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Ready for curling to rock the city

So it is less than a month until the World Women’s Curling Championship takes over the CN Centre with the Patch in Kin 1.

There will be 13 teams coming here, and the last time I checked, fewer than half the countries involved had selected their teams.

For Canada, I have to admit I was happy to see Kerri Einarson and her team make it three straight Canadian championships. They were here in 2020, all set to play in the Worlds in front of the home crowds – and then COVID shut things down the day before they were supposed to start.

Now, they will be back.

Yes, they curled at the Worlds last year on home ice in Calgary, but that was in the bubble, with no fans allowed in the building. Team Einarson made it to the playoff round, but lost to Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg. Switzerland’s Silvana Toranzoni beat Denmark’s Madeleine Dupont in the final.

All three of those countries have qualified for this year’s event, but as of Monday, none of them had named their team. Neither had Scotland, the home of newly-crowned Olympic champion Eve Muirhead (representing Great Britain, technically). Muirhead was also in Calgary for last year’s championship.

Both Muirhead and Hasselborg know the way to Prince George, since they, like Einarson, were scheduled to curl here in 2020.

Some people might figure that with it being only two years since the Worlds were supposed to be here, most of the same people would be involved in the planning.

Not so. There have been a number of changes in the organizing committee, but luckily the venue hasn’t changed.

So they know what needs to be done to get CN Centre ready for the curling and Kin 1 ready for the Patch. After that, though, they probably have three or four different plans in place, depending on what (if any) COVID restrictions are in place.

I know a lot of curling fans, including my Mom, are quite happy heading into the next couple of months.

After having draws on at all kinds of strange hours at the Olympics in China, they now have the Men’s Canadian Championship in Lethbridge, followed by the Women’s Worlds here, followed by the Men’s Worlds in Las Vegas.

Much nicer from a time point of view for local curling enthusiasts.

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