World Curling Championships
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The World Curling Championships are the annual world championships for curling, organized by the World Curling Federation and contested by national championship teams. There are men's, women's and mixed doubles championships, as well as men's and women's versions of junior and senior championships. There is also a world championship for wheelchair curling. The men's championship started in 1959, while the women's started in 1979. The mixed doubles championship was started in 2008. Since 2005, the men's and women's championships have been held in different venues, with Canada hosting one of the two championships every year: the men's championship in odd years, and the women's championship in even years. Canada has dominated both the men's and women's championships since their inception, although Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany (West Germany), Scotland, the United States, Norway and China have all won at least one championship.
History
The World Curling Championships began in 1959 as the Scotch Cup. The Scotch Cup was created by Toronto public relations executive and former sports journalist Stanley D. Houston on behalf of the Scotch Whisky Association, a client of Houston's agency Public Relations Services Limited, which was looking to generate increased North American exposure for its products.[citation needed] The first three Cups were contested between men's teams from Scotland and Canada. The United States joined the Scotch Cup in 1961, and Sweden also joined the next year. Canada won the first six world titles, of which the legendary rink skipped by Ernie Richardson earned four. The United States was the first country to break Canada's streak, winning their first world title in 1965. By 1967, Norway, Switzerland, France, and Germany were added to the Scotch Cup, and Scotland won their first title, while Canada finished without a medal for the first time. The tournament was renamed the Air Canada Silver Broom the year after that, and Canada strung together five consecutive world titles starting in that year.
In 1973, the competing field was expanded to ten teams, and Italy and Denmark were introduced to the world stage. Sweden, Switzerland, and Norway won their first titles in the following years, and Canada continued to win medals of all colours. In 1979, the first edition of the women's World Curling Championships was held. The championships were held separately from the men's championships for the first ten years. During this time, Switzerland, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany won world titles.
Bronze medals were not awarded until 1985 for the women's tournament and 1986 for the men's tournament. Between 1989 and 1994, the bronze medal was shared by the semifinals losers.
Beginning in 1989, the men's and women's championships were held together. Norway won their first world women's title. In 1995, Ford Canada and the World Curling Federation reached an agreement to make Ford the sponsor of the World Curling Championships. Japan, the first nation from Asia to compete in the worlds, made their debut in 1990 at the women's championship, and later in 2000 at the men's championship. South Korea and China followed suit in the 2000s. Scotland won their first women's title in 2002, and the United States won their first women's title the next year. In 2002, a world championship for wheelchair curling was also introduced.
In 2005, the men's and women's championships were separated, and an agreement was made between the World Curling Federation and the Canadian Curling Association that Canada would host one of the tournaments annually each year, all of which are title sponsored by Ford of Canada. Canada began a streak of top two finishes in the men's tournament, and China won their first world title in the women's tournament in 2009.
In 2008, a world championship for mixed doubles curling was created. Switzerland won the first world mixed doubles title, and proceeded to win four of the first five titles. Russia and Hungary won their first world curling titles in the mixed doubles championship, and New Zealand, France, Austria, and the Czech Republic won their first world curling medals.
In 2015, a world championship for mixed curling was created, replacing the European Mixed Curling Championship and supplanting the European Mixed and Canadian Mixed curling championships as the highest level of mixed curling in the world.
In 2019, the World Qualification Event was introduced, to qualify the final two teams in the men's and women's championships. A mixed doubles qualification event will also be added in the 2019–20 curling season, qualifying the final four teams of the twenty-team mixed doubles championship.
In 2020, the men's, women's and mixed doubles championships were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, the world championships were further expanded to include wheelchair mixed doubles.
Tournament names
The World Curling Championships have been known by a number of different names over the years.
Men
- 1959–1967: Scotch Cup
- 1968–1985: Air Canada Silver Broom
- 1986–1988: IOC President's Cup (Hexagon)
- 1989–1990: WCF Championships
- 1991–1992: Canada Safeway World Curling Championship
- 1993–1994: WCF Championships
- 1995–2004: Ford World Curling Championship
- 2005–2017: Ford World Men's Curling Championship (odd years)
- 2006–2018: World Men's Curling Championship (even years)
- 2019: Pioneer Hi-Bred World Men's Curling Championship
- 2020–present: LGT World Men's Curling Championship (even years)
- 2021–present: BKT Tires & OK Tire World Men's Curling Championship (odd years)
Women
- 1979–1981: Royal Bank of Scotland World Curling Championships
- 1982: World Curling Championships
- 1983: Pioneer Life World Curling Championships
- 1984: World Curling Championships
- 1985: H&M World Curling Championships
- 1986–1990: World Curling Championships
- 1991–1992: Canada Safeway World Curling Championships
- 1993–1994: World Curling Championships
- 1995–2004: Ford World Curling Championships
- 2005–2017: World Women's Curling Championship (odd years)
- 2006–2018: Ford World Women's Curling Championship (even years)
- 2019–present: LGT World Women's Curling Championship (odd years)
- 2022–present: BKT Tires & OK Tire World Women's Curling Championship (even years)
Competition format
Men's and Women's
The first two world championships, held as competitions between Scotland and Canada, were held as five-game series between the two nations. Upon the addition of the United States in 1961, the format was changed to a double round robin preliminary round with a three-team knockout round at the conclusion of the round robin. The knockout round was removed for the next two championships. With the addition of more teams, a single round robin preliminary round with a four-team knockout round was implemented in 1971. The championships occurring from 1968 to 1970 included three-team knockout rounds instead of four-team knockout rounds. The knockout round format was adjusted from single-elimination to the Page playoff system in 2005.
In the championships held from 1971 to 1985, third place was awarded to either the team that lost in the semifinal of a three-team knockout round or the higher-seeded team among the losing teams of a four-team knockout round. A bronze medal game was added to the knockout round in 1986, but bronze medal games were not held from 1989 to 1994, during which bronze medals were awarded to the teams that lost in the semifinals.
Until 2017 format of the world championships used a twelve team round-robin preliminary round, after which the top four teams advance to a knockout round held using the Page playoff system.
Starting in 2018 there are 13 teams playing round-robin preliminary round with top six advancing to a single-elimination knockout with top two receiving bye to the semifinals. This includes two teams from the Americas zone, eight from the European zone (via the European Curling Championships) and three from the Asia-Pacific zone (via the Pacific-Asia Curling Championships). For 2019, the number of teams from the Asia-Pacific zone will be reduced by one, and there will also be one less team from the zone of the bottom-placed team at the 2018 championships. The two slots will be allocated to teams from the new World Qualification Event. The qualification event will have eight teams: the host country, one team from the Americas, two from Pacific-Asia, and four from Europe.
In 2022, qualification for the world championships were changed. A new event, the Pan Continental Curling Championships, were created to qualify teams from the America and Pacific-Asia zones for the World Curling Championships, with the top five teams earning qualification. The championship was created to combine the Pacific-Asia Curling Championships and the Americas into one event, and create a stronger continental competition to mirror the established European Curling Championships.
Starting in the 2026–27 curling season, World Curling announced they will now be implementing World Curling Championship B and C Divisions, which serves as the new qualification method for men's and women's teams to the World Championships. There will also be an expansion from 13 teams to 18 teams, with two pools of nine teams. After round-robin play, the pool winners progress directly to the semi-finals and the second and third placed teams from each pool will play crossover qualification games for the remaining semi-final spots. The top 14 teams from each championship will retain their place for the following season, while the bottom four teams will be relegated to the B-Division for the next season.
Mixed Doubles
From its creation in 2008 until 2019 the championship was open entry, meaning that any World Curling member could send a team. With the popularity of curling, and specifically mixed doubles, growing this policy of open entry led to 48 teams participating in the 2019 championship, the final year of open entry.
Beginning in 2020 the championship was limited to 20 teams, the top sixteen countries from the previous championship and four countries from a newly created qualification event. Called the World Mixed Doubles Qualification Event, the inaugural tournament was held in December 2019 in Howwood, Scotland. This qualification tournament is open to any member not already qualified for the championship.
The format of the mixed doubles championship is an adapted version of the men's and women's championships. The 20 teams are split into two pools of 10 teams and play a preliminary round-robin against those in their pool. The top three teams in each pool advance to a single-elimination knockout with the top two teams in each pool receiving a bye to the semifinals.
Wheelchair
Starting in 2018, the world wheelchair curling championships follow a similar format to the men's and women's championships. The top 12 teams (either qualifying through finishing in the top 8 the previous year, or qualifying through the B Division) play a round-robin preliminary round with top six advancing to a single-elimination knockout with top two receiving bye to the semifinals.
Wheelchair mixed doubles
The event began in 2022, remaining as an open entry event for any country to participate. The format of the championship is that teams are split into pools and play a preliminary round-robin against those in their pool. The top eight teams overall after round-robin play advance to a single-elimination knockout.
Championships
Men
Women
Mixed
Mixed doubles
Wheelchair mixed team
Wheelchair mixed doubles
All-time medal table
As of 2026 World Men's Curling Championship
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Canada | 61 | 31 | 25 | 117 |
| 2 | Sweden | 26 | 27 | 18 | 71 |
| 3 | Switzerland | 22 | 14 | 20 | 56 |
| 4 | Scotland | 14 | 30 | 21 | 65 |
| 5 | Norway | 11 | 12 | 22 | 45 |
| 6 | Russia | 7 | 5 | 6 | 18 |
| 7 | United States | 6 | 11 | 17 | 34 |
| 8 | China | 5 | 4 | 8 | 17 |
| 9 | Germany | 2 | 9 | 10 | 21 |
| 10 | Hungary | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 11 | Denmark | 1 | 4 | 7 | 12 |
| 12 | South Korea | 1 | 4 | 4 | 9 |
| 13 | Japan | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| 14 | Italy | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 15 | Latvia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 16 | Spain | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 17 | Finland | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 18 | Estonia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 19 | New Zealand | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 20 | Czech Republic | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| France | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| 22 | Australia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Austria | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (23 entries) | 161 | 161 | 172 | 494 |
National championships
Men
- Canada The Brier
- United States United States Men's Curling Championship
- Scotland Scottish Men's Curling Championship
- France French Men's Curling Championship
- Russia Russian Curling Championships
- Italy Italian Curling Championship
- Finland Finnish Men's Curling Championship
- Denmark Danish Men's Curling Championship
- Switzerland Swiss Men's Curling Championship
- New Zealand New Zealand Men's Curling Championship
- Sweden Swedish Men's Curling Championship
- Japan Japan Curling Championships
- Latvia Latvian Men's Curling Championship
- Norway Norwegian Men's Curling Championship
- Estonia Estonian Men's Curling Championship
- Czech Republic Czech Men's Curling Championship
- South Korea Korean Curling Championships
Women
- Canada Scotties Tournament of Hearts
- United States United States Women's Curling Championship
- Scotland Scottish Women's Curling Championship
- France French Women's Curling Championship
- Russia Russian Curling Championships
- Italy Italian Curling Championship
- Finland Finnish Women's Curling Championship
- Denmark Danish Women's Curling Championship
- Switzerland Swiss Women's Curling Championship
- Sweden Swedish Women's Curling Championship
- Japan Japan Curling Championships
- Latvia Latvian Women's Curling Championship
- Estonia Estonian Women's Curling Championship
- Czech Republic Czech Women's Curling Championship
- South Korea Korean Curling Championships
See also
- Curse of LaBonte
- World Junior Curling Championships
- World Senior Curling Championships
- European Curling Championships
- Pan Continental Curling Championships
- Pacific-Asia Curling Championships
- Americas Challenge
- World Qualification Event
- World Curling Tour
- Collie Campbell Memorial Award
- Frances Brodie Award
External links
- . World Curling Federation. Archived from on 2 March 2010.