PyeongChang 2018: Spotlight on wheelchair curling

A quick glance at the sport that made its Paralympic debut at Torino 2006 08 Mar 2018 By IPC

Twelve wheelchair curling teams take to the sheets at the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games, as the competition gets underway on 10 March at the Gangneung Curling Centre.

All four sheets at the Centre will be filled with action, with matches in the afternoon and evening, all the way until the medal contests on 17 March.

Two teams comprised of four players each take turns sliding stones across an ice sheet toward a target area called the “house.” Teams score points by getting it as close to the centre of the house as possible. The team with the most points after eight ends wins.

The head of the team is called the skip, who usually dictates other player’s shots through verbal and visual instructions. The main differences between wheelchair curling and its able-bodied version are that there is no sweeping in wheelchair curling, and a delivery stick is allowed.

In wheelchair curling, athletes eligible to compete must have an impairment affecting their legs.

Watch for Norway at these Games. They enter as reigning world champions, led by Rune Lorensten. But Canada have won every Paralympic title since the sport debuted at the Games at Torino 2006, and Mark Ideson will be an important piece to their medal campaign.

Great Britain took a surprise bronze at the 2017 Worlds, skipped by Aileen Nielson, and the nation expects to build off that in PyeongChang.

Every competition as well as the Opening and Closing Ceremonies can be watched live right here on the International Paralympic Committee’s website. Highlights of each day’s action will also be made available.

Tickets for PyeongChang 2018 can be purchased here.