27 April 2023
World Mixed Doubles round robin concludes
The ten teams in Group A concluded their nine-game round-robin programme on Thursday afternoon.
Canada, who had only lost to Estonia during the round robin, beat Korea by 7-6 for an eighth win. This puts them at the top of the rankings and gives them the direct route to the semi-finals.
Estonia had lost their first game to Denmark but went on a winning streak from then. However, on Thursday afternoon, they went down to a second defeat, losing by 6-8 to Netherlands.
Meanwhile, Scotland beat Czech Republic by 6-5. The Scots and Estonia share the same won seven, lost two record, but because Estonia won the head-to-head between them, they rank second. The Scots finished third overall in the group.
Australia, who beat Hungary by 7-5 in this session for a fifth win, finished fourth overall.
Denmark, Italy and Netherlands all finished tied with four wins. In this case, the draw shot challenge was used to place Denmark fifth, Italy sixth and Netherlands seventh – all clear of the relegation zone.
The Czech loss to Scotland ranked them eighth, while Korea’s loss to Canada meant they ranked ninth. These two teams will now be involved in relegation play-offs.
Hungary finished tenth overall in the group, with just one win, and they now go directly to next year’s World Mixed Doubles Qualification Event.
Later, the final Group B games were staged.
Japan went into this session as undefeated group leaders, but went down by 1-9 to Switzerland. However, on eight wins overall, they still finished in top spot to take the direct route to the semi-finals.
United States lost their last game against Spain, by 9-8 after an extra end, to finish their round-robin campaign with a won seven, lost two record.
Meanwhile, the Swiss win over Japan gave them the same won seven, lost two record, while Norway’s 6-4 win over Germany also gave the same record.
With three teams tied, and only two play-off places available, United States went into second place because they had beaten both Norway and Switzerland. Norway were third, and both these teams now advance to the play-offs.
Switzerland, who had lost to both United States and Norway, finished fourth, to miss out on a play-off slot.
Sweden played Türkiye in this session and won by 9-8. Both of these teams finished on a won four, lost five record, as did Spain. The record among these three gave Sweden fifth place, while Türkiye ranked sixth and Spain seventh.
Austria played England in this final session and won by 8-2. This result, and Germany’s loss, means that the Germans and Austrians now go into relegation play-offs.
England are relegated to next season’s World Mixed Doubles Qualification Event.
With Canada and Japan taking the direct route to the semi-finals, Scotland will play United States in Friday morning’s qualification play-offs, while Estonia are up against Norway.
At the same time, in the relegation play-offs, Germany will meet Czech Republic while Austria are up against Korea.
Find all the round-robin results here. Find the play-off schedule here.
Engage with the World Curling Federation during the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2023 on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Weibo and be searching the hashtags #curling #WMDCC2023
