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WORLD FEDERATION

ANNUAL

REVIEW 2019 2020 This striking image, by senior photographer Richard Gray, captures the drama of the enthralling closing ceremony of the World Junior Championships at the Crystal Arena in Krasnoyarsk, . Contents President's Message 1 President’s Board & Staff 2 Key Facts & Figures 3 Operations & Integrity 4 Message Governance 4 World Mixed Curling 5 Championship Zonal Reports 6 Once again, it is my pleasure to introduce the World models of and ’s Pacific-Asia Curling 7 Curling Federation’s Annual Review. — did our proud, particularly in the unique mixed doubles Championships As you will see on these pages, the 2019–2020 season saw many competition which sees curlers from different nations forging new Athlete Commission 8 important developments in all aspects of our sport, as well as the partnerships to compete, reflecting the true spirit of curling and the Technical Commission 8 successful staging of championship and qualifying events as the values of the Olympic movement. European Curling 9 season progressed. However, this curling season, as is the case in all While our competitions grab the headlines, this season has seen Championships walks of life, will be remembered for the unprecedented COVID-19 much progress in our development of the sport. Our team of Curling Development Officers are working across the globe and in World Junior Curling 10 pandemic, which shook everything to its roots. Championships As we all battle through this crisis, I know that, among our 64 different ways to take our sport forward as you will see outlined in this Review — my grateful thanks to them. World 12 Member Associations, there will be many friends, colleagues, Championship team-mates, and families who have been touched directly, and our Among the highlights of this work was the launch of the World thoughts and sympathies go out to everyone. Here in the World Curling Academy — a unique initiative developed in partnership World Qualification Events 14 Curling Federation we are mindful that our colleague and great between our Federation and the World Academy of Sport which Olympic Celebration Tour 14 friend Christian Leibbrandt succumbed in April. The virus has taken will become the home of all World Curling online courses and a Hall of Fame 15 one of our own, and our sincere condolences are with his family and source for development resources. Our Federation’s membership of the World Academy of Sport is an important development that will Youth 16 the Dutch curling community. This time last year, we were in Cancun for our Congress. Our play a role in ensuring robust education development for all. Broadcast 18 Mexican hosts did a great job in creating a relaxed atmosphere, Elsewhere in this Review you will see that, although restricted Media 19 but we had some important discussions that will play their part in this season, our Olympic Celebration Tour programme continues, Cancelled Championships: determining the future for our sport. thanks again to support from the California-based Foundation for World Women's Curling 20 Before the enforced cancellations at the end of the season, we Global Development. This season’s cancellations thwarted Championship had competitions in , , Russia, , , our plans to reach our 50th event since the programme started ...I know that, World Men's Curling 20 Switzerland, and the . While all were successful and in 2013, but this is only a postponement and we look forward to Championship well-organised by enthusiastic local organising committees and reaching that milestone soon. among our 64 Member World Mixed Doubles 21 their dedicated volunteers (as ever, our thanks to them — our events We are also making progress in other areas — our broadcast and “ Curling Championship simply would not take place without them), two competitions really media platforms continue to reach new levels and our influence Associations, there will be World Senior Curling 21 stand out. as an Olympic sport continues to grow. There are also exciting Championships The World Juniors took place in Krasnoyarsk in Russia — the developments in China as the Olympic and Paralympic Winter many friends, colleagues, Sponsorship & Marketing 22 Siberian city that had successfully hosted the Winter Universiade Games 2022 come ever closer. However, there is no denying it will take time to recover from the Development 23 Games in 2019 and, in the city’s brand-new Crystal Ice Arena, we team-mates and families had a truly world-class venue. This was simply one of the best impact of COVID-19 and I should add that we have set up a Medical Fiscal 24 events I have ever attended, with the closing ceremony quite Advisory Group who are working closely with us and keeping in who have been touched World Rankings 26 spectacular. close contact with the World Health Organisation advice. Competitions 28 Before that, curling took full advantage of our involvement in Whilst the Federation will doubtless be adversely affected directly and our thoughts President's Look Forward 29 the third Youth Olympic Winter Games. These were hosted in financially, it is important for me to emphasise that our prudent Lausanne, the Swiss Olympic city, with 96 teenage curlers from approach to financial management and investments over the years and sympathies go out to Thank you! 30 24 nations taking part. The curling competitions took place in gives us the resilience to manage an effective recovery. I am glad to Events Calendar 32 the familiar surroundings of the Champéry Curling Arena and say that our Federation is going from strength to strength, and long everyone... Sponsors 33 the young competitors — aided and encouraged by athlete role may that continue.

WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL” REVIEW 2019-2020 1 Board & Staff

BOARD

8 4 5 2 6 7 1 3

1 Kate Kaithness CBE President: Scotland, elected to 2022 2 Bent Ramsfjell Vice-President Europe: , elected to 2023 3 Graham Prouse Vice-President Americas: Canada, elected to 2021 4 Vice-President Pacific-Asia: , elected to 2020 5 Hew Chalmers MBE Board Director: Scotland, elected to 2021 6 Catherine Lindahl Board Director: Sweden, elected to 2020 7 Toyo Ogawa Board Director: , elected to 2023 8 Beau Welling Board Director: United States, elected to 2022

STAFF Colin Grahamslaw Secretary General Richard Harding Head of Broadcast

Scott Arnold Head of Development Belinda Bantle-Carboni WCTV Production Manager Eeva Roethlisberger Head of Competitions Sylvie Aubrit Distribution, Booking and Servicing Manager Darrell Ell Competitions and Development Officer Liz Munro Office Manager Jiri Snitil Competitions and Development Officer Gill Amatt Administrator Karri Willms Competitions and Development Officer Thelma Black Finance Controller Cameron MacAllister Head of Media (until April 2020) Susan Keith Anti-Doping Officer Christopher Hamilton Acting Head of Media (from April 2020)/ Rhona Howie Equipment and Logistics Officer Digital Media Officer Ashley Melville IT Officer Emily Dwyer Media Officer Saskia Mueller-Gastell Projects Officer

2 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 Key Facts Instagram exceeds & Figures

Record World 25,000 Curling followers 40 Academy teams compete in the LAUNCHES in June , 2019 Chinese social media channel and World Mixed Sina Weibo reaches become 95,000 Member World Ranked followers Associations Curling TV Third IN FIRST YEAR increasing the of the number to (YouTube channel) exceeds Olympic in the Association of International Olympic Winter Federation 62,000 (AIOWF) 64 subscribers Governance Audit break ground on first dedicated Three-year curling rink hosting partnership Eight year with opened in Africa World Championship Curl Aberdeen hosting partnership signed for first with World Mixed dedicated Championship curling rink

WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 3 Operations & Integrity Governance

Staffing Anti-doping The World Curling Federation’s Governance Polish Curling Association continues to operate Following the staffing changes made last summer, Over the past 12 months 80 tests have been Commission is constantly monitoring and looking outside the terms of their existing constitution. Richard Harding, the new World Curling Federation conducted both in and out of competition. They have for initiatives to improve governance within the This has led to the recommendation from the Head of Broadcast was joined in the World Curling resulted in no adverse findings. organisation, as well being a resource for Member World Curling Federation Governance Commission TV team by Belinda Bantle-Carboni, Production The World Curling Federation was due to deliver the Associations that need guidance or help with to the World Curling Federation Board to suspend Manager and Sylvie Aubrit, Rights, Distribution, latest edition of its successful Anti-Doping Outreach, governance-related issues. the Polish Curling Association’s membership of Booking and Servicing Manager. This new #CurlClean, at the World Men’s Curling The biggest task of the Governance Commission the Federation. management structure recognises the ever-growing Championship but this was cancelled when the in the recent year has been assisting and As of Friday 31 January 2020, that suspension nature of World Curling's broadcast operation and championship was cancelled. recommending to the Board regarding the has been in place. The World Curling Federation the complexities of managing relationships with The World Curling Federation have now signed an governance situation in one of the Member Board considers the Polish Curling Association more broadcasters. agreement with the Court of Arbitration for Sport Associations – Poland. to be in breach of the Word Curling Federation Anti-Doping Division, for them to run the hearing At the end of April, Cameron MacAllister left his Constitution by “bringing the sport into disrepute” process for any future Anti-Doping Rule Violations For years, the Federation has received reports of position as Head of Media to join Scottish concern about Poland. Recently, the Federation (section 6.6.2.3). team the Warriors, to lead their Marketing under the World Curling Federation Anti-Doping rules. has actively aided the Polish Curling Association At the General Assembly 2020 this suspension and Communication team. The process for replacing Additionally, the Federation has been working with and the Polish curling community to try to resolve will be voted on by the Member Associations him has been interrupted by the COVID-19 situation WADA — The World Anti-Doping Agency — to update and in the interim Christopher Hamilton has taken on the World Curling Anti-Doping Rules to be compliant issues based on governance best practices. taking part. the role of Acting Head of Media. with the new WADA 2021 Code. The proposed rules However, since October 2018 the Polish Curling In addition, the Governance Commission continues will be presented to the membership at the 2020 Association has failed to respond satisfactorily to to review best practice policies and procedures to The year finished with all staff working from home Annual General Assembly for approval. following the global pandemic. The Perth Office was requests for information and clarification. ensure that World Curling Federation governance closed in late March and has yet to fully re-. In October 2019, the Polish Minister of Sports and maintains its high standards. Integrity However, this did not prevent the staff continuing Tourism approached the Polish courts with an In the latest AIOWF (Association of International to operate the Federation, delivering all the work to There have been no reported concerns around World application for dissolution of the Polish Curling Olympic Winter Federations) Governance Audit the prepare for the coming season from their own homes. Curling competitions either through the hotline or Association based on the findings of several audits. World Curling Federation was ranked third of the Their commitment and flexibility in making things via the International Olympic Committee’s Irregular This court process is still on-going. seven Winter and more importantly, work has been very encouraging and is a credit to Betting Information System, which monitors major The Governance Commission has not seen any significantly ahead of the benchmark that all all involved. events for unusual betting patterns. sign of willingness from the Polish Association International Federations are expected to achieve. The World Curling Federation make use of the to provide requested information and to resolve International Olympic Committee’s Integrity outstanding governance issues. Meanwhile, the Whistleblowing line. Discussions continue with the International Olympic Committee’s Integrity Unit around ways to further develop the education processes. This followed a review of the use of the International Olympic Committee education materials at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.

4 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 World Mixed Curling Championship Aberdeen, Scotland, 12–19 October 2019

World Mixed Curling Championship 2019 The World Mixed Curling The four semi-finalists were: Championship is an open entry event • Canada, who had knock-out wins over MEDALLISTS for all World Curling Federation Sweden and 2 CANADA Member Associations and, in its fifth • Norway, who beat and Colin Kurz ( and fourth) year, the 2019 championship took Meghan Walter (third) place at Curl Aberdeen, in the north- • , who were winners over Brendan Bilawka (second) east Scottish city of Aberdeen. Poland, then Scotland Sara Oliver (lead) Jim Waite (coach) With and Nigeria making their • Korea, knock-out winners over Russia World Mixed debuts, a new record of 40 and Switzerland. 2 GERMANY Member Associations were represented (skip and fourth) In the semi-finals, Canada beat Norway and split into five groups: Pia-Lisa Schoell (third) by 6-5, while Germany beat Korea by 6-4. Benny Kapp (second) Group A: , Canada, , Norway then beat Korea by 6-5 to take Petra Tschetsch (lead) Germany, , Kosovo, Nigeria bronze medals, while Canada took gold and Slovakia against Germany, with another 6-5 score- 2 NORWAY line, to retain the title they had won for Wilhelm Naess (fourth) Group B: , , Czech the first time in 2018. Ingvild Skaga (skip and third) Republic, Denmark, Norway, New The World Mixed Curling Championship Harald Skarsheim Rian (second) Zealand, Poland and 2020 has been cancelled due to the Eirin Mesloe (lead) (coach) Group C: Australia, Brazil, , COVID-19 pandemic. Stale Rian Hungary, , , Sweden and United States Group D: , , Japan, , Scotland, , and Group E: , , , Finland, , Korea, Russia and Switzerland. Following round-robin play, the top three teams in each Group, along with the best fourth-place finisher, progressed to the play-offs, ranked from one to 16. (bold denotes all play-off qualifiers)

WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 5 Around the Zones In all three of the World Curling Federation’s Zones – the Americas, Europe, and Pacific-Asia – much development work is taking place. While COVID-19 has clearly had a profound impact, there is still much to record and celebrate, from all corners of the globe.

AMERICAS EUROPE Brazil A number of developments have taken place across Sergio Mitsuo Vilela, Director for Curling at the the Europe Zone, which has 41 member nations. Brazilian Ice Sports Federation, reports on what was These include: a major highlight: “on January 25th we soft-opened • Denmark: The Mayor of Silkeborg, Denmark the Ice Brasil Arena, with three dedicated curling announced in the media that hosting the WWCC sheets and a separate quarter-size /skating 2019 had a great positive impact on the city and rink. This 3,500 square-metre complex hosts the that Silkeborg is eager to host future events first dedicated curling facility in Latin America (only • Finland: Olli Rissanen, President of the Finnish the second in the southern hemisphere) and was Curling Association — and a World Curling In addition, Curling Canada and the World Curling made possible by the World Curling Federation’s Federation representative for 22 years — stepped Federation announced an eight-year extension to the new facility loan and deferred payment for down from the international scene, with thanks. agreement that sees either a men’s or women’s world He was a former President of the European equipment programmes, in combination with their championship hosted in Canada, till 2028. Curling Federation Development Assistance Programme, and funds from PACIFIC-ASIA private investors as well as the Brazilian Ice Sports • : There are now approximately 30-40 ice rinks, and curling clinics are always the most This was another exciting season for the Pacific-Asia Federation’s own funds.” The Guyana Curling Federation launched its official popular among ice sports region. Highlights included: The opening weekend had more than 200 visitors, who website at www.guyanacurling.com with the support • Norway: the successful hosting of the Lillehammer • The successful holding of the PACC in Shenzhen, took part in workshops and presentations. After this, Youth Curling Camp China - a great sign for the upcoming Olympic curling was introduced to an average of 50 visitors of the World Curling Federation Development Winter Games Beijing 2022 a day. However, COVID-19 forced the closure of the Assistance programme. • : Brasov, Romania hosted the ECC-C, facility two months later as well as the official opening, With this new online platform, an informative and which attracted a good number of spectators and • Continued growth throughout the region with which is now planned for May 2021, to coincide with functional site geared towards curling in Guyana which raised awareness of curling in the country additional dedicated rinks in Japan, China, Korea and the hosting of an Olympic Celebration Tour visit. carries regular news updates and recruitment forms, • Sweden: A survey has noted that curling is always the Guyana Curling Federation hopes to continue among the top ten sports of what people want to • The now-cancelled Pacific-Asia Curling spreading the word about curling to Guyanese both at see on TV (out of 72 sports). Championships 2020 was scheduled to be held at a Canada home and abroad, and attract Guyanese interested in The Europe Commission is also considering how new dedicated curling facility in Wakkanai, Japan Canadian athletes with ambitions of representing the trying the sport. to use the European Curling Federation Monetary • Continuing investigations into facilities country at international curling events have received Legacy (some $USA 100,000). Viable projects for opportunities in Australia, Hong Kong, a significant funding boost. Nearly $CAN 3.5 million, United States being awarded grants could include those that and Nigeria including a 43% increase in athletes’ prize money A major initiative has begun which aims to bridge especially target youth, promote development and/or • A growing focus on junior participation by most at 2019–2020 championships, was made available the gap between high performance athletes and enhance cross-border cooperation. member nations through various high-performance programmes grassroots curlers. It is focusing on younger athletes • Continuing work on successfully delivering facilitated by Curling Canada. This increase included with the implementation of an under-25 curling for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing a landmark move to equalise the prize money Team Program and a soon-to-be National Junior 2022, including increased participation levels at the Scotties of Hearts and Tim Development Program. throughout China Hortons Brier, Canada’s national women’s and men’s USA Curling has also prioritised expanding and • Continuing expansion of the Pacific-Asia championships, for a total of $CAN 300,000 at each improving diversity and inclusion. This initiative began Championships, now with a potential field of up event. The women’s purse update resulted in an by expanding resources provided to the USA National to 17 Member Associations. The championships 82% increase in prize money compared to the Wheelchair Curling Team and will continue to be are now in a position where change is required to previous season, putting it on par with the men’s addressed with the reconvening of USA Curling’s reflect different levels of play and number of teams. national championship. Diversity and Inclusion Committee. A proposal for this change is being developed.

6 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships 2019 MEDALLISTS WOMEN 2 CHINA Yu Han (skip and fourth) Lijun Zhang (third) Pacific-Asia Xindi Jiang (second) Ruiyi Zhao (lead) Curling Championships Jiaxin Yu (alternate) Shenzhen, China, 2–9 November 2019 Marco Mariani (coach) 2 JAPAN Ikue Kitazawa (fourth) The Pacific-Asia Curling gave first place to Japan, who then faced Chiaki Matsumura (third) fourth-placed Hong Kong in the semi-final Seina Nakajima (skip and second) Championships 2019 took place at and beat them by 12-5. In the other semi- Hasumi Ishigooka (lead) the Shenzhen Universiade Sports final, third-placed China beat second-ranked Emi Shimizu (alternate) Center in Shenzhen, China, with Korea, 8-2. Yusuke Morozumi (coach) eight women’s teams and ten men’s teams representing ten Member In the bronze medal game, Korea beat Hong 2 KOREA Associations. This included Nigeria, Kong by 13-2, while China took gold with a Un Chi Gim (skip and fourth) 10-3 win over Japan in the final. Min Ji Um (third) who became the first African team to Su Ji Kim (second) take part in the Pacific-Asia event. With these results, China and Japan qualified directly for the World Women’s Ye Eun Seol (lead) The women’s teams were: Australia, Curling Championship 2020, while Korea Ye Ji Seol (alternate) China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan, and Hong Kong secured their places in the Dong Ho Shin (coach) Kazakhstan, Korea and Qatar. World Qualification Event. At the end of the round-robin, three teams MEN The ten men’s teams were: Australia, — China, Korea and Japan — were tied at the China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan, 2 KOREA top of the rankings with six wins and one Kazakhstan, Korea, New Zealand, Nigeria, Chang-Min Kim (skip and fourth) loss. Results from the draw shot challenge and Qatar. Ki Jeong Lee (third) Hak Kyun Kim (second) Korea finished the round-robin undefeated Ki Bok Lee (lead) with nine straight wins and faced fourth- Myung Sup Lim (coach) placed New Zealand in the semi-finals, winning that game too, by 10-6. In the other 2 JAPAN semi-final, Japan, second-placed after the Yuta Matsumura (skip and fourth) round-robin, beat third-ranked China by 7-5. (third) Yasumasa Tanida (second) China then beat New Zealand, by 9-4, for Kosuke Aita (lead) bronze medals, while, Korea beat Japan, (alternate) by 11-2, in the final. With their victory, Korea (coach) also qualified directly for the LGT World Men’s Curling Championship 2020, while 2 CHINA Japan and China qualified for the World Qiang Zou (skip and fourth) Qualification Event. Zhiyu Wang (third) Jiafeng Tian (second) The Pacific-Asia Curling Championships 2020 has been cancelled due to the Jingtao Xu (lead) COVID-19 pandemic. Peng Han (alternate) Soren Gran (coach)

WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 7 Athlete Technical Commission Commission The Athlete Commission held in-person meetings for The Technical Commission was first established at the end two full days following the European Championships in of 2018 with the purpose of “providing advice and support Helsingborg, Sweden. to achieve the highest level of playing conditions possible Discussions revolved around the future function of the at all levels of the game, and to assist in the development of Commission and how it best represents athletes. Proposals curling facilities around the world, both new and existing”. were put on the table for discussion with the World Curling Since then, and following an inaugural meeting at Greenacres, Federation Board, including changes to the Commission’s Terms Scotland — where much of the World Curling Federation of Reference. Through these proposals, the Commission has a equipment is stored, including various sets of stones — goal of ensuring continuity of knowledge within the group, as the commission started its activities through three main areas well as ensuring that the Terms of Reference best represent the of focus: athletes’ voice. • To produce a guide on how to build a modern curling facility These proposals have now pushed back one year because of the • To produce a technical site visit manual COVID-19 pandemic. The Commission will use this new timeline • To develop educational programmes. to review these proposals before re-presenting them. The athlete vote for Commission members — two Men's, Mixed Guide on how to build a modern Doubles and Wheelchair Curling representatives — was also curling facility delayed one year due to the pandemic and limited resources to run a full athlete vote. All members who were supposed to rotate The guide to "Building a Modern Curling Facility" was off or be up for re-election accepted one additional year on the published in April to aid the World Curling Federation Member Commission to support the World Curling Federation. Associations in building modern dedicated curling facilities. In addition: The guide includes technical specifications for each aspect of the project, including equipment required by ice technicians in their • Two Commission members are actively involved in the World maintenance of the facility. Curling Federation’s Maximizing the Value commission Along with the guide, a number of case study white papers were • Two Commission members are actively involved in the World released to showcase the variety available. The guide and case Curling Federation’s World Team Ranking working group studies are available in multiple languages on the World Curling • The Commission Chair, (Canada), sits on Federation website. the World Curling Federation Constitution and Rules

Commission, to provide athlete opinion. Technical site visit manual The Commission’s key future points of focus include: To meet the need to identify potential issues at proposed event • Help provide athlete support for return to play once safe to venues much earlier than is currently happening, a bullet point do so after the COVID-19 pandemic questionnaire has been created for use by those with interest • Continue to evolve the mechanisms that the Commission uses in hosting an event. As a result, an on-line form of technical to speak to athletes and keep athletes informed site visit questionnaire is currently being reviewed, before • Open channels of communication — using digital tools, final publication. including developing a regular webinar series — to provide athletes with updates on the status of various projects. Educational programmes Other mechanisms, including social media offerings for the In its work to develop educational programmes, the Commission Commission, are being considered. has recognised the need to bring back levels of certification for Arguably the biggest contribution the Athlete Commission Ice Technicians. The World Curling Federation’s partnership with makes is to sit on other Commissions to provide the athlete the World Academy of Sport saw the launch of the Ice Technician opinions in real-time. Level 1 online course as the initial offering from the World Curling Academy.

8 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships 2019 MEDALLISTS WOMEN 2 SWEDEN (skip and fourth) Sara McManus (third) European (second) (lead) Curling Championships (alternate) Helsingborg, Sweden, 16–23 November 2019 (coach) 2 SCOTLAND 26 national Member Associations The ten A-Division men’s teams were: (skip and fourth) contested the Le Gruyère AOP Denmark (qualified from last season’s (third) B-Division), England (qualified from last (second) European Curling Championships season’s B-Division), Germany, Italy, Victoria Wright (lead) 2019, in Helsingborg’s The Olympia Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Scotland (alternate) Rink, Sweden. (defending champions), Sweden, and Nancy Smith (coach) The ten A-Division women’s teams were: Switzerland. 2 , Denmark, Estonia SWITZERLAND Sweden went through the round-robin (qualified from last season’s B-Division), Alina Paetz (fourth) undefeated to face fourth-placed Scotland Germany, Latvia, Norway (qualified from (skip and third) in the semi-final, with Switzerland playing last season’s B-Division), Russia, Scotland, (second) Denmark. The Swedes then beat Scotland, Sweden (defending champions), and (lead) by 8-4, in the semi-finals, while Switzerland (coach) Switzerland. Pierre Charette were 8-5 winners over Denmark. Following round-robin play, table-leaders MEN Scotland beat Denmark, 7-2, for bronze, Sweden faced Russia in the semi-finals, while Sweden beat Switzerland, by 9-3, 2 SWEDEN with Sweden winning, by 9-3, while in the gold medal game. This win gave (skip and fourth) Scotland beat Switzerland, by 3-2, after an Swedish skip Niklas Edin a seventh (third) extra end. Rasmus Wranaa (second) European title, and added the European Switzerland beat Russia, by 6-5, for the (lead) crown to his team's world title. At the foot bronze medals. While in the championship Daniel Magnusson (alternate) of the A-Division, Russia and England were final, Sweden’s reigning Olympic champion (coach) relegated to next season’s B-Division. skip Anna Hasselborg played a raise 2 SWITZERLAND double take-out to score two points in the The men’s B-Division was split into two (skip and fourth) tenth end and retain her European crown, Groups: (third) defeating Scotland, by 5-4. (Group-A): , Czech Republic, (second) At the other end of the rankings, Norway Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Slovakia, Spain, Marcel Kaeufeler (lead) and Latvia were relegated to the and Wales. Lucien Lottenbach (alternate) B-Division. (coach) (Group-B): Austria, Belarus, France, , The ten B-Division women’s teams were: Latvia, , Poland, and Turkey. 2 SCOTLAND Belarus, England, Finland, Hungary, Czech Republic were B-Division winners, (skip and fourth) Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, with Finland second, qualifying both (third) and Turkey. for the A-Division as well the World (second) Qualification Event. Slovakia and Israel Michael Goodfellow (lead) Italy topped the B-Division, with Turkey were relegated to the C-Division. (alternate) second to qualify both for next season’s (coach) A-Division and give them places in the The Le Gruyère AOP European Curling World Qualification Event. At the foot Championships 2020 has been cancelled of the table, Poland and Lithuania were due to the COVID-19 pandemic. relegated to the C-Division.

WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 9 World Junior Curling Championships Krasnoyarsk, Russia, 15–22 February 2020

The World Junior Curling Championships Korea beat Japan, by 8-4, while Canada 2020 were staged in Russia for the were 9-8 winners over Russia. In the bronze second time, at the Crystal Ice Arena in medal game, Russia beat Japan, by 14-4, Krasnoyarsk. Previously, the Siberian city while Canada beat Korea, by 7-5, to take made its international curling debut in gold and the title. March 2019 when it hosted the Winter The men’s teams were: Universiade Games. Host: Russia This was the 45th edition of these Qualified from World Junior championships, and to be eligible to Championships 2019 (in qualification compete, “a player must be less than 21 years order): Canada (defending champions), of age by the end of the 30th day of June Switzerland, Scotland, Norway, United of the year immediately preceding the year States and New Zealand in which the championship is to take place”. A total of 20 teams competed at the event Qualified from World Junior-B Curling representing 15 World Curling Federation Championships 2019 (in qualification Member Associations. order): Sweden, Italy and Germany. With Russia qualifying as event hosts, the The semi-finalists were top-ranked other participating teams either qualified Scotland, Canada, Germany and directly through their performances in the Switzerland. In the semi-finals Switzerland World Junior Curling Championships 2019 or beat Scotland, by 9-6, while Canada were by qualifying from the World Junior-B Curling 7-4 winners over Germany. Championships 2019, which had been staged Scotland then took bronze, beating in Lohja, Finland during November. Germany, by 6-5, while a golden Canadian The women’s teams were: double was sealed when they beat Switzerland, by 7-2, adding to their women’s Host (and defending champions): Russia gold medals. Qualified from World Junior Curling At the closing ceremony, Sportsmanship Championships 2019 (in qualification order): Awards – for the players voted on by the Canada, Switzerland, Korea, Sweden and others as best exemplifying the spirit Norway of curling – were awarded to Norway’s Qualified from World Junior-B Curling women’s skip, Maia Ramsfjell and New Championships 2019 (in qualification order): Zealand’s men’s vice-skip Anton Hood. Japan, Latvia, Denmark and Hungary. The World Junior Curling Championships After round-robin play, Korea were 2021 will be held in Beijing's Ice Cube from undefeated at the top of the table and faced 18–28 February 2021 and will serve as a fourth-placed Japan in the semi-finals, while test event for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. Canada, second overall, played third-placed Russia.

10 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 World Junior Curling Championships 2020 MEDALLISTS WOMEN 2 CANADA (skip and fourth) (third) (second) Lauren Lenentine (lead) (alternate) Sheldon Zacharias (coach) 2 KOREA Minji Kim (skip and fourth) Seungyoun Ha (third) Hyerin Kim (second) Sujin Kim (lead) Taei Yang (alternate) Sungjun Lee (coach) 2 RUSSIA Vlada Rumiantseva (skip and fourth) Vera Tiuliakova (third) Irina Riazanova (second) Anastasia Mishchenko (lead) Aleksandra Kardapoltseva (alternate) (coach) MEN 2 CANADA Jacques Gauthier (skip and fourth) (third) Brayden Payette (second) Zachary Bilawka (lead) Thomas Dunlop (alternate) John Lund (coach) 2 SWITZERLAND Yves Stocker (fourth) Yves Wagenseil (skip and third) Felix Eberhard (second) Marcel Gertsch (lead) Marco Hoesli (alternate) Rodger Schmidt (coach) 2 SCOTLAND James Craik (skip and fourth) Mark Watt (third) Blair Haswell, (second) Niall Ryder (lead) Angus Bryce (alternate) Iain Watt (coach)

WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 11 World Wheelchair Curling Championship Wetzikon, Switzerland, 29 February – 7 March 2020

The World Wheelchair Curling After 17 round-robin sessions, unbeaten World Wheelchair Curling Championship 2020 was staged in the leaders China and second-ranked Sweden Championship 2020 Curling Hall, Wetzikon, in Switzerland. qualified directly for the semi-finals. Behind MEDALLISTS them, in two qualification games, third-placed This was the last World Curling Federation Canada beat sixth-placed Korea, by 5-4, 2 RUSSIA championship of the 2019-2020 season while fifth-placed Russia overcame fourth- Konstantin Kurokhtin to be completed before the cancellations ranked Norway, by 6-4, to move on to the (skip and fourth) caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. semi-final stage. Andrei Meshcheriakov (third) A total of 12 teams competed — the same Vitaly Danilov (second) In those games, Canada beat Sweden, 3-2, number that will take part in the Paralympic Daria Shchukina (lead) while Russia ended the unbeaten run of Winter Games Beijing 2022 — with hopes Anna Karpushina (alternate) defending champions China, with a 9-4 victory. of claiming the world title and gaining Anton Batugin (coach) Paralympic Qualification Points. Sweden then defeated China, by 5-2, stealing 2 three points in an extra end, while a tight CANADA Based on the final ranking at the World 5-4 win over Canada gave Russia — who had Jon Thurston (fourth) Wheelchair Curling Championship 2019, (third) single-point steals in both the seventh and last eight teams secured their spot in this Dennis Thiessen (second) ends — their fifth world wheelchair title. year's competition. Mark Ideson (skip and lead) At the closing ceremony the Sportsmanship They were (in ranking order): China, Collinda Joseph (alternate) Award – for the player voted on by their peers (coach) Scotland, Korea, Norway, Slovakia, Russia, Wayne Kiel as best exemplifying the spirit of curling – Estonia and Latvia. 2 SWEDEN was awarded to Czech Republic’s vice-skip, Viljo Petersson-Dahl (skip and fourth) In addition, the top three finishers at the Radek Musilek. World Wheelchair-B Curling Championship Mats Ola Engborg (third) Next year’s World Wheelchair Curling (second) 2019 (staged in Lohja, Finland) — Canada, Championship taking place from 6–13 March Kristina Ulander (lead) Sweden and Czech Republic all secured 2021, will be the test event for the Paralympic Zandra Reppe (alternate) a place. Winter Games 2022 at the Ice Cube in (coach) Hosts, Switzerland completed the field. Beijing, China.

12 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 13 World Qualification Events Olympic

World Mixed Doubles World Qualification Celebration Qualification Event Event 2020 Tour 2019

Greenacres, Scotland, 7–12 December 2019 Lohja, Finland, 13–18 January 2020 The Olympic Celebration Tour is a series of instructional events, Following the decision to end the open entry format The World Qualification Event 2020 was staged in the Kisakallio Sports Institute launched in 2013, which introduces Olympic curlers to newcomers for the World Mixed Championship in Lohja, Finland in January 2020, with eight women’s and eight men’s teams to the sport. This year, the Tour was once again supported by the 2020, Greenacres curling club in Scotland staged the competing for two places in their respective world championship line-ups. California-based Foundation for Global Sports Development. first-ever World Mixed Doubles Qualification event in These included a first-ever appearance at this level by women’s and men’s teams However, COVID-19 curtailed this season’s activities to just two stops. December 2019. representing , who had gained the right to be there through their debut But both of these were significant, with the Tour being staged in both Altogether 28 nations were represented, vying for the participation in the Americas Challenge earlier in the season. Canada and Scotland for the first time. final four places at the World Mixed Doubles Curling The eight women’s teams were: Australia, Estonia, hosts Finland, Italy, Korea, In February, Great Britain's 2014 Olympic silver medallist , Championship 2020 in , Canada. Mexico, Norway and Turkey. along with 1992 Olympic demonstration medallist and World Curling The teams were divided into four groups: Federation Curling Development Officer Karri Wilms, visited the Prince After round-robin play, unbeaten Korea topped the table, with Italy second and George Golf and Curling Club as that town was Group A: China, Denmark, Germany, Guyana, Kosovo, Turkey third. and Wales gearing up to host the World Women’s Championship. Korea then secured victory and a world championship place in the 1-v-2 Play-off Group B: Belgium, Brazil, France, Ireland, Romania, Saudi Later, in early March, Great Britain's 2014 Olympic silver medallist game, beating Italy, by 6-5, with a draw to the four-foot ring to score the one point Arabia and Turkey team-mates , and Michael Goodfellow needed, after carving out single point steals in both the seventh and eighth ends. took part in the first-ever Tour stop in Glasgow, where they were joined Group C: Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Italy, Kazakhstan, Italy then went back onto the ice to face third-placed Turkey for the second world Latvia, Poland and Slovenia by Great Britain's 2014 Olympic Bronze Medallist . championship slot. With an 8-4 win, the Italians successfully qualified. At the time, like Prince George in Canada, Glasgow was building up Group D: Austria, Belarus, Korea, Lithuania, Netherlands, to host another world championship – the LGT World Men’s Curling Nigeria and Slovakia. The eight men’s teams were: China, Czech Republic, England, hosts Finland, Japan, Mexico, Poland and Russia. Championship 2020. After Group play, eight teams moved on to the double During the Glasgow event, a Member of the Scottish Parliament, knock-out play-off stage: Austria, China, France, Germany, At the end of the seven round-robin sessions, the top three teams to go forward to Christina McKelvie MSP, visited to try her hand at floor curling along Italy, Korea, Latvia and Turkey. the play-offs were: China, Russia and Japan. with school children from the nearby town of Hamilton. By winning two play-off games, both Germany and Italy China faced Russia in the 1-v-2 Play-off game and scored four points in the tenth Later, Olympic Celebration Tour stops that were scheduled for took the direct route to qualification. end to complete a 10-5 win that put them into the world championship. Anchorage, United States, as well as in two brand new curling facilities Germany first posted a 13-6 victory over Latvia before Russia then faced third-placed Japan for the last available world championship — in Kiev, Ukraine and Sao Paolo, Brazil — had to be cancelled, as were going on to beat Turkey, 7-5. Italy followed up an 11-4 win position. In the eighth end, Russia skip Sergey Glukhov played a precise double two further stops scheduled in Japan. over France by edging past Korea, by 6-4. tap-back on two Japanese counters to score four points and take an 8-3 lead. Arrangements are being developed to stage these events at a later These two teams were later joined by China and Korea Although Japan responded with a score of three points in the ninth end, Russia time, with the visit to Sao Paulo likely to coincide with the official to complete the World Championship line-up. It took an went on to secure their World Championship place, winning by 8-7. opening of their new dedicated facility. extra-end for China to beat Turkey by 8-7 while Korea beat Austria, by 7-2.

14 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 L O AL F F H A

M W • E

O

• R L OF L AL F D N H A M

O W • I C E T

U O R A • L I E R R N G F E D L D N

O C I LL OF U T A F R A H A L R M I E

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O

• R L OF L L A Hall ofF Fame D N H A Before 2012, the Federation presented the World Team Gustafson Induction intoM

CurlingO Freytag Award to recognise outstanding ElisabetW Gustafson• is already a member of the World Curling Hall of Fame. She was the World Curling contribution to the sport. From 2012, inductees into inducted in 2012 and with this announcement, the remainder of her team, third Katarina C I Federation Hall of the World Curling Hall of Fame have been presented Nyberg, second and lead now join her. E with the Freytag Medal to mark their induction. In 2017, Ernie, Arnold, Garnet and Wes Richardson of Canada, were the first complete Fame is the highest

T The World Curling Freytag Award is a tribute international curling team to be inducted. ‘non-playing’ honour U O to the late Elmer Freytag of the United States that the World Curling Curling Association, one of the prime movers in the A Federation can bestow• establishment of the World Curling Federation. R on someone and Previous winners of the Elmer Freytag Award and the R R L World Curling Freytag Award have all been inducted recognises outstanding to the World Curling Hall of Fame. contribution to the I E Gordon Craig N There are two classes of honour: L sport of curling D Gordon Craig (Canada) was the visionary behind Canada’s dedicated sports G E Curler: awarded to athletes who have achieved whether through on-ice F channel, , or TSN. He was influential in the first television extraordinary distinction and outstanding results, and broadcasts of the World Men’s Curling Championship and the Canadian men’s achievements or off-ice N have demonstrated exceptional sportsmanship and D national curling championship, The Brier, in the 1960s, while at the Canadian endeavours. character, in the sport of curling. Broadcast Corporation (CBC) Craig went on to establish TSN, Canada’s first 24-hour Builder: awarded to individuals who have sports channel. In 2016, Craig was a recipient of the Order of Canada, one of the accomplished distinguished service and have country’s highest civilian honours. O made major contributions to the development and I advancement of international curling. C During the 2019–2020 season, the World Curling Federation inducted its second elite curling team (and U T first women’s team) into its Hall of Fame – Sweden’s Leif Ohman Team , the four-time World Sweden’s Leif Ohman has been vital in the development of dedicated curling ice since A Women’s Curling Champions and Olympic bronze the 1980s. R medallists. (Elisabet Gustafson, Katarina Nyberg, Ohman was Chief Ice Technician at three Olympic Winter Games – Nagano 1998, Salt R Louise Marmont and Elisabeth Persson). Lake City 2002 and TorinoL 2006. He was Technical Delegate for the Games in Russia Another two recipients, Canada’s Gordon Craig and at 2014 and in ,I at PyeongChang 2018. He was also the Chief Ice E Sweden’s Leif Öhman, were inducted as Builders. With Technician at eight World Curling ChampionshipsN between 1985 and 2005. D their work in television and ice making respectively, G F E this pair have been instrumental in establishing the current status of curling in the world of sport.

Mike Thomson (2019 Alumnus) The cancellations of the 2020 World Championships have precluded presentations to these recipients during the 2019–2020 season, as well as to 2019 nominee Mike Thomson (Scotland). These presentations will be made as soon as is practicable.

More information about the World Curling Hall of Fame, including all recipients, can be found at worldcurling.org

WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 15 Lausanne, Switzerland, 10-22 January 2020

96 curlers from 24 nations, aged Group A: Canada, Estonia, Poland, Republic National Olympic Committees were Youth Olympic Games between 15 and 18 years, took part in of Korea, Russian Federation and Spain placed together to compete for Youth Lausanne 2020 the third edition of the Winter Youth Group B: Brazil, Denmark, Germany, Olympic medals as one unit. MEDALLISTS Olympic Games. Hungary, People’s Republic of China and After 11 sessions of knock-out games, six Although the multi-sport event was Switzerland teams faced each other, with the three TEAM hosted in the Olympic capital, Lausanne, Group C: France, Great Britain, New winners moving onto the semi-finals. The semi-finalists were: HUN/CAN; CHN/CZE; 2 Switzerland, curling took place 63 kilometres Zealand, Norway, Slovenia and Turkey NORWAY and FRA/RUS. The fourth semi-final team, (fourth) south, in the familiar setting of the Group D: Czech Republic, Italy, Japan, Grunde Buraas JPN/FRA, advanced based on having the Nora Oestgaard (third) Champéry Curling Arena. Latvia, Sweden, United States of America best draw shot challenge. Lukas Hoestmaelingen This was the largest curling field ever at (bold denotes quarter-final qualifiers) (skip and second) these Games, a total of 24 gender equal In the semi-finals, HUN/CAN beat JPN/ In the semi-finals, Norway beat Russian Ingeborg Forbregd (lead) teams – increased from 16 teams at the 2016 FRA, 6-2, while FRA/RUS defeated CHN/ Federation, by 7-2, while Japan were 8-4 Games in Lillehammer, Norway. CZE, 10-5. 2 JAPAN winners over New Zealand. The curlers first represented their nations In the medal games, HUN/CAN took gold Takumi Maeda (skip and fourth) Norway beat Japan, 5-4 to win the gold in team curling, then at the conclusion of after a 9-5 win against FRA/RUS, while Momoha Tabata (third) medals, scoring the winning single point that competition, took part in the 48-team CHN/CZE won bronze against JPN/FRA Asei Nakahara (second) in an extra end. At the same time, Russian (lead) mixed doubles discipline — with each team’s with a 7-3 victory. Mina Kobayashi Federation took bronze medals after athletes in this event coming from different As part of the Youth Olympic Games 2 defeating New Zealand, 9-5. RUSSIA National Olympic Committees. educational remit, all curlers were Valeriia Denisenko For the mixed doubles portion of the Games, The mixed team competition took the form mentored by curling role models – John (skip and fourth) team selections were based on individual of a 15-session round robin, with the teams Morris from Canada and Switzerland’s Mikhail Vlasenko (third) performances from the mixed team event. split into four groups: Marlene Albrecht. Alina Fakhurtdinova (second) In a straight knock-out competition, one Nikolai Lysakov (lead) male and one female player from different

MIXED DOUBLES 2 HUNGARY/CANADA Laura Nagy Nathan Young 2 FRANCE/RUSSIA Chana Beitone Nikolai Lysakov 2 CHINA/CZECH REPUBLIC Junhang Pei Vit Chabicovsky

16 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 17 Broadcast

WCTV Multilateral Coverage WCTV

WCTV

SET-UP This includes assembling a team of specialist While broadcast remains a key distribution route broadcast contractors, including programme directors, for World Curling TV output, other digital media camera operators, commentators, technical video platforms — web streaming and social media platforms and audio engineers, production engineers, and such as the World Curling Federation's YouTube and satellite-link operators. World Curling TV must also Facebook channels — are increasingly important. procure and manage all the equipment needed to Under normal circumstances, World Curling TV generate the coverage — Outside Broadcast trucks, provides a blend of output: tv cameras, audio microphones, graphics equipment, Right Holder • Play-by-play “live” game action (with individual and other production facilities — as well as the satellite TV HQ game selection influenced by broadcaster demand) TSN uplink trucks, cables, connections and fibres that bind everything together. • Game highlights packages (suitable for use in news sports programmes and round-ups) As well as ensuring that the resources to broadcast • “feature” articles (to add colour and attraction to Right Holder’s Unilateral Coverage the action are in place, another key — and growing — role for World Curling TV is arranging distribution of the regular coverage) BROADCAST AND In addition, World Curling TV has produced coverage competition coverage across the globe. Technically speaking, World Curling TV provides both WORLD CURLING TV of the Curling World Cups and Olympic Qualification On behalf of the World Curling Federation, for Multilateral coverage and Unilateral coverage. events, as well as other special projects such as a From its beginnings at the 2004 Le Gruyère every individual championship, World Curling TV Multilateral involves a general “offer” of coverage, number of events and “Curling negotiates contracts with TV/radio/mobile/broadband available — by prior negotiation — to individual European Championships held in Sofia, Bulgaria, Night in America” – a made-for-TV curling package rights holders and distributors such as national broadcasters and rights holders. World Curling TV has been integral in bringing the made in partnership with United States broadcaster and international broadcasters — for example TSN Unilateral coverage involves "extra" activities major World Curling championship events to ever- NBC, which has used six different venues in its six-year (Canada), NBC (USA), NHK (Japan), CCTV (China) negotiated in partnership with an individual growing audiences, while helping to spread curling’s history to date. and (Europe) — to name a few. organisation, serviced to an agreed level. For example, global popularity and making it more attractive for In its complicated role as “host broadcaster”, World World Curling TV aims to balance the need to broadcasters may choose to send full crews to World sponsors and partners alike. Curling TV draws together different strands of a maximise coverage while achieving revenue from the Curling events, negotiate the presence of their own In recent times, every season, World Curling TV set-up that brings live and recorded curling action to broadcasters to help meet the costs of the production. commentators, or even request that World Curling TV produces coverage of: viewers across the globe through an ever-changing Negotiations also take place with various broadcast performs “extra” broadcast activities on their behalf network of routes and platforms. • The Pacific-Asia Championships “Unions” across the globe, including the European (e.g. native-language athlete interviews). Broadcast Union, the Asia-Pacific Broadcast Union • The European Championships To do so, and while working with partners such as local The role of World Curling TV is complex and organising committees, sports federations, national and their equivalent organisations in other continents continually changes in a sporting broadcast world full • The World Junior Championships, governments, broadcast rights-holders and others, and regions. Various news agencies, including famous of innovation and new challenges. By keeping pace • The World Women’s Championship World Curling TV must establish and manage an array names like Reuters and Associated Press, are also in that ever-changing environment, World Curling • The World Men’s Championship of resources. involved, in particular to generate coverage to TV has a significant role to play in promoting curling • The World Mixed Doubles Championship. broadcast news outlets. across the world.

18 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 Media

Increasing and educating the audience in the lead world championships brought a significant decrease The Sports Media Trainee Programme provided six up to the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in the traffic to www.worldcurling.org. Despite this, more aspiring journalists and photographers the Beijing 2022 was the priority for the media team the average time users spent on the newly developed opportunity to cover an international curling event. coming into the 2019–2020 season. website increased by 71%. Trainees attended the Europeans in Helsingborg, Sweden and the World Juniors in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. In pursuit of this goal the team developed written and The Federation's social channels continue their steady However, two of those trainees were scheduled video resources explaining qualification to the Games organic growth, with Instagram breaking the 25,000 to attend the cancelled World Mixed Doubles in while developing the Sina Weibo channel for the follower count and World Curling TV's YouTube Kelowna, Canada. Both trainees have been invited to Chinese Audience. channel passing 62,000 subscribers during the season despite the drop in available live broadcast content. an event during the 2020–2021 season. Sina Weibo became a significant success for the Looking ahead, the success of the Sina Weibo channel media team, with the Chinese platform becoming the During the shortened season, the media team worked led to the extension of the partnership with iX.co – Federation's largest social media channel, breaking with Scottish based, QTV Sports to produce a series Infront Sports and Media's digital company – until the 95,000 followers count in its first year. This would of archive video broadcast for the Federation's the summer of 2022 with a remit to continue the also see the channel receive recognition as one of the Facebook channel. This production allowed the growth of the channel while also attending the World Top Ten Annual Industry-leading Digital Media outlets curling community the opportunity to watch historic Junior Curling Championships 2021 and the World for winter sports, in China, at the fourth Winter Sports World Championship finals including the 2009 World Wheelchair Curling Championship 2021 to develop Tops Awards held in in Beijing. Women's final featuring China's Team Bingyu Wang against Sweden's and the 2009 World content exclusively for the Chinese audience. With the 2019–2020 season being incomplete due Men's final between Scotland's Team David Murdoch to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the loss of four and Canada's Team .

WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 19 World Womenʼs World Menʼs Curling Championship Curling Championship

Prince George, Canada, 14–22 March 2020 Glasgow, Scotland, 28 March – 5 April 2020 World Women's Curling Championship 2020 LGT World Men's Curling Championship 2020

The World Women's Curling Championship 2020 Member Associations in the World Women's Curling The LGT World Men's Curling Championship 2020 were to finish in the top six, only five additional was the first World Curling Federation event to Championship 2021 will qualify their National Olympic was the second World Curling Federation event to be nations would qualify from the World Men's Curling be cancelled as a direct consequence of the Committees for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing cancelled as a direct consequence of the COVID-19 Championship 2021 to the Olympic Winter Games COVID-19 outbreak. 2022. If China were to finish in the top six, only five outbreak. This would have been the first visit to Beijing 2022. additional nations would qualify from the World This would have been the 41st Women’s Worlds to be Scotland for a World Men’s Curling Championship After this, the remaining Member Associations that Women's Curling Championship 2021 to the Olympic staged, and while Canada is no stranger to hosting since 2000. do not qualify for the Games from the World Men's Winter Games Beijing 2022. Curling Championship 2021 will join any Member World Curling Federation Championships, this was to The teams had qualified through five different routes After this, the remaining Member Associations that Associations that had a place in the 2020 world have been a first visit to Prince George, the largest city for this championship: in northern British Columbia. do not qualify for the Games from the World championship in an expanded Olympic Qualification Women's Curling Championship 2021 will join any Host: Scotland Event, in December 2021. A further three men’s The teams had qualified through five different routes Member Association that had a place in the 2020 From the Pacific-Asia Curling Championships 2019 Member Associations - or four if China finish in the top for this championship: world championships in an expanded Olympic held in November in Shenzhen, China: Korea six at the World Curling Championship - will qualify for Host: Canada Qualification Event, in December 2021. A further From the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling the Games via the Olympic Qualification Event. From the Pacific-Asia Curling Championships 2019, three women’s and men’s Member Associations - or Championships 2019, held in November in Helsingborg, Due to the cancellation of the Pacific-Asia Curling held in November in Shenzhen, China (in qualification four if China finish in the top six at the World Curling Sweden, (in qualification order):Sweden, Switzerland, Championships 2020, the Le Gruyère AOP European order): China and Japan Championships - will qualify for the Games via the Denmark, Italy, Norway and Germany Curling Championships 2020 and the Americas Olympic Qualification Event. From the Le Gruyère AOP European Championships From the Americas Zone: Canada and United States Challenge 2020, the qualification process for the Due to the cancellation of the Pacific-Asia Curling World Men’s Curling Championship 2021 will also have 2019, held in November in Helsingborg, Sweden (in From the World Qualification Event 2020, held in Championships 2020, the Le Gruyère AOP European to be altered. qualification order):Sweden, Scotland, Switzerland, Lohja, Finland, in January (in qualification order):China Curling Championships 2020 and the Americas Russia, Germany, Czech Republic and Denmark and Russia. Full information on the new qualification process will Challenge 2020, the qualification process for the LGT be made available on the World Curling Federation From the Americas Zone: United States This event was also going to start the qualification World Women’s Curling Championship 2021 will also website - www.worldcurling.org From the World Qualification Event 2020, held in have to be altered. process for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 men’s curling competition, but with this event The World Men’s Curling Championship 2021 will take January in Lohja, Finland (in qualification order):Korea Full information on the new qualification process will cancellation the rules of Olympic qualification have place in , Canada, from 3-11 April 2021. and Italy. be made available on the World Curling Federation now had to be altered. This event was also going to start the qualification website - www.worldcurling.org China automatically qualify as the host of the Olympic process for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 The LGT World Women’s Curling Championship 2021 Winter Games Beijing 2022, and a total of ten National women’s curling competition, but the rules of Olympic will take place in Schaffhausen, Switzerland from qualification have now had to be altered. 20 – 28 March 2021. Olympic Committees will compete at the Games. China automatically qualify as the host of the Olympic With no qualification points available from the 2020 Winter Games Beijing 2022, and a total of ten National world championship, the World Curling Federation Olympic Committees will compete at the Games. proposed to the International Olympic Committee — and had approved — that the top six Member With no qualification points available from the Associations in the World Men's Curling Championship 2020 world championship, the World Curling 2021 will qualify their National Olympic Committees Federation proposed to the International Olympic for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. If China Committee — and had approved — that the top six

20 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 World Mixed Doubles World Senior Curling Championship Curling Championships

Kelowna, Canada, 18–25 April 2020 Kelowna, Canada, 18–25 April 2020 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2020 World Senior Curling Championships 2020

The World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship — and had approved — that the top seven Member The World Senior Curling Championships 2020 Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, 2020, due to be held in Kelowna, British Columbia, Associations in the World Mixed Doubles Curling were intended to be run alongside the World Mixed Kazakhstan, Latvia, Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Canada was cancelled as a result of the global Championships 2021 will qualify for the Olympic Doubles Curling Championship 2020 in Kelowna, Russia, Scotland, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Winter Games Beijing 2022. If China were to United States and Wales. COVID-19 outbreak. British Columbia, Canada. finish in the top seven places, the eighth-placed This would have been the first World Mixed Doubles Altogether 28 Member Associations were Unlike the other World Curling Federation Member Association would qualify their National championship cancellations, there were no additional Championship to be staged with a capped entry of 20 Olympic Committee. represented when entries closed — 20 women’s teams teams. In previous years, this had been an open entry and 26 men’s teams. consequences to the World Senior Curling After this, the remaining Member Associations Championships 2020 not taking place, given that the competition, with a record 48 teams taking part in the The women’s teams were: Australia, Austria, Canada, 2019 championship, in Stavanger, Norway. that do not qualify for the Games from the World championships do not lead to another event and that Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in 2021 will Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, Hong they remain open entry competitions. The teams had qualified through three different routes Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, join any Member Association that had a place in the The World Senior Curling Championships 2021 is for this championship: Lithuania, New Zealand, Russia, Scotland, Sweden, 2020 world championship in an expanded Olympic scheduled to take place from 24 April–1 May. Host: Canada Qualification Event, in December 2021. A further two Switzerland and United States. There is no official host for this championship at From the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship Member Associations will qualify for the Olympic The men’s teams were: Australia, Belgium, Canada, time of publication. 2019, held in Stavanger, Norway (in qualification Mixed Doubles via this Olympic Qualification Event. Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, order): Sweden, United States, Australia, Japan, Qualification for the World Mixed Doubles Russia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Scotland, Championship 2021 has also been altered. England, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, Finland and It is intended that the 20 Member Associations New Zealand qualified in 2020 retain their places for 2021. However, From the World Mixed Doubles Qualification Event due to these unique circumstances, the 2021 world 2019, held in Greenacres, Scotland (in qualification championship will be expanded to 24 Member Associations, with the four that qualify from the order): Germany, Italy, China and Korea World Mixed Doubles Qualification Event in 2021 This event was going to start the qualification process also taking part. for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 mixed These changes mean that eight Member Associations doubles curling competition, but the rules of Olympic will be relegated from the World Mixed Doubles qualification have now had to be altered. Curling Championship 2021 to the following season’s China automatically qualify as the host of the Olympic qualification event, returning the number competing Winter Games, and a total of ten National Olympic at the 2022 world championship to 20 teams. Committees will compete at the Games. The World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship With no qualification points available from the 2020 2021 is scheduled to take place from 24 April–1 May. World Championship, the World Curling Federation There is no official host for this championship at time proposed to the International Olympic Committee of publication.

WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 21 Sponsorship & Marketing

Perhaps more than other areas, sponsorship World Curling Federation Board and marketing was badly affected by the visit to Le Gruyère HQ impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the loss of sponsored events such as the World Women’s, World Men’s and World Mixed Doubles Curling Championships. Cancellation of the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship was particularly disappointing, as the event had attracted title sponsorship interest for the first time, in the form of Zen-Noh, a past sponsor of the World Women's Curling Championship. The European Curling Championships continue to receive support from long term sponsors Le Gruyère AOP and Mount 10 and both have reconfirmed for 2020. LGT, who have main sponsor package for the Europeans as well as the title sponsorship of the World Women’s Curling Championship due to be held in Switzerland in 2021, have also reconfirmed their commitment to curling. Jet Ice continued their relationship with the World Curling Federation. A new eight-year agreement was secured with Curling Canada, which will see the women’s and men’s World Curling Championships continue to be held in Canada in alternate years. This is a great example of a successful long-term partnership that works for all those involved. Our thanks go to Infront and Curling Canada for their continued support as our marketing partners in what are difficult circumstances - we look forward to working with them and our valued sponsors to deliver a tremendous season 2020–2021.

22 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 Development

The development work of the World Curling The World Curling Academy Athlete Pathway Programme On completion of the Instructor Course, the annual Federation has continued this season and. although World Curling Junior Curling Camp was staged. The World Curling Academy – a unique initiative The World Academy of Sport also facilitated the COVID-19 has caused many restrictions, as can be At the camp, 120 junior athletes from 21 Member developed in partnership between the World Curling inaugural Athlete Pathway Programme. seen here, there still has been significant progress Associations were taught all aspects of the sport Federation and the World Academy of Sport - went This was held in , Estonia. This workshop involving many projects. and were able to enjoy time with peers from around live during this season. focussed on empowering member associations to the world. The establishment of the World Curling Academy This will be the home of all World Curling online understand the key elements in developing an athlete has been a major development. However, the The World Curling Federation Adult Curling Camp courses and a source for development resources. pathway for their organisation. more traditional annual camps and courses, and was once again hosted in , Czech Republic. The Academy launched with a rules course as well as Through the identification of short, medium and the Development Assistance Programme remain A fully subscribed camp had participants from 23 ten videos in nine languages explaining how to use long-term goals, the programme highlighted ways important resources available to give Member Member Associations. FloorCurl to introduce the sport. to maximise outputs at each stage of the pathway. Associations significant financial support with their The last camp of the season was held in Barton The programme provided a systematic and practical own development projects. Through the summer the Ice Technician Level 1 and Grange, England. The Stepping Stone Programme approach to development that will allow staff from Umpire Level 1 courses launched to great success. hosted men’s, women’s and mixed doubles teams from Speaking about this season’s progress, World Curling the World Curling Federation to work with the England and Wales and junior teams and a wheelchair Federation Head of Development Scott Arnold, said: The World Curling Academy can be found at: https:// Member Association to implement and activate team from England. All were taught on and off the ice “Establishing our new World Curling Academy is a www.worldcurlingacademy.org/ over the following years. In attendance were 14 by internationally renowned experts. real milestone in our exciting partnership with the representatives for Austria, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, World Academy of Sport. The World Curling Academy Development Workshop in China Netherlands, and Slovakia. Two Business of Curling symposiums were conducted: one in the United States and one in will become an online home for our development In addition to being the World Curling Federation’s Sweden. Eight Member Associations took advantage programmes and educational resources that will help education partner, the World Academy of Sport Development Activities and accelerate curling’s growth across the world. of these opportunities. assisted in creating a development workshop for Once again, Fuessen, Germany was the main hub I encourage all our Members to become involved - Chinese curling. For this workshop, the World Curling I’m only too happy to talk with any of them.” of ongoing World Curling Federation development Development Assistance Federation was joined by ten different groups from activities, with three courses delivered there: China including curling federations, venues and sport Programme • the Ice Technician Course had 11 Member promotion groups. Approximately $USD 340,000 was awarded for Associations in attendance. The workshop was hosted by the Beijing Organising projects using Development Assistance Programme Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) and • the Basic Umpiring Course saw participants from funds. Many projects were not able to be completed — the Chinese Curling Association. Two days of work 14 Member Associations so far — due to the COVID-19 pandemic. provided a roadmap of how to develop curling in • the Instructor Course had 12 different Member China before the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Associations in attendance, learning the methods Games Beijing 2022. used to teach curling.

WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 23 Fiscal

Despite the well- After the cancellation of the World Women’s, Men’s, Mixed There was a significant drop in the turnover of the Federation in the last 12 months following the end of the , documented challenges of Doubles, Seniors and European C-Division championships at the end of the 2019–2020 season — and the total loss of although there was a little additional expense in the closing down the past season, dealing broadcasting and sponsorship income related to those events of the project which fell into this financial year. with event cancellations — swift action taken by the Board ensured that the financial The new World Curling Academy in partnership with World due to COVID-19, the World impact on the Federation in the short-term was minimised. Academy of Sport was launched and as the world moved into lockdown some of the savings achieved in other areas Curling Federation Audited The decisions taken ensured that the loss of income was offset were diverted to speed up the introduction of additional by reductions in expenditure so that, broadly, COVID-19 had a Accounts for the year ended online courses. 30 June 2020 show an neutral impact on the end of year position. This was despite the situation with the World Women’s Curling Championship 2020 The early signs are encouraging, with the new Ice Technician organisation well placed to where costs for the event were almost fully committed while no Course covering its set-up costs within a few days of launch. withstand the pressures income was realised. The hope is that existing courses will begin to generate additional income that can be invested into new courses on being brought on the wider The financial year concluded with the World Curling Federation the site and go towards covering the annual running costs of making an annual surplus of just under $USD 500,000 — almost sports world by the ongoing the platform. $USD 100,000 more than had been budgeted. global pandemic. Within Broadcast the costs associated with producing the Pacific- This positive performance against budget was primarily due Asia Curling Championships were higher than expected with the to realised gains on investments held by the World Curling additional costs associated with an event in China. Federation which had been sold during the year. The selling of investments is normal at this point in the Olympic cycle. Sponsorship fees had been looking strong until COVID-19 took hold, but the positive news is that LGT have committed to Significant savings were achieved in the broadcasting budgets continue their sponsorship for an additional year to replace this for the World Men’s and Mixed Doubles events, as well as in the year’s cancelled world championship. competition budgets for those events and the World Seniors and European C-Division championships. The Balance Sheet shows a reduction in investments and assets as we would expect at this point in the Olympic cycle as we Savings in other areas due to COVID-19 included reductions in utilise the monies received from the 2018 Olympic Winter Games staff and board travel costs as all travel ceased. There were also for our day-to-day expenses. reductions in amounts paid to Infront and Eurosport following the cancellation of events. Additionally, the Development Assistance Additional facility loans have been made over the past season; Programme was lower than budgeted as a number of planned however, the Board has now put the loan programme on hold projects were unable to be completed. until the impact of COVID-19 on future events becomes clearer. Other than the difficulties caused by COVID-19, the ongoing The retained reserves sit at around $USD 9.2 Million. The World international currency fluctuations continue to make accurate Curling Federation have a policy with the aim of holding around budgeting a challenge. With a US Presidential Election and the 18 months' operating capital in reserve. The current level implications of the UK transition period from the EU ending on represents 14-15 months based on the budgeted expenditure of 31 December 2020, this situation is unlikely to stabilise. the past season.

24 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 Income and expenditure account Balance Sheet For the year ended 30 June 2020 As at 30 June 2020 2020 2019 2020 2019 $USD $USD $USD $USD

Income Fixed Assets Tangible fixed assets 1,623,204 1,563,431 Membership subscriptions 39,350 37,750 Investments 13,897,791 16,886,577 IOC monies 5,386,766 5,356,528 15,520,995 18,450,008 Marketing fees 355,792 1,033,301 Bank interest 18,375 64,206 Other Assets Dividend income 159,717 109,211 Stock 137,584 202,714 World Cup income – 3,405,000 Debtors and prepayments – due after one year 1,759,282 1,678,261 Realised profits on investments 373,563 43,478 Rights fees 25,414 526,083 1,896,866 1,880,975 Programs and services clinics 80,300 77,296 Miscellaneous income 84,363 78,073 Current Assets Broadcasting 176,022 903,640 Debtors and prepayments – due within one year 1,380,731 2,831,290 Cash and cash equivalents 1,671,619 2,350,949 6,699,662 11,634,566 3,052,350 5,182,239

Expenditure Current Liabilities Creditors and accruals 6,060,936 6,411,773 Board expenses & congress 371,187 400,289 Net Current Liabilities (3,008,586) (1,229,534) Standing/ad hoc committee expenses 44,921 50,321 Operations 1,651,560 1,580,064 Total Assets Less Current Liabilities 14,409,275 19,101,449 Programs and services – development 533,589 769,642 Programs and services – facilities and technical 18,950 21,878 Long Term Liabilities 5,180,595 10,361,191 Programs and services – other 119,812 75,661 Competitions 714,242 881,039 Total Assets Less Total Liabilities 9,228,680 8,740,258 World Cup 38,259 3,592,676 Finance 21,438 18,348 International and corporate relations (4,218) 9,592 Media expenses 302,187 257,569 Represented by: Administrative expenses 6,420 331 Marketing 371,968 759,940 Retained reserves 9,228,680 8,740,258 Broadcasting 1,745,438 2,403,708 Bad debts – 153,484 Gain on capital assets (6,369) – Olympic Games 75,266 (13,223) World Anti-Doping Agency 71,671 86,910 Exceptional item – –deficit – on property revaluation Loss on foreign exchange transactions 134,919 190,998 6,211,240 11,239,227

Surplus for the Year 488,422 395,339

Reserves Brought Forward 8,740,258 8,344,919

Reserves Carried Forward 9,228,680 8,740,258

WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 25 Mixed Wheelchair

World Member Association Points +/- Member Association Points +/- 1 Canada 88.182 0 1 China 80.714 0 Rankings 2 Scotland 60.568 1 2 Norway 67.679 0 3 Norway 59.045 1 3 Russia 64.167 1 4 Russia 52.273 -2 4 Canada 61.488 2 In these tables, the Mixed and 5 Germany 50.053 5 5 Korea 55.833 -2 Wheelchair rankings reflect 6 Sweden 36.780 -1 6 Scotland/Great Britain 50.238 -1 the Member Associations’ 7 Korea 36.455 6 7 Switzerland 37.857 0 positions after this season’s championships. The Women’s, 8 Switzerland 36.386 0 8 Sweden 36.536 4 Men’s and Mixed Doubles 9 Spain 35.636 -3 9 Slovakia 34.821 -1 rankings remain the same as 10 Turkey 32.295 -1 10 Germany 25.417 -1 the 2018-2019 season due to 11 Czech Republic 31.386 -4 11 United States of America 21.071 -1 the cancellation of their 2020 12 Denmark 27.053 2 12 Latvia 20.381 2 championships. 13 Hungary 25.682 3 13 Finland 18.810 -2 14 United States of America 18.182 -2 14 Estonia 18.226 -1 15 Estonia 16.455 -4 15 Czech Republic 10.595 0 16 Poland 16.364 2 16 England 8.631 0 17 Slovakia 15.348 5 17 Italy 8.607 0 18 Japan 15.091 -3 18 Slovenia 8.429 3 19 Ireland 12.848 10 19 Denmark 7.452 0 20 Belarus 12.621 3 20 Turkey 7.250 3 21 Finland 12.121 -2 21 Poland 6.560 -3 22 Italy 10.742 -2 22 Japan 6.262 -2 23 England 10.462 2 23 Lithuania 5.476 -1 24 Slovenia 10.265 -3 24 Hungary 2.143 2 25 Wales 8.742 1 25 Israel 0.952 -1

26 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 Women Men Mixed Doubles

Member Association Points +/- Member Association Points +/- Member Association Points +/- 1 Sweden 81.569 0 1 Sweden 89.020 0 1 Canada 84.608 0 2 Korea 65.907 4 2 Canada 75.980 0 2 Switzerland 66.569 0 3 Canada 63.382 -1 3 United States of America 71.029 0 3 United States of America 47.721 4 4 Switzerland 59.559 1 4 Switzerland 65.196 0 4 Norway 46.814 -1 5 Japan 56.520 2 5 Scotland/Great Britain 52.059 0 5 China 46.152 -1 6 Russia 55.588 -2 6 Japan 44.118 1 6 Russia 39.118 0 7 Scotland/Great Britain 50.098 -4 7 Norway 40.392 -1 7 Korea 39.049 -2 8 United States of America 45.441 0 8 Korea 35.343 0 8 Sweden 34.422 2 9 China 40.147 0 9 Italy 34.461 1 9 Finland 32.230 -1 10 Denmark 27.059 0 10 Denmark 24.520 -1 10 Czech Republic 25.941 1 11 Czech Republic 19.593 0 11 Russia 19.412 1 11 Japan 21.902 2 12 Germany 19.338 0 12 Germany 18.578 1 12 Scotland/Great Britain 21.029 0 13 Italy 13.284 0 13 China 18.358 -2 13 Australia 19.069 9 14 Finland 12.627 0 14 Netherlands 16.951 1 14 Estonia 17.740 0 15 Latvia 10.186 2 15 Finland 12.333 -1 15 Hungary 17.451 -6 16 Norway 9.461 -1 16 Czech Republic 8.863 0 16 Turkey 12.529 0 17 Turkey 8.980 2 17 Austria 8.784 0 17 England 11.559 2 18 Hungary 8.873 -2 18 Poland 8.324 2 18 Italy 11.490 -3 19 Estonia 8.863 -1 19 Latvia 7.461 -1 19 Spain 9.578 -2 20 England 7.235 0 20 Slovakia 7.147 -1 20 Latvia 8.863 -2 21 Hong Kong 6.716 8 21 New Zealand 7.039 1 21 New Zealand 7.113 3 22 New Zealand 5.824 -1 22 England 6.922 1 22 Denmark 6.539 -1 23 Lithuania 5.804 7 23 Israel 6.299 1 23 Austria 6.520 -3 24 Poland 5.706 -1 24 Chinese Taipei 5.985 3 24 Slovakia 6.132 -1 25 Spain 5.167 2 25 Spain 5.696 3 25 Belarus 5.784 2

WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 27 Competitions

...It was not “easy to make those decisions, but looking back, it was the right thing to do... ” As World Curling Federation Head of Competitions, Speaking about that Eeva explained: “We reflected on what "Is it really eight or ten ends, or is it the speed of the game? Eeva Roethlisberger was more involved than most in the happened. We looked at the rules and realised we have Other points to be thought about are: Are the end-breaks decision-making of the tumultuous 2019–2020 season. no formal procedure on how to handle such a situation. too long? Should we get rid of team time-outs? What about We needed to put something together and will go to the blank ends? Other things that can influence the whole Looking back on the enforced cancellation of the membership for changes to the rules – for example, if the direction of the game are under discussion.” She added, World Women’s Championship, the LGT World Men’s stones have to be removed for ice preparation, then the end “In all of this, it is important for us to understand who the Championship, the World Mixed Doubles Championship and should be replayed. We’re working to make sure we have stakeholders are in our sport — sponsors, media, broadcast, the World Senior Championships, she said, “I was absolutely a procedure if something like this happens again. We were in-venue spectators, tv audience, athletes, coaches — sad and devastated. It’s not what you ever expect to have taken by surprise, but we are learning from the surprise.” everybody. We need to see the effects of any change to to do. It was not easy to make those decisions, but looking them. We want to make sure we have the right information back, it was the right thing to do,” adding, “every season In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Eeva also confirmed so that when the Member Associations come to vote, they brings new adventures and challenges and this season was further World Curling Federation planning, “To keep can make the right decision. We need to think out of the definitely a challenge — it was amazingly good until we had everyone safe, we have to come up with procedures box a bit — if we go to eight, we can’t go back in a couple of to stop.” suggested by our medical advisory group and implement them. We need methods in place to deal with local years, so the right decision has to be made in the right way.” The enforced cancellations affected 2020 Olympic regulations all the way up to World Health Organisation Reflecting generally Eeva said, “We’re trying to improve our qualification, and new proposals were sent to the regulations.” She cautions, “we don’t want to rush into it, but competition conditions to provide more of a level playing International Olympic Committee — which have now we don’t want to run out of time either.” field and it’s nice to see that the quality we offer is not only been approved. Regardless of the 2019–2020 disruptions, the future of stable but improving,” before adding, “with every year that Explaining the actions taken, Eeva said: "The Rules World Curling Federation competitions remains under the passes, and while we professionalise everything more and Commission, the Athlete Commission and the Board worked spotlight with debate surrounding several issues — one of more, the bedrock of our events remains the army of local on proposals then, having discussed them with our members, which is the ongoing discussion around the game length of volunteers, so the biggest of thank-yous to them.” we sent them onto the International Olympic Committee. eight ends versus ten ends, which has supporters on both We involved our Commissions and the membership to make sides of the argument. sure we had their input. Not everyone is 100% happy, but we can’t see any other way.” About this, Eeva said, “We have put together a project group called ‘Maximising the Value’. It’s not all about In this unique season, for the first time ever, play was eight versus ten. There are so many things to consider. disrupted at the European Championships by a fire alarm We are collecting a lot of information to try to find out evacuation during live play. what everything means.

28 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 ...our actions will always be decided with the President’s best“ interests of our people and the integrity of Look Forward our sport at the forefront...

Looking forward to what a new season will bring” The work of our Strategic Review Group and has never been more uncertain for the World the considerations of our ‘Maximising the Value’ Curling Federation. working group are both coming to the point where fundamental decisions will have to be made. At this COVID-19 has affected almost every aspect of time, it is important that we have as much discussion life across the globe and, as I write, we may have and debate among Member Associations, players, and to consider further event and championship stakeholders as we can. cancellations. However, as we make these decisions to cancel or postpone, the safety and well-being The major decisions that we make — for example on of our athletes, officials, volunteers, and other the number of ends in a championship game — will be stakeholders have been our top priority — which is permanent, with little prospect of going back if we just as it should be. don’t like how things develop. We have done a lot of work to ensure that, when we These decisions will not only be about what happens can, we will recover. Advised by the Constitution and on the field of play but will address other governance Rules Commission and after taking soundings with issues including where we go with our current other stakeholders, our Board has adopted a number governance set-up, as the existing model, based of possible pathways and solutions for the various on having three geographic Zones, is under review. championship and qualification disruptions that we Board Gender Equality has been another issue for the may encounter during the season. Sometimes these Strategic Review Group, as well as possibly setting have been difficult decisions to make, but our actions up a new Commission to help develop new Board will always be decided with the best interests of our members for the future. people and the integrity of our sport at the forefront. All this activity reflects the global growth of our sport Meanwhile, we have been working hard during this and our desire to constantly make improvements. Just period of lockdown. For example, we have developed because we want to make those improvements doesn’t new online courses, covering various specialisms and mean that we’re unhappy with what we have just now in various languages, to make expertise as accessible — clearly what we have has already proven to be fit as possible. Much of this activity has come from our for purpose. However, as in all thing to do with sport, Member Associations — a real example of our curling we’re looking for continuous improvement in order to family at work. make progress and to make things better. We can’t stand still; the world of sport is always developing. We have also been looking at how we can make our game safer for everyone involved. Our fans in As I move into my second-last season as President, the stands are important as are our fans behind the I’m mindful of my promise when I first came to office screen, and we need to accommodate them both. of ensuring that financially the Federation would have In this work, we are sharing experiences with other something in reserve for a rainy day. Well, it’s raining sports to help us find the best way forward and I’m now, and I’m happy to say we are in a strong financial sure that we will. position. My ambition now is to make sure that this continues and the Federation is in good shape when I COVID-19 has not been the only catalyst of change hand over the reins to my successor. for us. As we look to consolidate our position as an important, dynamic, and admired Olympic sport, we Meanwhile, no doubt like you, I look forward to the day when curlers can get back on the ice, competing President Kate Caithness on an are facing up to potential big changes in how we play inspection visit of the “Ice Cube” and govern our sport and how we present curling to safely and fairly and I have the opportunity once more in Beijing – home to curling at the outside world. to meet you all face-to-face. the Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022

WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 29 Thank You! LIVE ICE FEED INTERVIEW ICE TECH AREA OFFICIALS COMMENTATORS

PRESS & MEDIA BENCH UMPIRES OUTSIDE Stefan Roethlisberger The Board and Maximising The Value BROADCAST Hans Wuthrich staff of the World Graham Prouse - Chair TRUCKS Darrell Ell TIMERS Curling Federation Richard Harding Competitions and PHOTOGRAPHERS are helped by many Kathy Henderson Rules Commission individuals to deliver Naoki Iwanaga Hugh Millikin — Chair Susan Kesley Paul Ahlgren the Federation’s ATHLETES Stefan Lund John Brown competitions, clinics, Hugh Millikin programmes and David Murdoch Danny Lamoureux Graham Prouse NETWORKING & other activities Mark Swandby COMMUNICATIONS around the world. Bent Ramsfjell Olga Zharkova Fred Randver With sincere SATELLITE Eeva Roethlisberger Finance Commission Chief Umpires UMPIRES UPLINK apologies to Morten Sogard — Chair Wojtek Augustyniak anyone who may John Anderson Glenda Barrowman be accidentally left Structural Review Lauri Ikävalko Darren Carson Pat Edington Group Leland Rich Susie Czarnetzki Johan Fahlstroem out, these pages Beau Welling - Chair John Shea Linda Kirton Cissi Fransson list many who have Bruce Crawford Brad LaRoy Rene Fuchs contributed during Colin Grahamslaw Governance Steen Lauridsen Rob Gagnon Terri Johnson Commission Colin Melrose Ki Gennemark 2019–2020 season, Michael Marklund Bent Ramsfjell — Chair Michael Schlatter Junpyo Hong with the thanks of Willie Nicol Willie Nicol Alan Stanfield Anja Huckle the Federation for Gregor Rigler Vladimir Isak Deputy Chief Umpires Yang Jian Lisa Peters doing so. David Sik Jennifer Stannard Karen Wauters Bob Bomas Wang Jue Marta Pluta Ekaterina Priemskaja Sergio Mitsuo Vilela Medical Advisory Franziska Christ Buttler Vitaly Karpinskiy Nagore Ramirez de la Piscina Group Michele Gower Daryl Kirton Jens Rigtorp Athlete Commission Dr Irantzu Garcia Sandy Gagnon Kari Kokkonen Lorna Smith Nolan Thiessen — Chair Dr Janice Harvey David Imlay Arto Laine Stewart Sutherland Dr Young-Hee Lee Rastislav Michalka Aleksei Levin Sylvia Sykorova Anna Kubeskova Dr Robert McCormack Anton Porotikov Yu Liang Iulia Traila Patrick McDonald Dr Alan Stanfield Joaquim Reimertz Li Lingshu David Murdoch Marg White Rainer Magi Octavia Traila Jill Officer Therapeutic Use Marion Malcolm Chief Timers Exemption Committee Game Umpires Cristian Matau Guido Caccivio Technical Commission Dr Janice Harvey - Chair Linsey Alison Gheorghe Matau James Hustler Toyo Ogawa — Chair Dr Ross Duff Roland Basler Kenneth McCall Tom Brewster Dr Young-Hee Lee Tim Bastian John McGowan Christian Leibbrandt Mark Callan Dr Robert McCormack Sofie Bergman Albert Middler Cristian Matau Greg Ewasko Dor Borthwick Taru Oksanen Thomas Pautsch Gyorgy Nagy Harry Brodie Alexander Orlov Eduard Veltsman Leif Ohman Randy Czarnetzki Agnes Patonai Brian Yeats

30 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 PRODUCTION OFFICES

HOSPITALITY FRONT OF HOUSE

VENUE LIGHT SPECTATORS Michael Houston Lorne Flieler & SOUND Camp and Course Administrators Jolene Latimer Daniel Fullerton Joe Fritz Yue Xu Kal Genereux CAMERAMEN Christian Leibbrandt Greg Godfrey Historical Results and Katerina Urbanova World Curling David Gregorchuk LOCAL World Rankings Photographers Craig Hannon Douglas Hallett VOLUNTEERS Paul Ahlgren Susan Wendorf Jeffrey Au Stephen Fisher John Helmer World Team Rankings Business of Curling Richard Gray John Johnson Ryan Kuhni Gerry Geurts (CurlingZone) Instructor Alina Pavlyuchik Fred Randver Tom Rowland Charles Marks Lesley McCrae SCORE Camp and Course Céline Stucki Cody McKendry KEEPERS Instructors Olympic Celebration Aleksandr Orlov Brad Askew Tour Sports Media Trainee Guy Ouellet UMPIRES Tim Bastian Tom Brewster Programme Winners Karla Piper Alzbeta Baudysova Vikki Chalmers Cheyenne Boone Ken Ramsay Lajos Belleli Greg Drummond (Photographer) Michael Goodfellow Emil Cooper (Photographer) Brian Rishaug Jamie Danbrook Mark Callan David Murdoch Dimitris Kouimtsidis (Journalist) Glenn Robinson John Heron Janice Shen Victoria Dupont Olivia Crook-Simiana Joergen Larsen Stepping Stones Kenneth Sundstroem Clancy Grandy (Journalist) Paul Martin Programme Instructor David Traut Mika Ollikainen Darryl Horne Ken Bagnell Graphic Designers Agostino Urso Mike Reid Alison Walker Viktor Kjaell Douglas Colquhoun Graham Smith World Academy Danny Wang Shari Leibbrandt Michael Kinlan of Sports Athlete Stephen Wilcox Deputy Chief Ice Pathway Programme World Curling TV Allan Wugalter Technicians Stefan Roethlisberger Instructors Director Peter Wugalter Reece Aiken Michael Schlatter Andrei Zeleney Steve Griffiths Richard Wells Joe Fritz Mike Hay Asmus Joergensen Jock Tyre World Curling TV – World Curling TV Live Channel Alister Martin World Curling Academy Commentators Deputy Chief Timers Fuessen Assistants Berth Brandell Stuart McLachlan Curriculum Advisory Luke Coley Ingemar Eriksson Alina Androsova Johan Brandell Gong Ming Lei Group Rhona Howie Kay Gibbs Emma Arnold Jens Edlund Ivan Moglia Mark Callan Sander Roelvaag Thomas Kiesche George Munro Joakim Flyg Judith McCleary Patrik Hagglund Maarit Palsynaho Ingvild Skaga Don Powell World Curling TV Crew Christian Schaller Cristian Matau Media Partners Greig Smith Michael Schlatter David Anson Victor Martinsson All Star Partner Brigitte Schoeneich Alan Stanfield Richard Baron Marta Pluta Blue2 Digital Graham Stanley Statistics and Results Brett Waldroff Michael Cleasby Charlie Richard iX.co Niu Xiaoxian — Curlit Karen Watson Cameron Collingwood Christian Saager Agnieszka Schroeder Devin Conreault QTV Sports Chief Ice Technicians Nadine Saager Reto Schoenenberger World Curling Media Andrew Elder Jamie Bourassa Aleksandr Yanin Ingvild Skaga Mariann Bardocz-Bencsik Thom Ferus Mark Callan Nata Yanina Jayne Mike Haggerty

WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 31 Events calendar

2020–2021 Season

9th World Curling Congress (Online Annual General Assembly) 6 September 2020 World Mixed Curling Championship 2020 Aberdeen, Scotland 10–17 October 2020 CANCELLED World Wheelchair-B Curling Championship 2020 Lohja, Finland 31 October – 6 November 2020 POSTPONED Pacific-Asia Curling Championships 2020 Wakkanai, Japan 7–14 November 2020 CANCELLED Americas Challenge 2020 Chaska, , United States 12–15 November 2020 CANCELLED Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships 2020 Lillehammer, Norway 21–28 November 2020 CANCELLED World Mixed Doubles Qualification Event 2020 Erzurum, Turkey 5–12 December 2020 World Junior-B Curling Championships 2021 Lohja, Finland 3–11 January 2021 CANCELLED World Qualification Event 2021 Lohja, Finland 12–17 January 2021 CANCELLED 30th FISU Winter World University Games Lucerne, Switzerland 21–31 January 2021 World Junior Curling Championships 2021 Beijing, China 18–28 February 2021 World Wheelchair Curling Championship 2021 Beijing, China 6–13 March 2021 LGT World Women's Curling Championship 2021 Schaffhausen, Switzerland 20–28 March 2021 World Men's Curling Championship 2021 Ottawa, Canada 3–11 April 2021 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2021 TBC 24 April – 1 May 2021 World Senior Curling Championships 2021 TBC 24 April – 1 May 2021 European Curling Championships C-Division 2021 TBC 1–8 May 2021

For more information about all of the World Curling Events visit www.worldcurling.org/events

32 WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 Sponsors & Credits

Credits Sponsors

Editors Official partners Mike Haggerty, Christopher Hamilton Design Douglas Colquhoun Design www.facebook.com/dccreates Picture Editor Richard Gray Words Marketing and Scott Arnold, Sylvie Aubrit, Belinda Bantle- media rights partner Development partner Education partner Carboni, Kate Caithness, Hew Chalmers, Emily Dwyer, Darrell Ell, Colin Grahamslaw, Mike Haggerty, Christopher Hamilton, Richard Harding, Rayad Husain, Kyle Jahns, Jenna Martin, Hugh Millikin, Toyo Ogawa, Graham Prouse, Bent Ramsfjell, Eeva Roethlisberger, Nolan Thiessen and Sergio Mitsuo Vilela Pictures Official suppliers Scott Arnold, Cheyenne Boone, Emil Cooper, Darrell Ell, Stephen Fisher, Louis Flood, Richard Gray, Christopher Hamilton, Peter Harsanyi, Ice Brasil, Alina Pavlyuchik, Tom Rowland, Céline Stucki

World Curling Federation 3 Atholl Crescent Perth, PH1 5NG Phone: +44 (0)1738 451 630 Email: [email protected] Web: www.worldcurling.org Facebook: /WorldCurlingFederation Official pin supplier Twitter: @worldcurling Instagram: @worldcurling YouTube: /WorldCurlingTV Sina Weibo: /worldcurling LinkedIn: /company/worldcurling

WORLD CURLING FEDERATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019-2020 33 2019-2020 CHAMPIONS