Three Canadian teams set sights on world championship podiums in Gangneung

Canada will have three teams chasing medals when the 2023 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship and 2023 World Senior Women’s and Men’s Curling Championships kick off this weekend in Gangneung, South Korea.

The pairing of Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing (Horseshoe Valley, Ont.) will take aim at winning Canada’s first gold medal at the World Mixed Doubles Championship at the Gangneung Curling Centre, which hosted the Olympic and Paralympic curling competitions in 2018.

Meanwhile, teams skipped by Sherry Anderson (Saskatoon) and Howard Rajala (Ottawa) will head into the World Senior Championships at the nearby Gangneung Hockey Centre, which also hosted Olympic and Paralympic events in 2018.

Here’s a look at the events:

World Mixed Doubles Championship

Jones and Laing are no strangers to wearing the Maple Leaf on the world stage, but it will be their first time doing it as teammates.

They face a stiff test right out of the gate, as they play 2021 world champs Jen Dodds and newly crowned world men’s champ Bruce Mouat, who will look to win Scotland’s third straight world mixed doubles title, after Eve Muirhead and Bobbie Lammie prevailed last year in Geneva, Switzerland.

Jones and Laing have both played previous events at the Gangneung Curling Centre. Jones skipped her women’s team to a fourth-place finish at the 2009 World Women’s Championship, while Laing was a member of Kevin Koe’s Canadian men’s team that finished fourth at the 2018 Olympics.

Team coach Glenn Howard (who coached Muirhead’s British women’s team at the 2018 Olympics) and national coach Scott Pfeifer (the alternate for Koe’s 2018 Olympic team) round out the Canadian contingent.

The 20-team field will be split into two 10-team groups, with Canada grouped with the Scots, Australia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands and South Korea.

Each group will play a nine-game round robin, and the top three teams from each group will advance to the playoffs. The first-place teams in each group receive a bye to the semifinals. The second- and third-place teams cross over for qualification games from which the winners advance to the semifinals. The winners of those games go to the gold-medal game, and the losing teams compete in the bronze-medal game. 

Canada has never won the World Mixed Doubles Championship, but has finished on the podium four times (two silver, two bronze) since the event’s inception in 2008.

Last year at Geneva, Canada’s Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant had an 8-1 round-robin record but lost to Norway in the playoff qualification round.

Here’s is Canada’s complete mixed doubles schedule (all times ET):

• Friday, 9 p.m. — Canada vs. Scotland (Jen Dodds/Bruce Mouat)
• Saturday, 5 a.m. — Canada vs. Netherlands (Vanessa Tonoli/Wouter Goesgens)
• Sunday, 1 a.m. — Canada vs. Estonia (Marie Kaldvee/Harri Lill)
• Sunday, 9 p.m. — Canada vs. Italy (Stefania Constantini/Sebastiano Arman)
• Monday, 5 a.m. — Canada vs. Australia (Tahli Gill/Dean Hewitt)
• Tuesday, 1 a.m. — Canada vs. Czech Republic (Julie Zelingrova/Vit Chabicovsky)
• Tuesday, 9 p.m. — Canada vs. Denmark (Jasmin Lander/Henrik Holtermann)
• Wednesday, 5 a.m. — Canada vs. Hungary (Linda Joo/Lorinc Tatar)
• Thursday, 1 a.m. — Canada vs. South Korea (JiYoon Kim/ByeongJin Jeong)
• (If Canada qualifies)
• Thursday, 9 p.m. — Playoff qualification games
• Friday, 5 a.m. — Semifinals
• Friday, 9 p.m. — Bronze-medal game
• Saturday, 1 a.m. — Gold-medal game

The World Curling Federation’s live-streaming platform The Curling Channel will be the only to watch games from the World Mixed Doubles Championship, and all sheets will be shown. More information is available by CLICKING HERE.

For the latest scores, draw and list of teams, visit the event website.

World Senior Women’s and Men’s Championship

Anderson’s five-time Canadian champions from Saskatoon (rounded out by vice-skip Patty Hersikorn, second Brenda Goertzen and lead Anita Silvernagle) will be looking to add a record third World Seniors gold medal to its historic resume.

Team Anderson also will be looking to make up for the disappointment it suffered last year at Geneva, where the team had a 5-1 round-robin record before being eliminated by the United States in the playoff qualification round. The Canadian entry won its previous gold medals in 2018 at Ostersund, Sweden, and 2019 at Stavanger, Norway.

Fourteen women’s teams are headed to South Korea, split into two groups of seven. After the six-game round robins are complete, the top three teams from each group will advance to the playoffs. The first-place teams in each group receive a bye to the semifinals. The second- and third-place teams cross over for qualification games from which the winners advance to the semifinals. The winners of those games go to the gold-medal game, and the losing teams compete in the bronze-medal game.

Canada is in a group with England, Hong Kong, Japan, Lithuania, New Zealand, Sweden and the U.S. (which will send the same entry as last year’s team that eliminated Canada).

Here is the schedule for the Canadian women (all times ET):

• Saturday, 3 a.m. — Canada vs. Japan (Team Miyuki Kawamura)
• Saturday, 11 p.m. — Canada vs. Sweden (Team Camilla Noreen)
• Monday, 3 a.m. — Canada vs. United States (Team Margie Smith)
• Monday, 7 p.m. — Canada vs. Hong Kong (Team Ling-Yue Hung)
• Tuesday, 7 a.m. — Canada vs. New Zealand (Team Joanna Olszewksi)
• Wednesday, 7 a.m. — Canada vs. Lithuania (Team Rasa Veronika Jasaitiene)
• Thursday, 3 a.m. — Canada vs. England (Team Manon Harsch)
• (If Canada qualifies)
• Friday, midnight — Playoff qualification games
• Friday, 6 a.m. — Semifinals
• Friday, 9:30 p.m. — Gold-medal, bronze-medal games

Canadian women’s teams have won a leading 13 gold medals in the 19-year history of the World Senior Championships, as well as three silver medals.

On the men’s side, Rajala’s Ottawa squad (with vice-skip Rich Moffatt, second Chris Fulton, lead Paul Madden and alternate Phil Daniel) has ambitions of capturing Canada’s fourth straight World Senior Men’s Title, going back to Team Wade White’s victory in 2018 at Ostersund.

Last year at Geneva, Team White won its second world title, beating the Czech Republic in the final to finish an unbeaten run through the tournament.

Only Rajala has previous world championship experience, serving as the alternate for Bryan Cochrane’s 2017 Canadian team that captured a silver medal at Lethbridge, Alta.

Twenty-four men’s teams, split into three groups of eight, are playing in Gangneung. Following the seven-game round robins in each group, the top two teams in each group plus the two third-place teams with the best Draw Shot Challenge results will qualify for the quarterfinals, followed by the winners playing in the semifinals. The winners of those games advance to the gold-medal game, and the losing teams compete in the bronze-medal game.

Canada is in Group A with Belgium, the Czech Republic (with a different lineup than last year’s silver-medal team), Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Japan and Poland.

• Here is the schedule for the Canadian men (all times ET):
• Friday, 7 a.m. — Canada vs. Denmark (Team Hans Peter Schack)
• Friday, 11 p.m. — Canada vs. Belgium (Team Stefan Van Dijck)
• Saturday, 11 p.m. — Canada vs. Hungary (Team Gyorgy Nagy)
• Sunday, 11 p.m. — Canada vs. Czech Republic (Team Radek Zdarsky)
• Tuesday, 3 a.m. — Canada vs. Poland (Team Damian Herman)
• Wednesday, 7 a.m. — Canada vs. Finland (Team Jussi Uusipaavalniemi
• Thursday, 7 a.m. — Canada vs. Japan (Team Tamotsu Matsumura)
• (If Canada qualifies)
• Friday, midnight — Quarterfinals
• Friday, 6 a.m. — Semifinals
• Friday, 9:30 p.m. — Gold-medal, bronze-medal games

Canada’s men’s team has played in the gold-medal game in all 19 previous editions of the World Senior Championships, winning 12 of those finals.

Bill Tschirhart will serve as coach of both Canadian teams in Gangneung.

There is no streaming coverage planned for the World Senior Championships. For the latest scores, draw and list of teams, visit the event website.