Karuizawa International Curling Championships
The Karuizawa International Curling Championships is a curling bonspiel held annually since the Olympic Games in Nagano at the SCAP Karuizawa Arena in Kariuzawa, Japan. The bonspiel is held to commemorate the curling event at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, the first official curling event in the Olympic programme since the 1924 Winter Olympics. It is also held to help promote curling throughout Japan.[1] The event became a World Curling Tour event in 2014.
| Karuizawa International Curling Championships | |
|---|---|
| Organizer | Sports Community Karuizawa Club |
| Established | 1999 |
| Host city | Karuizawa, Japan |
| Arena | Karuizawa Ice Park |
| Website | karuizawa-icurling |
| Men's purse | ¥ 1,500,000 |
| Women's purse | ¥ 1,500,000 |
| Current champions (2023) | |
| Men |  Brad Gushue |
| Women |  Ikue Kitazawa |
| Current edition | |
Format edit
Current format edit
A total of 24 teams (12 men's and 12 women's teams) are invited each year to participate in the championship. The teams play a two-pool round robin tournament with games of eight ends, and the top six teams of each gender play eight-end games in the final round.[1]
Previous format edit
Prior to 2013, a total of 16 teams (8 men's and 8 women's teams) were invited each year to participate in the championship. Five teams of each gender were chosen from foreign nations based on performances at the most recent World Curling Championships, while three teams were chosen from within Japan. The teams were chosen as follows:
| Men's | Women's |
|---|---|
| 5 Foreign Teams | |
 Japan National Team
| |
| Japan Selection Team[a]
| |
| Nagano Selection Team[a]
| |
The eight teams of each gender played a round robin tournament with games of eight ends, and the top four teams of each gender played ten-end games in the final round.
Champions (1999-2009) edit
| Year | Men's winner | Women's winner |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Bob Turcotte |
Cathy Borst
|
| 2000 | Makoto Tsuruga |
Sherry Fraser
|
| 2001 |  Markku Uusipaavalniemi |
Nancy Smith
|
| 2002 | Greg Monkman |
 Margaretha Lindahl
|
| 2003 |  Paul Pustovar |
 Manuela Kormann
|
| 2004 | Brian Gessner |
Cheryl Bernard
|
| 2005 | Pat Simmons |
Moe Meguro
|
| 2006 | Ryan Fry |
Crystal Rumberg
|
| 2007 | Craig Disher |
Jo-Ann Rizzo
|
| 2008 | Joel Jordison |
Yukako Tsuchiya
|
| 2009 | Bob Ursel |
Manuela Kormann
|
Past Champions (since 2010) edit
Notes edit
References edit
- ^ a b "Karuizawa International Curling Championship – Event information". Karuizawa Curling Club. Archived from the original on 24 July 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- ^ "Double Gold! Canada sweeps at Karuizawa International Curling Championship". Canadian Curling Association. 10 March 2010.
- ^ "2019 Karuizawa International - Men's". CurlingZone. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
- ^ "2019 Karuizawa International - Women's". CurlingZone. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
- ^ "2022 Karuizawa International - Men's". CurlingZone. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
- ^ "2022 Karuizawa International - Women's". CurlingZone. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
- ^ "2023 Karuizawa International - Men's". CurlingZone. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
- ^ "2023 Karuizawa International - Women's". CurlingZone. Retrieved November 28, 2023.