19 March 2025
Breaking the ice: Denmark secure first-time funding
Denmark’s Dupont sisters – skip Madeleine and second player Denise – have each competed in 16 different world championships. But this time, it feels different.
Until now, Danish curling teams have had to work hard to fund their participation, often relying on self-financing. However, for the first time, the funding situation has improved significantly.
Skip Madeleine explains, “We’ve made a deal with the Danish Institute of Elite Sports – Team Denmark – and our respective workplaces that we will work half time and half hours every week for the next year, and that the Institute will fund half our salaries so that we get to practise more.”
She continues, “This type of support for curling has never happened before. It’s difficult, though – they want to see results before they will give you funding, but we can’t get the results without the funding. After (winning) the Euros in 2022 and getting this team together – that can perhaps do more than finishing somewhere in the middle at championships – I think they see we have potential.”
Outside of curling, the team members juggle various professions: Madeleine works in television, while others are lab technicians, physio therapists, teachers, and students. But she highlights the biggest advantage of the new arrangement. “Now we’ve been able to practise together during the week instead of working. That’s a big difference,” she says, adding, “Practice is one thing, but competition is another. What we really want to do is play more competitions.”
Madeleine also stresses another key factor she hopes this funding will address. “I’m hoping we can compete in a few events next season; that’d make a difference. You have to get used to this ice – we don’t get to see ice like this very often, and some teams here see it all the time. That means we make mistakes at the start of an event that we don’t make at the end of the week.”
This support from Team Denmark comes as the next Olympic Winter Games approach, adding another layer of pressure. Reflecting on Denmark’s only Olympic curling medal – the silver won by Helena Blach Lavrsen in Nagano in 1998 – Madeleine acknowledges its significance. “That was huge,” she says.
Madeleine carried Denmark’s flag at the Beijing Games three years ago and understands the spotlight that comes with Olympic curling. “Olympic curling is a big deal every four years… lots of people are watching. I’m hoping that people will be watching… it’ll be fun!” she says.
She also notes that, while Denmark will have athletes in other disciplines, her team – if they qualify – will carry high expectations. “While Denmark has qualified some other sports, they don’t really have medal chances, but to get there we will already have to be in the top ten.”
While this new arrangement brings great benefits, Madeleine acknowledges the added responsibility. “For the first time in my life, I feel an unspoken pressure, but we want to bring home a good result. When people find that trust in you and they believe in you, you want to give back somehow.”
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