World Curling Championships

The World Curling Championships began in 1959 as the Scotch Cup. The Scotch Cup was created by Toronto public relations executive and former sports journalist Stanley D. Houston on behalf of the Scotch Whisky Association, a client of Houston's agency Public Relations Services Limited, which was looking to generate increased North American exposure for its products.{{citation needed|date=April 2019}} The first three Cups were contested between men's teams from Scotland and Canada. The United States joined the Scotch Cup in 1961, and Sweden also joined the next year. Canada won the first six world titles, of which the legendary rink skipped by Ernie Richardson earned four. The United States was the first country to break Canada's streak, winning their first world title in 1965. By 1967, Norway, Switzerland, France, and Germany were added to the Scotch Cup, and Scotland won their first title, while Canada finished without a medal for the first time. The tournament was renamed the Air Canada Silver Broom the year after that, and Canada strung together five consecutive world titles starting in that year.

In 1973, the competing field was expanded to ten teams, and Italy and Denmark were introduced to the world stage. Sweden, Switzerland, and Norway won their first titles in the following years, and Canada continued to win medals of all colours. In 1979, the first edition of the women's World Curling Championships was held. The championships were held separately from the men's championships for the first ten years. During this time, Switzerland, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany won world titles.

Bronze medals were not awarded until 1985 for the women's tournament and 1986 for the men's tournament. Between 1989 and 1994, the bronze medal was shared by the semifinals losers.

Beginning in 1989, the men's and women's championships were held together. Norway won their first world women's title. In 1995, Ford Canada and the World Curling Federation reached an agreement to make Ford the sponsor of the World Curling Championships. Japan, the first nation from Asia to compete in the worlds, made their debut in 1990 at the women's championship, and later in 2000 at the men's championship. South Korea and China followed suit in the 2000s. Scotland won their first women's title in 2002, and the United States won their first women's title the next year.

In 2005, the men's and women's championships were separated, and an agreement was made between the World Curling Federation and the Canadian Curling Association that Canada would host one of the tournaments annually each year, all of which are title sponsored by Ford of Canada. Canada began a streak of top two finishes in the men's tournament, and China won their first world title in the women's tournament in 2009.

In 2008, a world championship for mixed doubles curling was created. Switzerland won the first world mixed doubles title, and proceeded to win four of the first five titles. Russia and Hungary won their first world curling titles in the mixed doubles championship, and New Zealand, France, Austria, and the Czech Republic won their first world curling medals.

In 2015, a world championship for mixed curling was created, replacing the European Mixed Curling Championship and supplanting the European Mixed and Canadian Mixed curling championships as the highest level of mixed curling in the world.{{cite web |url=http://www.worldcurling.org/wcf-annual-general-assembly-2014 |title=WCF Annual General Assembly 2014 - 7 September |date=7 September 2014 |publisher=World Curling Federation |access-date=7 September 2014}}

In 2019, the World Qualification Event was introduced, to qualify the final two teams in the men's and women's championships.{{Cite web |url=http://www.worldcurling.org/aga-2017 |title=World Curling Championships to grow after Annual General Assembly |date=17 September 2017 |website=World Qualification Event |access-date=20 November 2018}} A mixed doubles qualification event will also be added in the 2019–20 curling season, qualifying the final four teams of the twenty-team mixed doubles championship.{{cite web |url=http://www.worldcurling.org/download/?dl==AFVxIkVWZ1RhxmRWR1aatWVFlVeW1mRPZlRkRzUVplV |author=World Curling Federation |title=Resolutions put to the World Curling Annual General Assembly 2018 |website=World Curling Federation |date=9 September 2018 |access-date=20 November 2018}}

In 2020, the men's, women's and mixed doubles championships were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.{{cite web |last1=Au |first1=Jeffrey |title=World Mixed Doubles and World Senior Curling Championships 2020 cancelled in Kelowna, Canada |date=14 March 2020 |url=https://worldcurling.org/2020/03/wmdcc-wscc-cancelled/ |publisher=World Curling Association |access-date=19 March 2020}}{{cite web |title=LGT World Men's Curling Championship 2020 cancelled in Glasgow, Scotland |date=14 March 2020 |url=https://worldcurling.org/2020/03/wmcc2020-cancelled/ |publisher=World Curling Association |access-date=19 March 2020}}{{cite web |title=World Women's Curling Championship 2020 cancelled in Prince George, Canada |date=12 March 2020 |url=https://worldcurling.org/2020/03/wwcc2020-cancelled/ |publisher=World Curling Association |access-date=19 March 2020}}

The World Curling Championships have been known by a number of different names over the years.

Men

• 1959–1967: Scotch Cup
• 1968–1985: Air Canada Silver Broom
• 1986–1988: IOC President's Cup (Hexagon)
• 1989–1990: WCF Championships
• 1991–1992: Canada Safeway World Curling Championship
• 1993–1994: WCF Championships
• 1995–2004: Ford World Curling Championship
• 2005–2017: Ford World Men's Curling Championship (odd years)
• 2006–2018: World Men's Curling Championship (even years)
• 2019: Pioneer Hi-Bred World Men's Curling Championship
• 2020–present: LGT World Men's Curling Championship (even years)
• 2021–present: BKT Tires & OK Tire World Men's Curling Championship (odd years)

Women

• 1979–1981: Royal Bank of Scotland World Curling Championships
• 1982: World Curling Championships
• 1983: Pioneer Life World Curling Championships
• 1984: World Curling Championships
• 1985: H&M World Curling Championships
• 1986–1990: World Curling Championships
• 1991–1992: Canada Safeway World Curling Championships
• 1993–1994: World Curling Championships
• 1995–2004: Ford World Curling Championships
• 2005–2017: World Women's Curling Championship (odd years)
• 2006–2018: Ford World Women's Curling Championship (even years)
• 2019–present: LGT World Women's Curling Championship (odd years)
• 2022–present: BKT Tires & OK Tire World Women's Curling Championship (even years)

The first two world championships, held as competitions between Scotland and Canada, were held as five-game series between the two nations. Upon the addition of the United States in 1961, the format was changed to a double round robin preliminary round with a three-team knockout round at the conclusion of the round robin. The knockout round was removed for the next two championships. With the addition of more teams, a single round robin preliminary round with a four-team knockout round was implemented in 1971. The championships occurring from 1968 to 1970 included three-team knockout rounds instead of four-team knockout rounds. The knockout round format was adjusted from single-elimination to the Page playoff system in 2005.

In the championships held from 1971 to 1985, third place was awarded to either the team that lost in the semifinal of a three-team knockout round or the higher-seeded team among the losing teams of a four-team knockout round. A bronze medal game was added to the knockout round in 1986, but bronze medal games were not held from 1989 to 1994, during which bronze medals were awarded to the teams that lost in the semifinals.

Until 2017 format of the world championships used a twelve team round-robin preliminary round, after which the top four teams advance to a knockout round held using the Page playoff system.

Starting in 2018 there are 13 teams playing round-robin preliminary round with top six advancing to a single-elimination knockout with top two receiving bye to the semifinals.{{Cite web |url=http://www.worldcurling.org/aga-2017 |title=World Curling Championships to grow after Annual General Assembly |website=World Curling Federation |access-date=20 May 2018}} This includes two teams from the Americas zone, eight from the European zone (via the European Curling Championships) and three from the Asia-Pacific zone (via the Pacific-Asia Curling Championships). For 2019, the number of teams from the Asia-Pacific zone will be reduced by one, and there will also be one less team from the zone of the bottom-placed team at the 2018 championships.[http://www.worldcurling.org/download/?dl==AFVxIkVWZ1RhxmRWR1aatWVFlVeWxGcHVGbad1UrplV PDF] from [http://www.worldcurling.org/aga-2017] The two slots will be allocated to teams from the new World Qualification Event. The qualification event will have eight teams: the host country, one team from the Americas, two from Pacific-Asia, and four from Europe.

{{See also|List of World Men's Curling Champions}}

{{See also|List of World Women's Curling Champions}}

{{Main|World Mixed Curling Championship}}

{{Main|World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship}}

{{See also|List of World Mixed Doubles Curling Champions}}

{{Main|World Wheelchair Curling Championship}}

{{Main|World Wheelchair Mixed Doubles Curling Championship}}

As of 2025 World Men's Curling Championship

{{Medals table

| caption =

| host =

| flag_template = flagcountry

| event =

| team =

| gold_CAN = 61 | silver_CAN = 29 | bronze_CAN = 25

| gold_SWE = 25 | silver_SWE = 27 | bronze_SWE = 17

| gold_SUI = 21 | silver_SUI = 14 | bronze_SUI = 20

| gold_SCO = 14 | silver_SCO = 29 | bronze_SCO = 20

| gold_NOR = 11 | silver_NOR = 12 | bronze_NOR = 22

| gold_RUS = 7 | silver_RUS = 5 | bronze_RUS = 6

| gold_USA = 6 | silver_USA = 11 | bronze_USA = 17

| gold_CHN = 5 | silver_CHN = 4 | bronze_CHN = 8

| gold_GER = 2 | silver_GER = 9 | bronze_GER = 10

| gold_HUN = 2 | silver_HUN = 2 | bronze_HUN = 0

| gold_DEN = 1 | silver_DEN = 4 | bronze_DEN = 7

| gold_KOR = 1 | silver_KOR = 4 | bronze_KOR = 4

| gold_LAT = 1 | silver_LAT = 0 | bronze_LAT = 0

| gold_JPN = 1 | silver_JPN = 3 | bronze_JPN = 0

| gold_ESP = 0 | silver_ESP = 2 | bronze_ESP = 1

| gold_FIN = 0 | silver_FIN = 1 | bronze_FIN = 3

| gold_EST = 0 | silver_EST = 1 | bronze_EST = 1

| gold_NZL = 0 | silver_NZL = 1 | bronze_NZL = 0

| gold_ITA = 0 | silver_ITA = 0 | bronze_ITA = 3

| gold_CZE = 0 | silver_CZE = 0 | bronze_CZE = 2

| gold_FRA = 0 | silver_FRA = 0 | bronze_FRA = 2

| gold_AUT = 0 | silver_AUT = 0 | bronze_AUT = 1

}}

• {{flagicon|CAN}} The Brier{{cite news |title=Curling's iconic Brier seeks corporate home |url=https://www.si.com/curling/news/curlings-iconic-brier-seeks-corporate-home |date=November 29, 2022 |publisher=Sports Illustrated |agency=The Curling News |access-date=March 12, 2023}}
• {{flagicon|USA}} United States Men's Curling Championship
• {{flagicon|SCO}} Scottish Men's Curling Championship
• {{flagicon|FRA}} French Men's Curling Championship
• {{flagicon|RUS}} Russian Curling Championships
• {{flagicon|ITA}} Italian Curling Championship
• {{flagicon|FIN}} Finnish Men's Curling Championship{{cite web |url=http://www.curling.fi/en/competitions/archive/finnish-championships |title=Finnish Championships - Past seasons |publisher=Curling.fi |access-date=2014-02-18}}
• {{flagicon|DEN}} Danish Men's Curling Championship
• {{flagicon|SUI}} Swiss Men's Curling Championship
• {{flagicon|NZL}} New Zealand Men's Curling Championship
• {{flagicon|SWE}} Swedish Men's Curling Championship
• {{flagicon|JPN}} Japan Curling Championships
• {{flagicon|LAT}} Latvian Men's Curling Championship
• {{flagicon|NOR}} Norwegian Men's Curling Championship
• {{flagicon|EST}} Estonian Men's Curling Championship
• {{flagicon|CZE}} Czech Men's Curling Championship
• {{flagicon|KOR}} Korean Curling Championships

• {{flagicon|CAN}} Scotties Tournament of Hearts
• {{flagicon|USA}} United States Women's Curling Championship
• {{flagicon|SCO}} Scottish Women's Curling Championship
• {{flagicon|FRA}} French Women's Curling Championship
• {{flagicon|RUS}} Russian Curling Championships
• {{flagicon|ITA}} Italian Curling Championship
• {{flagicon|FIN}} Finnish Women's Curling Championship
• {{flagicon|DEN}} Danish Women's Curling Championship
• {{flagicon|SUI}} Swiss Women's Curling Championship
• {{flagicon|SWE}} Swedish Women's Curling Championship
• {{flagicon|JPN}} Japan Curling Championships
• {{flagicon|LAT}} Latvian Women's Curling Championship
• {{flagicon|EST}} Estonian Women's Curling Championship
• {{flagicon|CZE}} Czech Women's Curling Championship
• {{flagicon|KOR}} Korean Curling Championships

• Curse of LaBonte
• World Junior Curling Championships
• World Senior Curling Championships
• World Mixed Curling Championship
• World Curling Tour
• Curling World Cup

{{reflist}}

• {{cite web |url=http://results.worldcurling.org/Championships.aspx |title=Championships Search |publisher=World Curling Federation |access-date=2010-03-31}}

{{World Curling Championships}}

{{Season of Champions}}

{{Main world championships}}

Category:World Curling Federation

Curling

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Category:Recurring sporting events established in 1959