| Americas Challenge | |
|---|---|
| Established | 2009 |
| Abolished | 2021 |
The Americas Challenge wasa curling challenge held by the World Curling Federation between teams in its Americas zone. The winner of the challenge qualified their country for the World Curling Championships, and in later years, the runner-up for the now defunct World Qualification Event. [1] The challenge is not automatically held every year, and only takes place when a team in the Americas zone challenges the second-ranked Americas team in that year's World Curling Championship (or the first-ranked team if the second-ranked is hosting).
The first challenge was held in 2009, with Brazil losing to the United States. Brazil again challenged and lost to the United States in 2010, 2015, and 2017. [2] In January 2018, with the United States automatically qualifying as hosts of the 2018 World Men's Curling Championship, Brazil challenged and lost to Canada. The November 2018 challenge was the first to see more than two teams competing, with Guyana joining the challenge for the first time. [3] In 2019, Mexico joined the challenge with Guyana not competing. United States would win again, going 4-0.
A women's event has only been held twice, in 2017 and 2019. In 2017, Brazil challenged the United States but lost. Brazil's women's team challenged the United States in November 2018, but conceded to the United States to qualify for the World Qualification Event. In 2019, Mexico joined the challenge but the United States still won going 4-0.
The 2009 World Men's Curling Championship was held in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada from April 4–12, 2009, at the Moncton Coliseum. The event, which formally celebrated 50 years of World Men's Curling (1959-2009) plus the 225th anniversary of the host province of New Brunswick, kicked off with a three-hour extravaganza combining the Opening Ceremonies and Opening Banquet, an unprecedented start to the World Men's Curling Championship.
The World Curling Championships are the annual world championships for curling, organized by the World Curling Federation and contested by national championship teams. There are men's, women's and mixed doubles championships, as well as men's and women's versions of junior and senior championships. There is also a world championship for wheelchair curling. The men's championship started in 1959, while the women's started in 1979. The mixed doubles championship was started in 2008. Since 2005, the men's and women's championships have been held in different venues, with Canada hosting one of the two championships every year: the men's championship in odd years, and the women's championship in even years. Canada has dominated both the men's and women's championships since their inception, although Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Scotland, the United States, Norway and China have all won at least one championship.
The 2012 USA-Brazil Challenge was to be a curling challenge taking place from January 27 to 29 at the Bemidji Curling Club in Bemidji, Minnesota. The challenge round would have determined which nation would qualify to the last Americas Zone spot at the 2012 Capital One World Men's Curling Championship in Basel, Switzerland.
In the Americas Region for 2015 Rugby World Cup qualifying, Argentina had automatically qualified for the World Cup, and two places were available in the Americas qualification process, which were taken by Canada and the United States. An additional Americas team, Uruguay, also qualified as the Play-off winner.
Tabitha Skelly Peterson is an American curler from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was a bronze medalist at the 2010 World Junior Championships and is a three-time women's national champion. She currently is skip of her own team, having traded positions with Nina Roth during the 2020 off-season.
The 2015 USA–Brazil Challenge was a curling challenge that took place from January 30 to February 1 at the Four Seasons Curling Club in Blaine, Minnesota. The challenge round was held to determine which nation will qualify to the last Americas Zone spot at the 2015 Ford World Men's Curling Championship in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Brazil and the United States played a best-of-five series with the United States skip Heath McCormick winning three games in a row to win the challenge.
The curling competition of the 2018 Winter Olympics was held between 8 and 25 February 2018 at the Gangneung Curling Centre. This was the seventh time that curling is on the Olympic program. In each of the men's and women's competitions, ten nations competed. A third competition was added for the 2018 Olympics, mixed doubles, in which teams consist of one woman and one man. There were eight participating countries in the doubles competition.
A total of 10 teams in each tournament qualified for a quota of 100 athletes in curling at the 2018 Winter Olympics. A further 8 mixed doubles pairs qualified for a total of 16 athletes. Therefore, a total of 116 athletes qualified in total to compete in the curling competitions.
The 2017 Americas Challenge was a curling challenge taking place from January 27 to 29 at the Duluth Curling Club in Duluth, Minnesota. The challenge round was held to determine which nation would qualify for the last Americas Zone spot at the 2017 Ford World Men's Curling Championship and the 2017 World Women's Curling Championship. Brazil and the United States played a best-of-five series to determine the winner in both the men's and women's event.
The 2018 Americas Challenge was a curling challenge that took place from January 11 to 13 at the Western Fair Sports Centre in London, Ontario. The challenge round determined which nation would qualify to the last Americas Zone spot at the 2018 World Men's Curling Championship. Brazil and Canada played a best-of-five series to determine the winner in the men's event.
The 2019 World Men's Curling Championship was held from March 30 to April 7 at the ENMAX Centre in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
Ross Paterson is a retired Scottish curler from Glasgow. During his career, he represented Scotland at four World Men's Curling Championships and four European Curling Championships, winning a bronze medal at both the 2018 World Men's Curling Championship and the 2019 European Curling Championships. He also won silver at the 2007 Winter Universiade and bronze at the 2005 World Junior Curling Championships in his junior career. In 2018, he skipped his team to victory at the 2018 National Grand Slam of Curling event. He is a two-time champion at the Scottish Men's Curling Championship, winning the title in both 2016 and 2022.
The 2018 Americas Challenge was a curling challenge that took place from November 16 to 18 at the Chaska Curling Club in Chaska, Minnesota, United States.
Victoria Wright is a retired Scottish curler from Stranraer, and 2022 Olympic Champion in women's curling, playing third on Team Muirhead.
The curling competitions of the 2022 Winter Olympics were held at the Beijing National Aquatics Centre, one of the Olympic Green venues. Curling competitions were scheduled for every day of the games, from February 2 to February 20. This was the eighth time that curling was part of the Olympic program.
The 2019 Americas Challenge is a curling challenge that took place from November 28 to 30 at Curl Mesabi in Eveleth, Minnesota. This challenge determined the second team from the Americas Zone to qualify for the 2020 World Men's Championship and the 2020 World Women's Championship. It was held as part of the 2019 Curl Mesabi Classic World Curling Tour event.
Kerli Laidsalu is an Estonian curler from Tallinn, Estonia. She currently plays second on the Estonian women's curling team skipped by Marie Kaldvee.
The 2021 Americas Challenge is a curling challenge that took place from October 29 to 31 at Lacombe Curling Club in Lacombe, Alberta. The challenge was used to determine the second team from the Americas Zone to qualify for the 2022 World Men's Curling Championship, as the United States already qualifies as the host nation. It is the second time Canada has participated in the challenge, with their first being in 2018 where they defeated Brazil 3–0 in the best-of-five series. No women's challenge was held.
The 2022 World Men's Curling Championship was held from April 2 to April 10 at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, United States. Team Sweden, skipped by Niklas Edin, was the defending championship team. The 2022 WMCC trialed the no-tick rule for the first time at a men's tournament at this level.
The 2023 Pan Continental Curling Championships were held from October 29 to November 4 at the Kelowna Curling Club in Kelowna, British Columbia. The event was used to qualify teams for the 2024 World Curling Championships. Both men's and women's events consisted of an A Division and B Division.
