A capsule look at teams competing at the world women’s curling championship

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This article was published 15/03/2019 (2756 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canada is the defending champion at the 2019 women’s world curling championship, which begins Saturday in Silkeborg, Denmark.

Here is a capsule look at the 13 teams in the field:

CANADA

Roster: Chelsea Carey (skip), Sarah Wilkes (third), Dana Ferguson (second), Rachel Brown (lead), Jill Officer (alternate)

World Ranking: No. 6

Team: Canada is looking for a third straight title after unbeaten runs by Jennifer Jones last year and Rachel Homan in 2017. Canada’s last defeat at this event was in the 2016 bronze-medal game when Carey fell to Russia’s Anna Sidorova. Carey returns this time with a different team that’s riding high after a comeback win over Homan in the national final.

UNITED STATES

Roster: Jamie Sinclair (skip), Sarah Anderson (third), Taylor Anderson (second), Monica Walker (lead), Vicky Persinger (alternate)

World Ranking: No. 36

Team: Sinclair returns with a new lineup after finishing fourth last year in North Bay, Ont. The Anchorage native, who grew up near Ottawa, teamed with Homan to win the 2007 Canada Winter Games title. Sinclair beat Nina Roth 6-4 in the final of the American playdowns.

SOUTH KOREA

Roster: Min-ji Kim (skip), Hyerin Kim (third), Taei Yang (second), Sujin Kim (lead)

World Ranking: No. 14

Team: This junior squad showed it can hang at the top level by winning the third leg of the Curling World Cup last month in Sweden. Kim made four straight appearances at the world junior championships and earned a world women’s berth by topping Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa to earn the Pacific-Asia crown.

JAPAN

Roster: Seina Nakajima (skip), Ikue Kitazawa (fourth), Chiaki Matsumura (third), Hasumi Ishigooka (lead), Emi Shimuzu (alternate)

World Ranking: No. 26

Team: Nakajima skips the team but throws second stones while vice-skip Kitazawa handles last rocks. Fujisawa gave Japan a worlds berth by reaching the Pacific-Asia final but Nakajima took the spot with a 7-5 win in the national final.

CHINA

Roster: Jie Mei (skip), Rui Wang (fourth), Mingyue Yao (second), Jingyi Ma (lead), Lijun Zhang (alternate)

World Ranking: No. 34

Team: China took the first spot in a new second-chance qualifier that debuted last January in New Zealand, securing its place with a 4-3 win over Finland. Mei handles skip duties but throws third stones.

FINLAND

Roster: Oona Kauste (fourth), Eszter Juhasz (third), Maija Salmiovirta (second), Lotta Immonen (lead), Marjo Hippi (alternate)

World Ranking: No. 84

Team: Kauste represented Finland in mixed doubles at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. She earned the final spot in the world qualification event last January with an 8-1 rout of Hungary.

DENMARK

Roster: Madeleine Dupont (skip), Denise Dupont (third), Julie Hoegh (second), Lina Knudsen (lead), Gabriella Qvist (alternate)

World Ranking: No. 152

Team: Dupont leads a team that represented Denmark at last year’s Winter Olympics. She has made 10 previous world championship appearances and will have the home crowd at the 700-seat Silkeborg Sportscenter on her side.

SWEDEN

Roster: Anna Hasselborg (skip), Sara McManus (third), Agnes Knochenhauer (second), Sofia Mabergs (lead), Johanna Heldin (alternate)

World Ranking: No. 2

Team: The reigning Olympic champions won silver at last year’s world championship after falling to Jones in the final. Hasselborg, who trails only Homan in the world rankings, recently won her first European championship.

SCOTLAND

Roster: Sophie Jackson (skip), Naomi Brown (third), Mili Smith (second), Sophie Sinclair (lead), Lauren Gray (alternate)

World Ranking: No. 65

Team: Jackson beat Eve Muirhead in the Scottish final but her world spot wasn’t confirmed until two days after the win. Jackson had previously committed to play at the recent World University Games, but asked Scottish Curling to review a decision to send Muirhead’s team to Denmark. The governing body eventually found in favour of Rule C. 12 (b), which says “The winning team shall represent Scotland in the world curling championship.”

RUSSIA

Roster: Alina Kovaleva (skip), Anastasia Bryzgalova (third), Galina Arsenkina (second), Ekaterina Kuzmina (lead), Uliana Vasileva (alternate)

World Ranking: No. 11

Team: Victoria Dupont (nee Moiseeva) won world bronze last year but has since stepped back from competitive curling. Kovaleva secured the Russian spot by defeating Sidorova in a best-of-seven series.

SWITZERLAND

Roster: Silvana Tirinzoni (skip), Alina Paetz (fourth), Esther Neuenschwander (second), Melanie Barbezat (lead), Marisa Winkelhausen (alternate)

World Ranking: No. 4

Team: The veteran Tirinzoni serves as skip but throws third stones ahead of Paetz, who won world gold in 2015. Tirinzoni needed an extra end to get by Binia Feltscher in the Swiss nationals.

GERMANY

Roster: Daniela Jentsch (skip), Emira Abbes (third), Klara-Hermine Fomm (second), Analena Jentsch (lead), Mia Hoehne (alternate)

World Ranking: No. 28

Team: Jentsch is making her fifth straight appearance at this event. Her best international showing to date came last November with a bronze medal at the European playdowns.

LATVIA

Roster: Iveta Stasa-Sarsune (skip), Santa Blumberga (third), Ieva Krusta (second), Evelina Barone (lead), Tina Silina (alternate)

World Ranking: No. 134

Team: Latvia is making its fourth appearance at this event. Stasa-Sarsune finished fifth at the European championship.

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