 2022 Olympic gold medalist Stefania Constantini (Picture: WCF/Celine Stucki) will be looking for a world title to wrap up an impressive 2021-22 season, as the 2022 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship gets started in Geneva. By: Dylan Chenier Italy's Stefania Constantini, 2022 Olympic champion, will be looking to add a world title to her resume as the 2022 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship gets underway in Geneva, Switzerland. Just as Italy did at the Winter Games in Beijing, Constantini and new partner Sebastiano Arman will face some stiff competition at this year's championship, with a stacked field featuring a number of former world and Olympic champions. This week, Arman will be filling in for Constantini's regular teammate Amos Mosaner, who has been sidelined due to injury. In total, 20 teams will take to the ice this week in Geneva, all hoping to be the best in the field in search of a gold medal at the end of the week. The tournament will see the 20 teams divided into two groups of 10, with the top three teams from each pool advancing to the playoffs. Constantini and Mosaner lead Pool A, with the Italian duo searching for the country's first-ever podium finish at the event. Also in Group A are 2011 champions Alina Paetz and Sven Michel who will represent Switzerland. Paetz enters this week's tournament after winning her third-consecutive world women's title back in March. Michel will be looking for his third mixed doubles world championship, with his most recent gold coming back in 2018. Teams Italy and Switzerland will take on the likes of Kim Minji and Lee Kijeong's Korean pairing and Sweden's Rasmus and Isabella Wrana in the hopes of finishing in the top three to advance to the playoffs. While Group A features some noteworthy teams, Group B may be the more competitive pool, with Teams Canada, Scotland and the USA all in contention for a medal. Leading Canada's contingent at this week's event are Brett Galant and Jocelyn Peterman, a successful pairing both on the ice and off. The engaged couple will be competing in their second mixed doubles world championships this year. In 2019, Peterman and Gallant made it to the gold medal game where they lost to Team Sweden. This week in Geneva the duo will be looking to improve on their result from 2019 and secure Canada its first-ever world mixed doubles title. Representing Team Scotland will be 2022 Olympic women's champion Eve Muirhead, who will be competing with 2022 Beijing men's silver medalist Bobbie Lammie. The duo will be hoping to score Scotland its second consecutive world title after Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat won the event in 2021. Team USA will be led by 2018 Olympic men's champion Matt Hamilton, and his sister Rebecca. The Hamilton siblings last competed at the world championships in 2017 where they made it to the first round of the playoffs, before losing to Finland in the round of 16. The 2022 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship officially gets underway on Saturday, April 23, with teams contesting an 18 draw round-robin ahead of the playoffs. While the top three teams from each group will make it to the weekend, each group winner will advance directly to the semi-finals.
While attention will be paid to the top teams throughout the week, fans of smaller countries will be keeping their eyes on the bottom of the standings, as the two lowest-ranking teams in each group will be relegated to the Mixed Doubles Qualification Event. The eighth and ninth-ranked teams will also crossover to play teams from the opposite group in a series of relegation games, with the losers being forced to contest next year's qualification event. This year's tournament marks the 14th edition of the championship, it made its international debut in Finland in 2008. In total, five different nations have won gold over the years, with Switzerland having won over half of the total gold medals at 7. Countries like Canada and Norway are still looking for their first title. The mixed doubles format features some noticeable differences from the four-person event, including: -Teams throw six stones each instead of eight, with one stone from each team prepositioned before the start of each end, -Player one delivers the first and last stones, with player two throwing the second, third, and fourth. Positions are not determined based on gender and can be swapped after an end. -Either member can sweep at any given time, often teams will elect to use just one sweeper while the other player calls line -Each team is given 22 months of thinking time with each game played to eight ends. |
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Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant (Photo: World Curling) are tied for second at the midway point of the competition.
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