Kerri Einarson's curling team gears up for world championship in Calgary

Calgary will welcome curlers from around the world for the first time since 2021. Kerri Einarson hopes this tournament will be better than last time.

Curling doesn’t stop in Canada. The women’s world championship opens Saturday in Calgary.

On the heels of Matt Dunstone’s Manitoba team winning a national men’s championship in St. John’s, N.L., Kerri Einarson’s foursome out of Gimli, Man., will represent the host country on the women’s international stage in Alberta.

Einarson is a two-time bronze medallist in world championships after finishing third in 2022 in Prince George, B.C., and 2023 in Sandviken, Sweden. She seeks a first world title.

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“We’ve done so much over the years,” the 38-year-old skip said Monday on a media conference call. “We’ve been through so much with each other and it would definitely mean the world to us. This is what we want to do, but we also don’t want to put too much pressure on ourselves or look too far ahead.”

Einarson also represented Canada in a Calgary’s 2021 world championship, which was held in a strict COVID-19 pandemic bubble with no fans.

“We’re really looking forward to having the full experience there,” said Einarson’s third Val Sweeting, who is the lone non-Manitoban on the team. She lives in Edmonton.

“We definitely are looking forward to having fans in the stands and wearing the Maple Leaf, and especially in my home province.”

They won the Scotties Tournament of Hearts on Feb. 1 in Mississauga, Ont. It was the fifth national title for Einarson and Sweeting, the sixth for second Shannon Birchard, but the first for lead Karlee Burgess.

The 2020 world championship in Prince George was cancelled because of the pandemic when Einarson claimed her first Canadian curling crown in Moose Jaw, Sask.

Einarson opens Saturday afternoon against Sweden’s Isabella Wranaa, who won Olympic mixed doubles gold in February with brother Rasmus, followed by an evening game against Delaney Strouse of the United States.

The 13-country field doesn’t include reigning Olympic champion Anna Hasselborg of Sweden or silver medallist Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland.

It does include Italy’s Stefania Constantini, who earned Olympic mixed doubles bronze in Italy after winning gold in 2022. 

China’s Wang Rui was the 2025 bronze medallist at the world championship in Uijeongbu, South Korea. Japan’s Fujisawa Satsuki was an Olympic silver medallist in 2022.

“Definitely some new teams that we haven’t played in a long time or even on the world stage,” Einarson said. “A lot of first timers there. Our experience over the years will help us going into these worlds.”

Canada’s Rachel Homan won back-to-back world championship gold in 2025 in Uijeongbu and 2024 in Sydney, N.S. 

“Team Homan has really set the bar there the last couple of times,” Sweeting said. “We’d love to keep that gold in Canada.”

Homan earned an Olympic bronze medal in the Milan Cortina Winter Games behind Hasselborg and Tirinzoni.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 9, 2026.