CURLING: World Curling to introduce new world team ranking system

For immediate release: Thursday 5 September 2019

Cancun, Mexico – The World Curling Federation has revealed it will be creating a new world team ranking system for the Olympic disciplines of women’s, men’s and mixed doubles curling from season 2019-2020 onwards.

The purpose of the Federation creating this system is in response to requests from its Member Associations and athletes. The system will ensure that all relevant competitive curling events in the world are eligible to earn points. Also, that there is a fair weighting of points distributed globally.

The world team ranking system will be administered by CurlingZone.

System development

Discussions around developing the system have begun this week, at the World Curling Congress, in Cancun, Mexico. Consultation with Member Associations, athletes and organisation’s currently using existing systems – including commercial curling tour operators – will continue throughout the 2019-2020 season. Then, before season 2020-2021 modifications will be applied.

World Curling Federation President, Kate Caithness, said: "Creating this new world team ranking system is something our elite athletes and Member Associations encouraged us to do. Now, we’re pleased to be able to work with CurlingZone and our stakeholders to develop the system."

Ranking differences

The world team ranking system differs significantly from the World Rankings. The primary difference is that the world team ranking system will track individual teams, while the World Rankings track Member Associations.

In the world team ranking system, multiple teams from a single Member Association can be ranked. Also, if in future a team of athletes from different countries registered, they could be ranked within this system.

Each of the 61 Member Associations of the World Curling Federation are ranked once per season, per discipline, in the World Rankings. These are determined based on a Member Association’s performances at international World Curling events. The World Ranking allocations don't consider the team of athletes representing that Member Association. World Rankings exist for women’s, men’s, mixed doubles, wheelchair and mixed curling.

More information on how world team ranking points will be earned during the upcoming season can be found here.

CurlingZone’s President, Gerry Geurts, said: "The world team ranking system will continue to be an important development tool for teams to set goals and track progress throughout the season. The new ranking will focus on every qualifying event around the world, while providing the base for tours and Member Associations to tailor their own rankings and set priorities for their own events."

The world team ranking system will be published on the brand new worldcurling.org website in the coming weeks.

You can follow the work of the World Curling Federation on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Weibo and by searching the hashtag #curling

Ends

Notes to Editors

About the World Curling Federation www.worldcurling.org

The World Curling Federation is the international sport federation governing the Olympic winter sport of curling and the Paralympic winter sport of wheelchair curling. The World Curling Federation is one of seven International Federations currently part of the Olympic Winter Games programme. It represents 61 Member Associations and is generally acknowledged to direct one of the fastest-growing international winter sports.

For further information, please contact:

Cameron MacAllister Chris Hamilton Emily Dwyer

Head of Media Digital Media Officer Media Officer

World Curling Federation

e: media@worldcurling.org

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