Playoff, NZ v China. Photo WCF / Richard Gray
NZ qualify for World Mixed Doubles
Mixed Doubles
8 Dec 2023 – Anton Hood and Courtney Smith earned New Zealand's ticket to the 2024 World Mixed Doubles Championship at last week's Qualification Event in Dumfries, Scotland.
Finland and NZ were the two sides from their six-team pool to progress to the playoff round, although the Kiwis did drop a couple of games. With four of the eight teams in the playoffs to go through to the Worlds, teams needed to win two of a maximum three games.
The Kiwi duo were well beaten by China first up to go into sudden-death status but bounced back to record a win against Hong Kong.
In their deciding winner-takes-all game against Finland, Anton and Courtney faced an ominously similar scenario to 2022's last-stone loss in the equivalent game.
Facing the other team to qualify from their pool 12 months ago, NZ had won the eighth end to tie the scores and needed to steal the extra end to win the game.
They missed out then, but this time played the extra end perfectly, and with the last shot of the game the Finns were unable to remove the Kiwi shot stone.
"This was a bit of a roller coaster week," said Anton Hood, "with a great start to the round robin, then a couple of tough losses. We hung tough though, knowing we had a life in the playoffs. China were a great team to come up against first as they really set the tone for the playoff mindset. But we played well against Hong Kong and Finland which was a great way to finish the week!"
Looking forward to April's World Championship in Sweden, he added, "We feel we have room to grow as a team, even after getting to the qualification result – so we think that's very exciting!"
France, Germany and China qualified alongside New Zealand to complete the 20-team field.
The 2024 World Curling Championship season will mark a milestone for New Zealand. For the first time, the Women's, Men's and Mixed Doubles sides will all be competing, and all earning 2026 Olympic qualification points.
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- WCF Tournament page
- WCF Official results
- NZ results at World Mixed Doubles
- Follow Team Smith / Hood on Facebook and Instagram
NZ Results
| Group D Results | Group D Standings | W | L | Qual | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NZ | 10 | - | 2 | Brazil | 1 | Finland | 5 | 0 | Q | |
| NZ | 8 | - | 6 | Lithuania | 2 | New Zealand | 3 | 2 | Q | |
| NZ | 9 | - | 3 | Belgium | 3 | Belgium | 3 | 2 | ||
| NZ | 6 | - | 7 | Finland | 4 | Lithuania | 2 | 3 | ||
| NZ | 3 | - | 8 | Slovakia | 5 | Slovakia | 2 | 3 | ||
| 6 | Brazil | 0 | 5 | |||||||
| Q = Qualified for playoffs | ||||||||||
| Playoffs | 2 wins needed to qualify | |||||||||
| NZ | 2 | - | 7 | China | ||||||
| NZ | 10 | - | 6 | Hong Kong | ||||||
| NZ | 6 | - | 5 | Finland | NZ qualify for World Championship | |||||
L-R: Anton Hood, Coach David Ramsay, Courtney Smith
Courtney Smith, NZ v Hong Kong. Photo WCF / Richard Gray
NZ v Hong Kong. Photo WCF / Richard Gray
Anton Hood, NZ v Hong Kong. Photo WCF / Richard Gray
New Zealand and China were the final two teams to qualify. Photo WCF / Richard Gray