egg Farmers Rocks & Rings staged a United States • To discuss proposals for use of the European Curling Federation
curling facilities in the region with
series of Curling 101 learn-to-curl clinics across The United States Curling Association accepted 14 South Korea and China leading
monetary legacy (approximately $USD 100,000)
Canada, with 1,382 participants in 25 clubs. new curling clubs as members, meaning that curling the way.
is now established in 45 of the nation’s 50 states. • To look ahead to future championships on European ice.
Curling Canada is about to introduce the Hit Draw One game in particular at the 2018
Tap youth skills competition for ages six to 13. Significant promotional activities took place around In Bled, presentations included: Olympic Winter Games captured
The participants will perform three different shots the Olympic and Paralympic year and highlights the interest of millions of viewers
• The new curling facility in Belgium – a project in which crowdfunding
– a Hit, a Draw and a Tap – with the difficulty of the included: across Asia. The women’s semi-final
was involved
skills modified based on age. The competition will between Korea and Japan was not
• Partnering with the U.S. Olympic Committee on a
start at club level then move onto regional • Curling development in Slovenia – from scratch to competitive in less just entertaining but was one of the
“Road to PyeongChang” Olympic WinterFest Tour
level, with each Member Association hosting a than ten years best-played curling games shown on
Curling Canada Hit Draw Tap Provincial/ • Monthly digital distribution of a “Preparing for television.
• Andorra’s experiences with hosting European Curling
Territorial Championship during their men's or the 2018 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games”
Championships C-Division – a steep, but encouraging, learning The Pacific-Asia Curling
women's championship. newsletter
curve Championships 2017 returned to
Guyana • Securing Cheetos as a major sponsor, with the
• Czech Republic’s example of promotion of curling – with emphasis
Australia for the first time since
Guyana’s debut in the World Mixed Doubles Cheetos “Teach Me How to Curl” campaign 1996. The championships were
on initiatives for the upcoming Olympic Winter Games.
Curling Championship in Oestersund, Sweden registering 1.5 billion broadcast, print and online preceded by the Australian National
brought significant attention, with coverage in most impressions In St. Gallen similar presentation were made about: Championships and a Pacific-Asia
of Guyana’s major newspapers and television news mixed doubles tournament. The
• Holding 18 days of Olympic and Paralympic • BEGASOFT – a Swiss web-based administration programme suitable
programmes, as well as many messages of support access to world-class ice and stones
giveaways, with over 11,600 entries (and emails to to administer tournaments and membership information, amongst
on social media. This momentum will help to enabled all Australian curlers and the
add to the U. S. Curling Association contact lists) other things. This software is available to all Member Associations
generate more coverage and gain the support of the public to experience conditions never
government to integrate curling into the daily lives • Arranging an extensive post-Olympic media tour • The Swedish Curling Development Platform, which is targeting seen before in Australia.
of Guyanese. The process of developing Guyana's for the United States men gold medallists. courses for parents, a guide to arranging anti-doping leadership The Pacific-Asia Curling
first men's team to compete in the America's programmes, a forum for coaches, online courses and instruction
Because of that historic gold medal win, NBC Championships 2018 will return to
Challenge is underway, as well as continued efforts videos.
broadcasts of the Olympic gold medal game drew the Gangneung Curling Centre, South
to recruit other Guyanese for both recreational and
over 7.5 million viewers, while TV coverage on the Looking ahead, one of the key topics for discussion will the selection Korea as part of the legacy from the
competitive curling.
NBC networks began in October and continued until process for the four European teams in the World Qualification Event. Olympic Winter Games.
April, with over 600 hours in total.
The European Zonal Commission is constantly encouraging
Further junior and youth programme development European Members to come forward with applications for use of the
will take place, while expanding wheelchair curling European Curling Federation monetary legacy. Viable projects should
recruitment is a priority, as is expanding television especially target youth, promote development and enhance cross-
and web streaming coverage. border co-operation.
6 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2017-2018
Pacific-Asia Curling Championships 2017
Erina, Australia; 2-9 November
MEDALLISTS In 2017, the Pacific-Asia Curling
Championships ventured to
Women
Australia for the first time in 21
Ö KOREA
years and were held on Australia’s
EunJung Kim (skip and fourth)
KyeongAe Kim (vice-skip and third) Central Coast, in the Erina Ice Arena.
SeonYeong Kim (second) A total of 15 teams took part representing
YeongMi Kim (lead) nine Member Associations, and for the
Chohi Kim (alternate)
first time, they were competing for three
MinJung Kim (coach)
places at each of the World Women’s and
Ö JAPAN Men’s Curling Championships, with those
Satsuki Fujisawa (skip and fourth) events expanding to 13 teams.
Chinami Yoshida
(vice-skip and third) In the women’s event six teams took part:
Mari Motohashi (second) Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan,
Yurika Yoshida (lead) Korea and New Zealand. The men’s
Yumi Suzuki (alternate) teams were: Australia, China, Chinese
James Lind (coach) Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan,
Ö CHINA Korea, New Zealand and Qatar.
Yilun Jiang (skip and fourth) Korea’s women’s and men’s teams won
Xindi Jiang (vice-skip and third)
their respective championships ahead
Mingyue Yao (second)
of hosting the Olympic Winter Games
Hui Yan (lead)
PyeongChang 2018 three months later.
Xu Meng (alternate)
Also, during the men’s round-robin
Marcel Rocque (coach)
competition, Qatar recorded their
Men first international victory by beating
Ö KOREA Kazakhstan 8-5 and Hong Kong women
ChangMin Kim (skip and fourth) qualified for their first-ever semi-final.
SeHyeon Seong (vice-skip and third)
EunSu Oh (second) The women’s semi-finalists were Korea,
KiBok Lee (lead) China, Japan and Hong Kong. Korea won
MinChan Kim (alternate) their semi-final 14-2 over Hong Kong,
MyungSup Lim (coach) while Japan beat China 6-5 to progress to
Ö CHINA the final.
Dejia Zou (skip and fourth) In reaching the final, Korea and Japan
Qiang Zou (vice-skip and third) guaranteed places at the Ford World
Jingtao Xu (second) Women’s Curling Championship 2018 in
Zhilin Shao (lead) North Bay, Canada. This left China and
Yanlong Ma (alternate) Hong Kong to play for bronze medals and
Marcel Rocque (coach)
the final worlds place. China were the Korea won their semi-final 8-7 over the last stone had to be measured, Korea Women –
Ö JAPAN third team to qualify with an 8-3 win over Japan and China beat Australia 7-6, were confirmed as champions beating https://www.wcf.co/pacc2017womenresults
Yusuke Morozumi (skip and fourth) Hong Kong in the bronze medal game. which guaranteed Korea and China’s silver medallists, China, 9-8.
Tetsuro Shimizu (vice-skip and third) Men –
Korea became Pacific-Asia champions places at the 361˚ World Men’s Curling
Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi (second) The Pacific-Asia Curling https://www.wcf.co/pacc2017menresults
with an 11-6 win over Japan, who Championship 2018 in Las Vegas,
Kosuke Morozumi (lead) collected silver medals. United States. Championships 2018 will take place
Kohsuke Hirata (alternate) between 3-10 November, in the 2018
Hatomi Nagaoka (coach) In the men’s event, the host nation Japan claimed the final worlds place and Olympic Winter Games curling venue in
Australia reached the semi-finals, bronze medals with an 11-4 win over Gangneung, South Korea.
along with China, Korea and Japan. Australia. In the gold medal game, after
WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2017-2018 7
Athlete Commission Development Assistance
Programme
This was a special year, at the end of Key activities and initiatives: Two new members joined the commission The World Curling Federation’s Using the Development Assistance
the quadrennial, which saw athletes’ in July 2018 – Anna Kubeskova (Czech Development Assistance Programme Programme to repay stones, scrapers
• Commission member Kim Forge is
lifelong dreams come true at the Republic) and Jill Officer (Canada). They - aimed at assisting Member and ice equipment is the single largest
working with a group of athletes and
Olympic and Paralympic Winter were both elected by an athlete vote to Associations – has been in existence area of Member Association spend under
coaches on a mixed doubles working
Games, with gold medal performances represent the two open positions from the for many years, with grants of up to this programme.
group which has been tasked with
by Canada's mixed doubles team, World Women's discipline. $USD 12,000 available for projects
reviewing the game and any potential The largest single growth area in the last
Sweden women, United States men of different types. This grant aid has
improvements, including the draw Other members of the Commission are: year has been the introduction of funds
and China's wheelchair team. Now the now been developed to allow Member
formats, following the discipline’s towards Street Curling sets. Over 12
attention has quickly turned to the • Kim Forge (Australia) World Mixed Associations to claim for one four-
success at the 2018 Olympic Winter Member Associations have purchased
Games in 2022 with plans already in Doubles representative year grant of up to $USD 48,000 to
Games Street Curling sets since the World
motion to grow and showcase curling complete a single or larger project.
• Patrick McDonald (United States) Curling Federation partnered with Rock
again. • Commission member Patrick
World Wheelchair representative Examples of projects the Development Solid Productions. While there may be
McDonald led the Stick Delivery
The commission was busy in this period, Assistance Programme can be used for concerns that the game should always be
Summit in May 2018, which has led • David Murdoch (Scotland) World
with at least one team member attending include: on ice, there is a strong argument where
to recommendations, for wheelchair Men's representative
and speaking to athletes at each of the Member Associations use this idea to
curling, that will be voted on at the • Payments towards contracts for
Pacific-Asia, European, World Women's, • Nolan Thiessen (Canada) skip of develop interest by transporting Street
World Curling Federation Congress equipment with the World Curling
World Men's and World Mixed Doubles the commission and World Men's Curling sets around many large cities
Federation (such as stones, scrapers)
Curling Championships. The commission • Commission skip Nolan Thiessen representative allowing more people to see what the
was also able to meet in Las Vegas, helped lead a group of athletes as • Organisation of camps and courses game is about.
following open meetings at the World well as World Curling Federation Outgoing members Ann Swisshelm and
Kelly Scott are thanked for their efforts • Buying of ice making equipment The Development Assistance Programme
Men's Curling Championship to plan representatives through a week of
over the past six years. All Curling is only one part of the development work
and build for the future as well as discuss brush testing, to take another view • Publishing brochures, rulebooks
athletes thank them for representing done by the World Curling Federation and
major topics to be worked on. of currently conforming brushes, to see and manuals
the voice of the athlete community and its global team of development officers.
if any additional adjustments
growing this commission to what it is • Running a Stepping Stone project. In total, an annual figure of $USD
were needed.
today. 442,120 is committed to Member
Association development by the World
Czech Republic Curling Federation.
Ne w Z e
aland
United States
8 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2017-2018Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships 2017
St Gallen, Switzerland; 17-25 November
MEDALLISTS For many of the teams taking part, Another 16 teams competed in two groups
the Le Gruyère AOP European in the men’s B-Division. They were:
Women
Curling Championships 2017 was • Group A: Belgium, England, Spain,
Ö SCOTLAND either a last championship warm-up Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Israel
Eve Muirhead (skip and fourth) and Latvia.
for February’s 2018 Olympic Winter
Anna Sloan (vice-skip and third)
Games, or a final dress-rehearsal for • Group B: Czech Republic, Denmark,
Vicki Adams (second)
December’s Olympic Qualification France, Lithuania, Poland,
Lauren Gray (lead)
Slovenia, Turkey and Wales.
Kelly Schafer (alternate) Event in the Czech Republic – the
Glenn Howard (coach) competition that would determine In the semi-finals of the men’s A-Division,
Sweden beat Norway by 8-3 to keep their
Ö SWEDEN the last two teams in both the 2018
title defence alive, while Scotland beat
Anna Hasselborg (skip and fourth) Olympic women’s and men’s line-ups. Switzerland by 9-6. The Swiss then beat
Sara McManus (vice-skip and third)
A total of 27 Member Associations took Norway by 6-5 before Sweden completed
Agnes Knochenhauer (second)
part. their title defence with a 10-5 win, taking
Sofia Mabergs (lead)
what was this team’s third successive
Jennie Waahlin (alternate) The ten A-Division women’s teams were: European crown and a sixth European title
Maria Prytz (coach) Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, in total for skip Niklas Edin.
Ö ITALY Hungary, Italy, Russia, Scotland, Sweden,
Diana Gaspari (skip and fourth) hosts Switzerland and Turkey. Finland’s men beat Poland by 8-3 to join
Veronica Zappone their women as B-Division champions,
The women’s B-Division consisted of ten while Czech Republic beat Spain by 8-4 for
(vice-skip and third)
teams: Belarus, England, Estonia, Spain, bronze. Meanwhile, Denmark and Belgium,
Stefania Constantini (second)
Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, at the bottom of the table, were relegated
Angela Romei (lead)
Norway and Poland. to the C-Division.
Chiara Olivieri (alternate)
Violetta Caldart (coach) In the women’s A-Division semi-finals, The men’s world challenge series was
Sweden beat Italy by 7-3 while Scotland won by Italy – eighth in the A-Division –
Men
were 7-5 winners over Switzerland. Italy over B-Division gold medallists Finland
Ö SWEDEN went on to beat Switzerland by 7-6 to and they qualified for the 361º World
Niklas Edin (skip and fourth) take the bronze medals. Scotland were Men’s Championship 2018 in Las Vegas,
Oskar Eriksson (vice-skip and third) champions, completing their 6-3 win over United States.
Rasmus Wranaa (second) Sweden with single-point steals in both the
Christoffer Sundgren (lead) ninth and tenth ends. The Le Gruyère AOP European Curling
Henrik Leek (alternate) Championships 2018 will take place
Fredrik Lindberg (coach) Finland emerged as women’s B-Division between 16-24 November, in Tallinn,
gold medal winners, beating silver Estonia.
Ö SCOTLAND
medallists Latvia by 8-7, while Estonia
Kyle Smith (skip and fourth) Women –
won bronze medals with a 5-4 victory
Thomas Muirhead https://www.wcf.co/ecc2017womenresults
over Norway. At the foot of the table both
(vice-skip and third)
Poland and Belarus were relegated to the Men –
Kyle Waddell (second)
C-Division. Winning the B-Division gave https://www.wcf.co/ecc2017menresults
Cameron Smith (lead)
Finland the right to challenge Denmark,
Glen Muirhead (alternate)
who finished eighth in the A-Division for
Viktor Kjaell (coach)
the final European place at the Ford World
Ö SWITZERLAND Women’s Curling Championship 2018 in
Benoit Schwarz (vice-skip and fourth) North Bay, Canada. However, Denmark
Claudio Paetz (third) won that challenge series.
Peter de Cruz (skip and second)
Valentin Tanner (lead) The ten A-Division men's teams that
Dominik Maerki (alternate) competed were: Austria, Germany, Italy,
Claudia Pescia (coach) Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Scotland,
Switzerland, Slovakia and Sweden.
WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2017-2018 9WCF/DCV Hummelt Junior Curling Camp
celebrates 20 years
th
20 RY
ER SA
A N N IV
World Curling Federation Curling’s most popular junior camp - the WCF /
President Kate Caithness DCV Junior Curling Camp held in Fuessen, Germany
writes: annually - has celebrated its 20th anniversary.
As most readers will The camp was the brain child of Juliane Hummelt, who
was the President of the German Curling Association
realise, Keith Wendorf, the
at the time. Juliane collaborated with Keith Wendorf,
organisation's long-standing the recently-retired World Curling Federation Director
Director of Competitions of Competitions and Development, who was then the
and Development, has German national coach, to create the beginning of
the camp.
retired. As we wish him
a happy retirement, we “Lilly [Juliane] said that I should do a camp for all the
juniors in Germany and help organise it,” says Keith, “she
can also reflect on Keith’s
spoke to Fuessen and they had ice for it. It started with
achievements, of which her suggestion, then my work.”
there are many. Keith has
“When I came up with the idea, I spoke to Keith about
stamped his personality the prospect of making a camp for young German
on nearly every aspect athletes and from there it just got bigger and bigger,”
of our sport – under his says Lilly.
supervision championships From these humble beginnings, the camp grew at a
have become truly first- rapid pace.
class. He has also done The camp has had World Curling Federation backing
much to preach the gospel and support since 2002 and has now expanded to
of curling in many corners include an umpire course and an ice-making course.
of the globe. “The first year that we ran it, it was just me as an
instructor and some untrained German assistants” Keith
The Fuessen camp is says. “In the second year I brought in three Canadians
only the first of many and I said I’d do a course on instructing and you can do
development projects he the junior camp. That was successful, then we decided
we should do an ice course and an umpire course.”
has nurtured.
“The one thing I regret is not keeping a record of the
We wish him well. campers over the years,” he says, “President Kate was
at the World Junior Curling Championships and was
speaking to the competitors and asked how many had
been to the Fuessen camp, and about 70% of coaches
and players had been.”
“I thought it would’ve been fantastic to have had a
record of our junior camp members and future coaches
who had been to a major championship because I think
that it would’ve been in the hundreds.”
The 20th year for Fuessen was special, but, if past
history is anything to go by, the athletes who attended
this year could become as special as the camp itself.
Written by feature writer Michael Houston
10 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2017-2018World Junior Curling Championships 2018
Aberdeen, Scotland; 3-10 March
MEDALLISTS
Women
Ö CANADA
Kaitlyn Jones (skip and fourth)
Kristin Clarke (vice-skip and third)
Karlee Burgess (second)
Lindsey Burgess (lead)
Lauren Lenentine (alternate)
Andrew Atherton (coach)
Ö SWEDEN
Isabella Wranaa (skip and fourth)
Jennie Waahlin (third)
Almida De Val (vice-skip and second)
Fanny Sjoeberg (lead)
Maria Larsson (alternate)
Margaretha Sigfridsson (coach)
Ö CHINA
Ziqi Dong (vice-skip and fourth)
Zixin Wang (skip and third)
Meini Wang (second)
Chengyu Sun (lead) With the Olympic Winter Games The ten women's teams were (in
Jiaxin Yu (alternate) PyeongChang 2018 concluded, the qualification order): Sweden, Scotland,
Yu Zhu (coach) Canada, Korea, Switzerland, Russia,
international focus moved to the
Men United States, China, Turkey and Norway.
World Junior Curling Championships
Ö CANADA 2018 in Curl Aberdeen, Scotland. In the women’s semi-finals, the defending
Tyler Tardi (skip and fourth) champions, Sweden, who had gone
This was the sixth time that
Sterling Middleton through the round robin unbeaten, faced
Scotland had hosted the World Norway and beat them by 9-3 to go to the
(vice-skip and third)
Jordan Tardi (second) Junior Curling Championships. final. In the other semi-final, Canada beat
Zachary Curtis (lead) To be eligible to play in the World Junior China by 9-7, with a single point steal in
Jacques Gauthier (alternate) Curling Championships, “a player must be the tenth end.
Paul Tardi (coach) less than 21 years of age by the end of the Canada then beat Sweden by 7-4 in the
Ö SCOTLAND 30th day of June of the year immediately final to take gold and become junior world
Ross Whyte (skip and fourth) preceding the year the championships are champions. This was a 12th women’s world
Robin Brydone (vice-skip and third) taking place”. junior title by Canada, but in contrast, the last-stone 5-4 win over Switzerland. Later, Among the men, Norway skip Magnus
Fraser Kingan (second) bronze medal won by China, when they
Altogether, ten women's and ten in the final, Canada beat Scotland by 6-5 Ramsfjell was voted the winner, while
Euan Kyle (lead) beat Norway by 11-5, was a first at this
men's teams, representing 12 Member to take the title and gold medals. With Scotland’s third Amy MacDonald gained
Duncan McFadzean (alternate) level for the Chinese Association.
Associations, took part. The teams Canada’s women also taking gold earlier, this accolade among the women.
Alan Hannah (coach)
qualified either by finishing in the top The ten men's teams were: Korea, United this completed a notable double. In the
Ö SWITZERLAND The World Junior Curling
six qualifying places at the 2017 VoIP States, Norway, Scotland, Canada, men’s bronze medal game, Switzerland Championships 2019 will take place
Jan Hess (skip and fourth) beat United States by 7-4.
Defender World Juniors or by finishing Switzerland, Sweden, China, Russia between 16-23 February, in Liverpool,
Simon Gloor (vice-skip and third)
in the top three in the World Junior-B and Germany. At every World Junior Curling Canada.
Simon Hoehn (second)
Curling Championships 2018, which had Championships, all the players vote for
Reto Schoenenberger (lead) In the men’s semi-finals, Canada beat Women –
been held in Lohja, Finland in January. In the women’s and men’s Sportsmanship
Philipp Hoesli (alternate) United States by 8-5 while Scotland, who https://www.wcf.co/wjcc2018womenresults
Annick Lusser Hess (coach) addition, Scotland qualified as hosts. Awards, for the player of their own gender
had remained unbeaten through the Men –
round robin to top the rankings, had a who best exemplifies the spirit of curling. https://www.wcf.co/wjcc2018menresults
WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2017-2018 11Audi quattro Winter Games Curling Night in America
New Zealand 2017
Ahead of making its Olympic with Estonia and Hungary securing
Winter Games debut, international the places from Pool A and Norway
mixed doubles curling returned to and Scotland securing the Pool B
places. In those quarter-finals, Estonia
New Zealand as part of the multi-
defeated Scotland, by 7-5, and
sport event, the Audi quattro Winter Norway beat Hungary 7-4 to move
Games NZ. into the semi-finals.
With nations able to enter more than Those semi-finals saw Canada defeat
one team, the 16 competing teams, Norway’s Olympic team of Kristin
several of whom would go onto compete Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten by
at the Olympic Winter Games, were split a score of 9-8, while Estonia’s Marie
into two pools of eight. Turmann and Harri Lill defeated
Defending champions, Canada – Kaylnn Korea 8-5.
Park and Charley Thomas – completed In the final Estonia claimed a 7-6
their round robin with a perfect 7-0 victory over Canada with Estonia
record to progress directly to the semi- scoring two points in the final end.
finals from Pool A. Pool B saw Korea’s Olympic hopefuls, Norway, won
Olympic team of Hyeji Jang and bronze, beating Korea 10-2 in only
Kijeong Lee also secure the direct six ends.
emi-final place after their undefeated
round robin. The Audi quattro Winter Games NZ
has now become an annual event.
The quarter-finals featured the teams
finishing second and third in each pool https://www.wcf.co/wgnz2017results
This made-for-TV event, developed the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. This move Combined, the
with United States broadcaster NBC, resulted in a reduced number of Curling
has now had four successful seasons, Night in America episodes, but was more programmes had a
making NBC Sports Network than offset by ten days of United States total of 2,264,000
(NBCSN) the home for all things Olympic Trials coverage. Combined, the
curling in the States. programmes had a total of 2,264,000 viewers over
viewers over the course of 30 broadcasts,
Throughout its history, Curling Night in
which represents an increase over the
the course of 30
America has enjoyed growing viewership.
It also has the distinction of being one of
already impressive Spring 2017 Curling broadcasts, which
Night in America total of 1.8 million
the few sports programmes that NBC will
viewers. In its original season in 2015,
represents an increase
continually re-air. This feature has resulted
in the Curling Night in America episodes
Curling Night in America attracted over the already
810,000 viewers, so the viewership growth
receiving greater viewing numbers.
trend is clear.
impressive Spring
Due to the 2018 Olympic Winter Games
The United States Olympic Trials and
2017 Curling Night in
occurring in the window that the 2018
Curling Night in America series would
the most recent season's Curling Night America total of 1.8
in America were staged in Omaha,
normally have been placed, the joint
Nebraska, which will now host the second million viewers
decision between USA Curling and
round of the inaugural Curing World Cup.
NBC was made to move the series to
late 2017 and position it as a lead up to Numbers provided by NBC from Nielsen
12 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2017-2018Olympic preparations
Olympic Celebration Tour Olympic promotion
Many Member Associations – from the
largest to the smallest – developed and
delivered promotional programmes to
capitalise on curling’s prominence in the
Olympic and Paralympic year.
Take for example the United States, where
public interest has never been higher, and
many clubs put on highly-successful sessions.
These included:
• Evergreen Curling Club, Oregon –
two-hour curling lessons to over 500 people
• Bowling Green Curling Club, Ohio –
994 people attended Learn-to-Curl events
The Olympic Celebration Tour The Tour visited several locations in • Coyotes Curling Club, Arizona –
continues to be supported by the the United States and each visit was 1,600 people introduced through a series of
United States-based Foundation for successful with large numbers of 20 plus Try Curling events.
Global Sports Development and is participants. Curling clubs reported
still proving to be a great tool for the increased levels of new members, record • Denver Curling Club, Colorado –
promotion of curling in both new and levels of social media engagement, and over 1,000 people tried curling in six Open
established curling clubs. sold out come-and-try sessions. House sessions. As a result, discussions are
now underway to expand the club’s four-
In the past season, the Tour visited a Canada’s Olympic mixed doubles sheet facility.
record 11 cities in five countries, including champion Kaitlyn Lawes has been
for the first time Mexico. involved in the Tour programme, Even in smaller Member Associations, there
including the visit to Mexico City. She was successful promotional activity.
A recent development in its activity has
said, “participating in the Mexico event
been the use of Floor Curling in schools, Aljaz Pengov Bitenc of Curling Luxembourg
was an absolute privilege that I don’t
delivered through Rock Solid Productions, explains what this Member Association
take lightly. It was gratifying, of course,
the World Curling Federation’s preferred did, “boys and girls from the class of Tom
because I was able to share my Olympic
supplier for iceless curling products. This Courtehoute from Lycée Robert Schuman
gold medal with curling fans in Mexico.
enables students to get an initial sense of Luxembourg acquainted themselves with our
But, it was also inspiring because it
what the game is about. wonderful game, culminating in a ‘Curling Is
reminded me again about why I love this
Cool’ tournament in which six teams played
On its inaugural visit to Mexico, the Tour amazing sport. Seeing those new curlers
two-end games. Six weeks, six teams and
featured in the first-ever curling event in on the ice, seeing the smiles on their
25 students, we are hopeful that events like
Mexico City in July. In Europe, the Tour faces, was thrilling.”
this will help generate a small but dedicated
participated in Winter Olympic Day in following among the younger generation.”
The support for the Olympic Celebration
Lithuania, complete with a Floor Curling
Tour from the Foundation for Global
station set-up and a mini-sheet of ice
Sports Development is set to continue,
on the local ice hockey rink. Olympian
and the World Curling Federation is
Shannon Kleibrink from Canada gave TV
keen to expand the programme into
interviews which circulated on TV and
the Pacific-Asia zone. Any Member
social media.
Association interested in having the
Tour visit their country is encouraged to
make contact.
WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2017-2018 13Olympic Qualification Event 2017
Pilsen, Czech Republic; 5-10 December
Olympic Qualifiers The Czech Republic’s Winter Arena The eight men's teams involved were:
Košutka in Pilsen, hosted the China, Czech Republic, Denmark,
Women Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands
Olympic Qualification Event 2017,
CHINA and Russia.
between 5 and 10 December 2017.
Bingyu Wang (skip and fourth)
Yan Zhou (vice-skip and third) For both women and men, there was
This event saw seven women's teams and
Jinli Liu (second) round-robin play to produce the top three
eight men's teams compete for the last
Jingyi Ma (lead) teams. Those teams then played in a
chance to keep their Olympic dreams
Xindi Jiang (alternate) modified page play-off format, with the
alive and join the field at the Olympic
Weidong Tan (coach) round-robin leader playing the second-
Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.
placed team in the first play-off - with
DENMARK For each gender, the final two places in
the winner grabbing the first of the two
Madeleine Dupont (skip and fourth) the ten-team curling competitions were
Denise Dupont (third) Olympic places - and the loser playing
up for grabs. Eight places had already
Julie Hoegh (second) the third-placed round-robin team in a
been allocated for both the women’s
Mathilde Halse (vice-skip and lead) sudden-death game for the second and
and men’s Olympic curling events, either
Lina Almind Knudsen (alternate) last available Olympic slot.
through performances at the 2016 and
Ulrik Schmidt (coach) 2017 world championships or, in the case In the women’s event, after the round-
Men of Korea, as hosts. robin stage, the top three ranked teams
ITALY were first-placed Italy, second-placed
None of the Member Associations
Amos Mosaner (vice-skip and fourth) China and third-placed Denmark.
competing in Pilsen had earned
Joel Retornaz (skip and third) enough points from the 2016 and 2017 Italy and China faced each other in the
Simone Gonin (second) world championships for automatic first play-off game, which China won by
Daniele Ferrazza (lead) qualification, but all had taken part in 11-4. Italy then had a second chance for
Andrea Pilzer (alternate) at least one of the world championships qualification when they faced Denmark
Soren Gran (coach)
since the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, in in the second play-off game. This time
DENMARK Sochi, Russia. Denmark emerged as victors, by 5-4 after
Rasmus Stjerne (skip and fourth) an extra end, meaning that China and
Johnny Frederiksen (vice-skip and third) The seven women’s teams competing
Denmark were the Olympic qualifiers.
Mikkel Poulsen (second) were: China, Czech Republic, Denmark,
Oliver Dupont (lead) Finland, Germany, Italy and Latvia. Denmark topped the ranking in the
Morten Berg Thomsen (alternate) men’s event after the round-robin stage,
Mikael Qvist (coach) with Italy in second place, on the same
record as third-placed Czech Republic
but ranked higher because of their 10-6
round-robin win over the Czechs.
Italy won the first play-off by 5-4 over
Denmark after an extra end, but the
Danes recovered to win the second
play-off by 4-2. This meant that Italy and
Denmark were the Olympic qualifiers.
Women –
https://www.wcf.co/oqe2017womenresults
Men –
https://www.wcf.co/oqe2017menresults
14 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2017-2018Olympic reports
Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018: Mixed Doubles
Gangneung, South Korea; 8-13 February
History was made at the Gangneung Rios – who took silver medals. With Medallists
Curling Centre on Thursday 8 the bronze medal result reversed, the
Ö CANADA
February, when Korea’s Hyeji Jang Norwegian duo of Kristin Skaslien and
Kaitlyn Lawes (female)
Magnus Nedregotten returned to be
delivered the opening stone of the John Morris (male)
presented with their bronze medals during
first session of mixed doubles round- Paul Webster (coach)
the team curling medal presentations.
robin play, as curling’s 21st century Ö SWITZERLAND
The inclusion of mixed doubles on the Jenny Perret (female)
discipline made its Olympic debut.
Olympic programme had been approved Martin Rios (male)
With the opening ceremony not taking for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, with Theo Schneider (coach)
place until the next day, this was the very only eight teams taking part. Ö NORWAY
first action of the entire 2018 Olympic Kristin Skaslien (female)
Over the summer months, the
Winter Games. Magnus Nedregotten (male)
International Olympic Committee
Eight pairings had qualified for this reviewed mixed doubles’ position and Thomas Loevold (coach)
competition, and the National Olympic agreed that for the Olympic Winter
Committees that qualified were, in Games Beijing 2022 ten will compete.
finishing order after the two-year
https://www.wcf.co/owg2018mdresults
qualification programme, China,
Canada, Russia – whose qualification
slot was taken by Olympic Athletes
from Russia (OAR) – Switzerland,
United States, Norway, Finland and as
hosts, Korea.
At the end of the round robin, Norway
grabbed the fourth and final place in the
semi-final line-up with a 9-7 tie-break win
over China. They went on to face table-
toppers Canada in one semi-final, while
Switzerland and the Olympic Athlete
from Russia team faced each other in the
other semi-final.
In the semi-finals, Canada beat Norway
by 8-4, while Switzerland were 7-5
winners over the Olympic Athlete from
Russia pair, to set up the medal games.
The Olympic Athlete from Russia team
then won the bronze game over Norway,
by 8-4, a result that was overturned
later because of a doping offence by
Olympic Athlete from Russia Aleksandr
Krushelnitckii.
Canada’s duo of Kaitlyn Lawes and
John Morris then became the first ever
Olympic mixed doubles curling gold
medal winners, with a 10-3 victory over
Switzerland – Jenny Perret and Martin
WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2017-2018 15Olympic reports
Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018: Men’s teams
Gangneung, South Korea; 14-25 February
Medallists Following the inaugural Olympic
Ö UNITED STATES mixed doubles contest, the
John Shuster (skip and forth) Gangneung Curling Centre in South
Tyler George (vice-skip and third) Korea became the venue for the
Matt Hamilton (second) women’s and men’s team curling
John Landsteiner (lead) competitions of the Olympic Winter
Joe Polo (alternate)
Games PyeongChang 2018.
Phil Drobnick (coach)
Ö SWEDEN The ten men’s National Olympic
Niklas Edin (skip and fourth) Committees taking part were (in
Oskar Eriksson (vice-skip and third) qualification order): Canada, Sweden,
Rasmus Wranaa (second) United States, Japan, Switzerland, Great
Christoffer Sundgren (lead) Britain (qualification points gained by
Henrik Leek (alternate) Scotland) and Norway.
Fredrik Lindberg (coach)
These National Olympic Committees
Ö SWITZERLAND qualified directly from the previous two
Benoit Schwarz (vice-skip and fourth) years’ World Curling Championships,
Claudio Paetz (third) while Italy and Denmark took the
Peter de Cruz (skip and second) two remaining slots available from
Valentin Tanner (lead)
December’s final Olympic Qualification
Dominik Maerki (alternate)
Event in the Czech Republic. These nine
Claudia Pescia (coach)
National Olympic Committees were
joined by hosts Korea.
Altogether 18 of the 50 male athletes At the end of the round robin, Sweden
returned to Olympic action at this event. qualified for the semi-final with the top
They were: ranking, followed by Canada in second
place. United States, Great Britain and
Fifth appearance:
Switzerland all tied for third place.
Torger Nergaard (Norway).
However, United States had beaten both
Fourth appearance:
Great Britain and Switzerland during the
John Shuster (United States).
round robin to take the third qualifying
Third appearance: position and the direct route to the
Niklas Edin (Sweden), Oskar Eriksson semi-final. This left Great Britain and
(Sweden), Johnny Frederiksen Switzerland in a tie-breaker for the fourth
(Denmark), Haavard Vad Petersson place in the semi-final line-up.
(Norway), Mikkel Poulsen (Denmark), history, representing seven different
In the tie-breaker, Switzerland beat Great
Christoffer Svae (Norway) and Thomas National Olympic Committees.
Britain by 9-5 to take the fourth semi-final
Ulsrud (Norway).
slot and face Sweden. In the semi-finals, Sweden beat
Second appearance: Switzerland by 9-3, while United
With Canada playing United States in the
Ben Herbert (Canada), Marc Kennedy States were 5-3 winners over Canada.
other semi-final, there were two North
(Canada), John Landsteiner (United Switzerland then beat Canada by 7-5 for
American and two European men’s teams
States), Claudio Paetz (Switzerland), Joe bronze medals while the gold medal final
fighting it out for medals. Meanwhile,
Polo (United States), Joel Retornaz (Italy), saw a historic curling first when United
two European teams were joined by two
Benoit Schwarz (Switzerland), Rasmus States produced their fifth successive win
Asian teams in the women’s semi-finals –
Stjerne (Denmark) and Markus Hoeiberg to beat Sweden by 10-7.
altogether making this the widest spread
(Norway).
of nations at this level in Olympic curling https://www.wcf.co/owg2018menresults
16 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2017-2018You can also read
