Canada building off of single win day at 2020 world wheelchair curling championship

Day two of the 2020 World Wheelchair Curling Championship brought mixed results for team Canada as they split their two-match day with a win and a loss. Session 3 saw the the Canadians downed by Russia’s Konstantin Kurokhtin 8-1 where they then rebounded in session 5 with a 6-3 win over Korea’s Seung Won Jung.

The team, comprised of skip Mark Ideson of London, Ont. (throwing lead stones), Jon Thurston of Dunsford, Ont. (throwing fourth stones), Ina Forrest of Armstrong, B.C., Dennis Thiessen of Sanford, Man., alternate Collinda Joseph of Stittsville, Ont., coach Wayne Kiel of Balgonie, Sask., and assistant coach Mick Lizmore of Edmonton, now boast a 2-1 record in the round robin.

Despite being in the middle of the field currently, Jon Thurston knows the best is yet to come for Canada.

“The level of competition this year is spectacular. We’re just trying to bring our A game for every game and tonight was a good win for us. We’re going to try and build from that,” said Thurston. 

Canada will play an 11-game round-robin, with the top six teams from the 12-team field making the playoffs. The first- and second-place teams will go straight to the semifinals, while No. 6 plays No. 3, and No. 5 plays No. 4 in the qualification round.

The qualification round and semifinals are on Friday, March 6, with the bronze- and gold-medal games on Saturday, March 7.

There are 12 total teams in the event, including Canada, 2019 champions China, Czech Republic, Estonia, Korea, Latvia, Norway, Russia, Scotland, Slovakia, Sweden and hosts Switzerland.

Thurston is no rookie to an event of this scale. He represented Canada in 2019 at the World Wheelchair Championship and loves the experience. 

“It feels great to be here again. We played in the B championships this year as well so it’s kind of like two world championships in one,” said Thurston.

Team Canada finished with a 5-6 record at last year’s World Championship in Stirling, Scotland — part of a four-way tie for seventh place. But tiebreaking formulas dropped Canada to 10th place and relegated to the B Pool for the 2019-20 season.

For Thurston, wearing the maple leaf and representing Canada is always special.

“It’s unbelievable. It’s such an honour, really. I’m really excited to do it with the group that we have here as well,” said Thurston.

For additional details about the 2020 World Wheelchair Curling Championships, including schedules and team rosters, visit the World Curling Federation’s event website here.

Select matches will be streamed live. Canada’s next two matches will be featured live on March 2 at 8 a.m. (all times eastern) versus host Switzerland’s Raymond Pfyffer and at 1 p.m. versus Scotland’s Hugh Nibloe. Click here for the stream and more.