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The World Curling Championships are the annual world championships for curling, organized by the World Curling Federation and contested by national championship teams. The World Curling Championships began in 1959 as the Scotch Cup. The first three Cups were contested between men’s teams from Scotland and Canada. The United States joined the Scotch Cup in 1961, and Sweden also joined the next year. In 1973, the competing field was expanded to ten teams, and Italy and Denmark were introduced to the world stage. Sweden, Switzerland, and Norway won their first titles in the following years, and Canada continued to win medals of all colours.
In 1979, the first edition of the women’s World Curling Championships was held. The championships were held separately from the men’s championships for the first ten years. Bronze medals were not awarded until 1985 for the women’s tournament and 1986 for the men’s tournament. Between 1989 and 1994, the bronze medal was shared by the semifinals losers. Beginning in 1989, the men’s and women’s championships were held together. Norway won their first world women’s title. In 1995, Ford Canada and the World Curling Federation reached an agreement to make Ford the sponsor of the World Curling Championships.
In 2005, the men’s and women’s championships were separated, and an agreement was made between the World Curling Federation and the Canadian Curling Association that Canada would host one of the tournaments annually each year, all of which are title sponsored by Ford of Canada. In 2008, a world championship for mixed doubles curling was created. Switzerland won the first world mixed doubles title, and proceeded to win four of the first five titles. Russia and Hungary won their first world curling titles in the mixed doubles championship, and New Zealand, France, Austria, and the Czech Republic won their first world curling medals. In 2015, a world championship for mixed curling was created, replacing the European Mixed Curling Championship and supplanting the European Mixed and Canadian Mixed curling championships as the highest level of mixed curling in the world. In 2019, the World Qualification Event was introduced, to qualify the final two teams in the men’s and women’s championships.
The World Curling Championships have been known by a number of different names over the years. The first two world championships, held as competitions between Scotland and Canada, were held as five-game series between the two nations. Upon the addition of the United States in 1961, the format was changed to a double round robin preliminary round with a three-team knockout round at the conclusion of the round robin. In the championships held from 1971 to 1985, third place was awarded to either the team that lost in the semifinal of a three-team knockout round or the higher-seeded team among the losing teams of a four-team knockout round.
