Women's world curling championship cancelled
For the second time in as many years, the women's world curling championship has been cancelled because of the COVID -19 pandemic.
The World Curling Federation announced the cancellation on Monday, saying it was based on a decision by the Swiss local health authority to not support the event.
The championship was supposed to be played in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, from March 19-28. Last year's championship, which was to be played in Prince George, B.C., was also scrapped.
“It is disappointing, but I'm glad that we found out before the Scotties,” said 2020 Canadian women's champion Kerri Einarson, whose team missed out on a chance to play in the worlds last year.
“If we found out during the Scotties, that would be even more devastating.”
While Curling Canada has received approval to host major events in a bubble environment in Calgary, starting this month, the women's worlds aren't currently part of the plan.
The Scotties Tournament of Hearts (Canadian women's championship), Tim Hortons Brier (men's championship), Canadian mixed doubles championship and the world men's championship will all be staged in the bubble over a two-month period, starting on Feb. 19.
The World Curling Federation could ask Curling Canada to include the world women's event in the bubble, but the planning for the bubble is complicated enough already.
“We're evaluating all of the options open to us at the moment,” said Christopher Hamilton, head of media for the WCF. “However, with the logistics involved in bringing another international event into the Calgary bubble, as well as the limited time we have available, it's unlikely that will be the route we take.”
The world championships are used as qualifying events for the Olympics, and the back-to-back cancellations have played havoc with that process for Beijing 2022.
WCF president Kate Caithness said the door is open to some sort of rescheduling of the women's worlds, or even replacing it with a different type of Olympic qualifying event.
“I think they're going to find a way to either move the women's worlds or do something else with it,” said Emma Miskew, the third for Rachel Homan's Ottawa rink that won the world championship in 2017 and represented Canada at the 2018 Olympics.
“It's just a waiting game at this point while they figure out what that's going to look like. We're not really frustrated about it. I know they'll figure something out for the women.”