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This will be the first time junior teams have the chance to compete in the Mixed Doubles discipline at World Championship level, following the success of Mixed Doubles at the Youth Olympic Games in 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024. The event is being held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada from Tuesday 6 May until Sunday 11 May.

The event has 29 teams competing: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Czechia, Denmark, England, Spain, Germany, Hong Kong China, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Latvia, Nigeria, Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Slovenia, Switzerland, Sweden, Türkiye, Ukraine and United States.

Scotland have been drawn in Group B and are represented by Robyn Munro and Orrin Carson. They are the current World University Games Mixed Doubles Champions and Orrin is also skip of the 2025 World Junior Championship rink. Robyn also has a World Gold, winning the World Juniors in 2023. Their first game is against Austria tomorrow at 9pm.

England's duo is Chloe McNaughton and Matthew Waring, who are going to play in Group C. Their first game is against Switzerland at 5pm tomorrow, with their second one against Turkiye at 1am on Wednesday. Matthew is a regular international and Chloe (now living and curling in Scotland) is another top English curler.

[ritchiebaby]

England suffered a narrow 6-8 defeat against Switzerland with a loss of 3 shots in the last end. Tomorrow's game is against Ukraine at 7.30pm.

Scotland had an easy 9-2 victory in 7 ends over Austria in their opening game. They play Australia in their next game at 4pm tomorrow.

[ritchiebaby]

England have now got their act together with 3 successive wins. Firstly they beat Turkiye 7-5 leading all the way, then Ukraine 6-5 after never being behind and finally Korea 12-9 after an extra end in a hairy see-saw game. They have now got themselves into a good position with 2 games to go - Canada at 7.30pm tomorrow and Roumania at 2.30am on Saturday morning. One win might be enough to qualify, two wins would mean certain qualification.

Scotland have not been quite so successful, with the expected win against Australia coming to fruition by 10-1 after 7 ends, but were then beaten 3-8 by China, never getting themselves into the game. They still have 3 games to play, though - Hungary at 4pm and Brazil at 11pm tomorrow and finally United States at 4pm on Saturday. I would imagine that if they were to win the first two, the game against US will be a qualification decider. Lose one of tomorrow's games and I fear the worst.

[ritchiebaby]

England lost narrrowly 7-9 to Canada after being 1 up going into the last end. With this result it looks as though they are in a 3-way battle with Canada and Korea for second place. In fact their fate could be in the hands of Switzerland, who play both Canada and Korea in the final two sessions in this Group.

Scotland fared much better by beating Hungary 13-7 after 7 ends to keep their hopes alive. As mentioned last night it looks as though tomorrow's match against United States is becoming more and more important.

[ritchiebaby]

Scotland successfully managed the first part of their qualification task by beating Brazil 9-1 despite losing the first end. After their earlier loss to China, they must now beat United States and hope that Hungary can get the better of China in the final games.

England won their final game against Romania also by 9-1, enough to join Canada, Korea and Switzerland on 4 wins. These teams have one game to play and one of Canada and Switzerland are guaranteed to reach 5 wins as they play each other. England really have to hope for an unlikely win for Turkiye against Korea, as they have already beaten Korea. Even then, the countback might go against them, as it would leave 3 teams tied on 4 wins with 1 win and 1 loss against the tied teams. Who knows how they will work that one out!

[ritchiebaby]

Scotland managed to be the masters of their own destiny after beating United States by 8-2 after only 6 ends, thanks to an inspired start. They, United States and China all finished on 5 wins and each had one win and one loss against each other. It then went down to the Draw Shot Challenge, so the Scots, with a vastly superior rating, went through in 1st place, with United States in 2nd. That's how they work it out!

England's long wait ended in disappointment - so near and yet so far. Switzerland beat Canada 5-3 to reach 5 wins and qualification. In a thrilling and hard-fought game Korea eventually beat Turkiye 10-7 after an extra end.

The Quarter-final Draw is Italy v United States, Korea v Germany, Denmark v Switzerland, Scotland v Sweden. The games will be played at 1am tomorrow morning with the Semi-finals at 5pm tomorrow afternoon and the Medal Games at 10pm tomorrow night.

[ritchiebaby]

Scotland failed at the Quarter-final stage, losing 6-7 to Sweden despite scoring 3 shots in the last couple of ends. They had been 1-5 down after 4 ends and made a spirited recovery, but it proved too little, too late.

The Semi-finals saw Denmark squeeze past Sweden 9-8. Denmark scored in the first 3 ends and Sweden the next 3 with only 1 shot in the game. That shot proved decisive with both teams scoring 3 shots in the final two ends.

In the other game Italy cruised past Korea 9-1 after only 6 ends. The Koreans conceded the game once they had managed to score.

[ritchiebaby]

Italy continued their impressive form in beating Denmark 8-2 after 7 ends in the Gold Medal Game. Sweden continued their policy of being involved in tight games, losing 5-6 against Korea.

MEDALLISTS
Gold - Italy
Silver - Denmark
Bronze - Korea

Scotland finished in 5th place with England ranked 13th.