23 October 2023
Pan Continental Curling Championships ready to go in Kelowna, Canada
World Curling’s international competition season now moves on to the Kelowna Curling Club in British Columbia, Canada, with the second Pan Continental Curling Championships set to get underway on Sunday 29 October.
The Pan Continental is the world championship qualifier for Member Associations, apart from those in the European Zone.
Last year’s inaugural edition took place in Calgary, Canada, replacing the former world championship qualification routes of the Pacific-Asia Curling Championships and the Americas Challenge.
The European nations will have their own world qualification event — the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships 2023 — staged in Aberdeen, Scotland in late November.
The Pan Continental Championships features 14 women’s teams, divided into an A-Division of eight teams and a B-Division of six teams; and 16 men’s teams, divided into an A-Division of eight teams and a B-Division of eight teams.
In the women’s event, teams are playing for qualification to the BKT Tires World Women’s Curling Championship 2024, taking place in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada in March. As hosts of this event, Canada qualify automatically for one of the five slots available from the Pan Continental event, leaving the other seven A-Division teams to battle it out for four places.
In the men’s event, five qualification places in the line-up of the LGT World Men’s Curling Championship 2024 will be up for grabs. The world championship will take place in Schaffhausen, Switzerland from 30 March to 7 April.
The bottom A-Division teams in both the women’s and men’s events will be demoted to next season’s B-Division, to be replaced by the promotion of this season’s B-Division winners.
The women’s teams are:
A-Division: Australia, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand and United States
B-Division: Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Kenya and Philippines.
Among these:
- Japan is represented by last year’s gold medal winners, skipped by Fujisawa Satsuki
- Canada’s Kerri Einarson and her team took bronze at this event, and the world championship last season
- United States’ skip Tabitha Peterson leads her team again, trying to improve on their fourth-place finish last season
- New Zealand, under skip Jessica Smith, finished fifth overall last season, to qualify for their first-ever world championship
- Chinese Taipei won last season’s B-Division, to gain promotion to this season’s A-Division
- Mexico finished second in last season’s B-Division, but with Kazakhstan facing travel difficulties that forced them to withdraw, Mexico have been promoted to the A-Division
- After failing to enter last season, China return, to play in the B-Division
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Team Canada © WCF / Howard Lao Both Jamaica and Philippines are making their debuts at this level, in the B-Division
The men’s teams are:
A-Division: Australia, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Guyana, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and United States
B-Division: Brazil, China, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, Mexico, Philippines and Saudi Arabia.
Among these:
- Canada, under skip Brad Gushue, won this event last season, before going on to take silver at the world championship
- United States, skipped by Andrew Stopera, is looking to improve on last season’s bronze medal
- Since last season, the New Zealand men, skipped by Anton Hood have re-located to Canada to assist their sporting ambitions
- Guyana, skipped by Ray Husain, won last season’s B-Division, to gain promotion to this year’s A-Division
- As with their women, China’s men return this season, to play in the B-Division
- Philippines are making their debut on World Curling ice
A-Division schedule
Round-robin play starts on Sunday 29 October, and continues until Thursday 2 November.
The women’s semi-finals will take place at 19:00 on 2 November, followed by the bronze medal game at 14:00 on 3 November and the gold medal final on 4 November at 10:00.
The men’s semi-final and bronze medal games will take place on 3 November at 9:00 and 19:00, while the gold medal final will be at 15:00 on 4 November.
B-Division schedule
Round robin will run from 29 October until 2 November. Both women’s and men’s semi-finals will take place on 3 November at 19:00, while all women’s and men’s medal games will be played on 4 November at 10:00.
The World Curling Federation will provide coverage of all A-Division games on The Curling Channel, on the Recast platform.
Click here for all information on broadcast and streaming.
Click here for the championships FAQ.
All times are Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) which is UTC/GMT -7.
Engage with the World Curling Federation on in the lead up to the Pan Continental Curling Championships 2023 on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Weibo and by searching the hashtags #curling and #PCCC
