The World Curling Championships are the annual

world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

s for

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...

, organized by the

World Curling Federation World Curling, formerly the World Curling Federation (WCF) is the world governing body for curling accreditation, with offices in Perth, Scotland. It was formed out of the International Curling Federation (ICF), when the push for Olympic Winter ...

and contested by national championship teams. There are men's, women's and

mixed doubles Mixed doubles or mixed pairs is a form of mixed-sex sports that consists of teams of one man and one woman. This variation of competition is prominent in curling and racket sports, such as tennis, table tennis, and badminton (where it is known ...

championships, as well as men's and women's versions of junior and senior championships. There is also a

for

wheelchair curling Wheelchair curling is an adaptation of curling for athletes with a disability affecting their lower limbs or gait. Wheelchair curling is governed by World Curling, and is one of the sports in the Winter Paralympic Games. Overview Wheelchair cu ...

. 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 West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

), 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. 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 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

. 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 Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada, by size and passengers carried. Air Canada is headquartered in the borough of Saint-Laurent in the city of Montreal. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled and cha ...

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

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 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 Curling Canada (formerly the Canadian Curling Association (CCA)) is a sanctioning body for the sport of curling in Canada. It is associated with more than a dozen provincial and territorial curling associations across the country, and organizes ...

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 This is a glossary of terms in curling. #s During a game, sweepers might call out numbers. These numbers indicate how far the sweepers think the rock in play will travel. This system is relatively new to the game and is often attributed to the ...

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 The 2019–20 curling season began in June 2019 and was scheduled to end in May 2020. However, the coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respirat ...

, 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 The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

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:

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 Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., a subsidiary of Corteva, is a U.S.-based producer of seeds for agriculture. It is a major producer of genetically modified crops with insect and herbicide resistance. History In 1926, farm journal editor a ...

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 Pioneer commonly refers to a person who is among the first at something that is new to a community. A pioneer as a settler is among the first settling at a place that is new to the settler community. A historic example are American pioneers, perso ...

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

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 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

, 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 year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

. The championships occurring from

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

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 The Page playoff system is a playoff format. It is used in top level competitions in softball, curling, and the Indian Premier League, Pakistan Super League, and Bangladesh Premier League cricket tournaments, and is used widely in lower level comp ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

. In the championships held from

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

, 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 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

, 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 The European Curling Championships are annual curling tournaments held in Europe between various European nations. The European Curling Championships are usually held in early to mid December. The tournament also acts as a qualifier for the Worl ...

) and three from the Asia-Pacific zone (via the

Pacific-Asia Curling Championships The Pacific-Asia Curling Championships (formerly the Pacific Curling Championships) were an annual curling tournament, held every year in November or December. The event served as a qualified for the World Curling Championships. The Pacific-Asia ...

). 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.

Championships

Men

Women

Mixed

Mixed doubles

Wheelchair mixed team

Wheelchair mixed doubles

All-time medal table

''As of 2025 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship''

National championships

Men

* The Brier * United States Men's Curling Championship * Scottish Men's Curling Championship * French Men's Curling Championship * Russian Curling Championships * Italian Curling Championship * Finnish Men's Curling Championship *

Danish Men's Curling Championship The Danish Men's Curling Championship is the national championship of men's curling in Denmark. It has been held annually since 1971. List of champions {, class="wikitable" border="1" , - ! Year ! Skip ! Club , - , 1971 , , Mogens Olsen , , FC ...

* Swiss Men's Curling Championship * New Zealand Men's Curling Championship * Swedish Men's Curling Championship *

Japan Curling Championships The Japan Curling Championships (') are the annual Japanese men's and women's curling championships, organized by the Japan Curling Association (JCA). The winners get to represent Japan at the men's and women's World Curling Championships and the ...

* Latvian Men's Curling Championship * Norwegian Men's Curling Championship *

Estonian Men's Curling Championship The Estonian Men's Curling Championship () is the national championship of men's curling teams in Estonia. It has been held annually since the 2004–2005 season, and is organized by the Estonian Curling Association. List of champions and medallis ...

* Czech Men's Curling Championship * Korean Curling Championships

Women

Scotties Tournament of Hearts The Scotties Tournament of Hearts ('; commonly referred to as the Scotties) is the annual Canadian women's curling championship, sanctioned by Curling Canada, formerly called the Canadian Curling Association. The winner goes on to represent Can ...

* United States Women's Curling Championship * Scottish Women's Curling Championship *

French Women's Curling Championship France has had a national women's curling championship since 1971. External linksSource
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/2017 ...

* Russian Curling Championships * Italian Curling Championship * Finnish Women's Curling Championship *

Danish Women's Curling Championship The Danish Women's Curling Championship is the national championship of women's curling in Denmark. It has been held annually since 1979. List of champions External links DM Damer , Hvidovre Curling Club See also *Danish Men's Curling Champion ...

* Swiss Women's Curling Championship * Swedish Women's Curling Championship *

* Latvian Women's Curling Championship *

Estonian Women's Curling Championship The Estonian Women's Curling Championship () is the national championship of women's curling teams in Estonia. It has been held annually since the 2004–2005 season, and is organized by the Estonian Curling Association. List of champions and med ...

Czech Women's Curling Championship The Czech Women's Curling Championship () is the national championship of women's curling in the Czech Republic. It has been held annually since 1991 and organized by the Czech Curling Association.Korean Curling Championships

References

External links

* {{Main world championships World Curling Federation

Curling Curling is a sport in which players slide #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...

* Recurring sporting events established in 1959