More than 60 wheelchair athletes representing 19 countries have descended upon the Richmond Curling Centre, In Richmond, BC, for the 2023 World Wheelchair and World Wheelchair Mixed Doubles Curling Championships, presented by Hutchison Oss-Cech Marlatt. Games begin today, and continue until the gold medal games on Sunday, March 12th.

Competing at the World Wheelchair Championships are Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, and the United States.

Competing at the World Wheelchair Mixed Doubles Championships are Canada, China, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Scotland, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States.

Today’s games include the first appearance of Team Canada in the mixed doubles competition, they take to the ice at 9:00am to face off against Team Denmark.

The 2023 Canadian mixed doubles wheelchair team. Front row, from left: Collinda Joseph and Dennis Thiessen. Back row, from left: Kyle Turcotte and Dana Ferguson (photo courtesy Canadian Wheelchair Curling National Program)

The Team Canada mixed doubles team is made up of Collinda Joseph (Stittsville, ON) and Dennis Thiessen (Crystal City, MB), with Dana Ferguson serving as coach and Kyle Turcotte serving as Team Leader.

The first appearance for Team Canada in the four-person category comes at noon today, when they take on Team China.

The four-person team consists of skip Mark Ideson (London, ON), fourth Jon Thurston (Dunsford, ON), third Ina Forrest (Spallumcheen, BC), second Gil Dash (Wolseley, SK) and fifth Marie Wright (Moose Jaw, SK.). They will be supported by head coach Mick Lizmore and team leader Paquette.

A full schedule of games at the World Wheelchair Championships can be found HERE; a schedule for the Mixed Doubles can be found HERE.

There is no charge for admission to games at the Richmond Curling Centre. For streaming coverage, please visit: https://worldcurling.org/2023/02/world-wheelchair-broadcast-schedule/. The gold medal games for both championships will also be broadcast locally on CHEK TV on Sunday, March 12th.

Good luck and good curling to all!

(Photos courtesy Canadian Wheelchair Curling National Program)