A capsule look at the 14 countries competing in the April 30-May 9 LGT World Women's Curling Championship in Calgary. The event will serve as the main Olympic qualifier for the 2022 Games.
Skip name listed with each country below:
CANADA (Kerri Einarson)
Einarson and Manitoba teammates Val Sweeting, Shannon Birchard and Briane Meilleur will make their world championship debut on home ice. They qualified by beating Rachel Homan in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts final for the second straight year.
CHINA (Yu Han)
China already has a berth in the Beijing Games secured since it's the host country. Yu won the Pacific-Asia championship in 2019.
SOUTH KOREA (Eun-Jung Kim)
The Garlic Girls were a hit at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics after winning silver on home ice. They later accused their former coaches of verbal abuse and holding back prize money. Three South Korean curling officials were banned for life following an investigation into the allegations.
CZECH REPUBLIC (Anna Kubeskova)
It will be the fifth career world women's championship appearance for Kubeskova. Her team includes sisters Alzbeta and Michaela Baudysova.
SWITZERLAND (Silvana Tirinzoni)
Tirinzoni plays third for the defending champions, who beat Sweden to win the 2019 crown in Silkeborg, Denmark. Vice-skip Alina Paetz throws fourth stones.
ITALY (Stefania Constantini)
Constantini made her world debut in 2018 in North Bay, Ont., as a second for a team skipped by Diana Gaspari. Angela Romei threw lead stones on that rink but is playing second this time around.
DENMARK (Madeleine Dupont)
The Danish side is experienced with Dupont and sister Denise making the 12th world championship appearance of their respective careers.
RUSSIA (Alina Kovaleva)
The Russian entry will be called RCF at this competition. The country is serving a two-year World Anti-Doping Agency ban.
SWEDEN (Anna Hasselborg)
The reigning Olympic champion looks to reach the top step of the world podium for the first time after settling for silver in 2018 and '19.
ESTONIA (Marie Turmann)
Sisters Marie and Liisa Turmann make up the back end of this foursome, which is playing this event for the first time.
UNITED STATES (Tabitha Peterson)
It's Peterson's fifth worlds appearance but her first as skip. She finished eighth at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.
GERMANY - (Daniela Jentsch)
The playing status of this team remained uncertain on Thursday morning as a result of two positive COVID-19 tests upon arrival in Calgary. The unidentified individuals will remain in isolation until medically cleared.
JAPAN (Sayaka Yoshimura)
Yoshimura, who has skipped the team since 2018, is making the second world appearance of her career. Teammates Kaho Onodera, Anna Ohmiya and Yumie Funayama all have Olympic experience.
SCOTLAND (Eve Muirhead)
Muirhead beat Homan en route to a gold medal at the 2013 world championship in Riga, Latvia. Muirhead also won world silver in 2010 and bronze in 2017.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 29, 2021.
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Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press
