In pursuit of gold!

BKT Tires World Women’s Championship gets underway Saturday in Sydney, N.S.

Thirteen teams will begin their quest for world supremacy Saturday when the 2024 BKT Tires World Women’s Curling Championship kicks off at Centre 200 in Sydney, N.S.

The host team from Canada, skipped by Rachel Homan, will play a pair of games on opening day. Homan’s team from Ottawa — rounded out by vice-skip Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew, lead Sarah Wilkes, alternate Rachel Brown, team coach Don Bartlett, and national coach Viktor Kjell — will take on Sweden’s Team Anna Hasselborg at 2 p.m. (all times Atlantic), and will follow up with a Saturday night battle with Denmark’s Team Madeleine Dupont at 7 p.m.

The 2024 BKT Tires World Women’s Curling Championship will officially kick off with the Opening Ceremony Saturday at 12:30 p.m. (draw ticket is required to be admitted).

Switzerland’s Team Silvana Tirinzoni, pursuing a fifth consecutive World Women’s Championship, opens its schedule Saturday at 2 p.m. against South Korea’s Team Eunji Gim.

The 2024 BKT Tires World Women’s Championship will be the first event where countries can earn qualifying points to compete at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

Combined results of the 2024 and 2025 (location TBD) World Women’s Championships will determine seven countries that will join the host Italians in the 10-team field that will compete at the Olympic Ice Stadium in Cortina d’Ampezzo. The final two countries will be determined at the Olympic Qualification Event in early December 2025.

The 13-team field in Sydney is rounded out by Estonia’s Team Liisa Turmann, Italy’s Team Stefania Constantini, Japan’s Team Miyu Ueno, New Zealand’s Team Jessica Smith, Norway’s Team Marianne Roervik, Scotland’s Team Rebecca Morrison, Turkey’s Team Dilsat Yildiz and Team Tabitha Peterson of the United States.

Round-robin play will run through to Friday, March 22, with the top six teams making the playoffs; no tiebreakers will be played, so ties for playoff spots will be broken based on head-to-head results, and if that doesn’t resolve the tie, then the pre-game Last-Shot Draw distances will be used to break ties.

The top two teams from round-robin play will be seeded directly into the semifinals on March 23 at 5 p.m., while third will play sixth and fourth will play fifth in the qualifying-round games on March 23 at 11 a.m.

The winners of the qualifying-round games will advance to the semifinals. The semifinal winners will play for gold on March 24 at 5 p.m., with the semifinal losers battling for bronze on March 24 at 11 a.m.

Ticket information, the list of teams, schedule information and live scoring can be found on the event website, www.curling.ca/2024worldwomen/

Media members can download the event media guide by CLICKING HERE.

It’s the 18th time that Canada has hosted the World Women’s Championship since it began in 1979 in Perth, Scotland, and the first time it’s happened in Sydney. 

Canada has won a leading 17 gold medals at the World Women’s since 1979, followed by Switzerland with 10 and Sweden with eight. Switzerland has win eight of the past 11 world women’s championships.

TSN/RDS2, the official broadcast partners of Curling Canada’s Season of Champions, will provide live coverage of Canada’s round-robin games, in addition to all playoff games. CLICK HERE for their complete broadcast schedule.