Canada at 2023 World Women's Curling Championship: Everything to know about Skip Kerri Einarson & her team

Canada has not won a gold medal at the World Women's Curling Championship since 2018. A familiar face on the Canadian curling scene is trying to change that in 2023. 

Thirteen of the best women's curling teams worldwide are meeting in Sweden for a week-long competition. Canada enters this year coming off a bronze-medal finish in 2022. 

Switzerland has won gold at the last three tournaments, with Silvana Tirinzoni leading the way each year. Her crew is back again in 2023, looking to become the first country to four-peat at the event since Canada won four in a row from 1983-87. 

MORE: Scotties Tournament of Hearts 2023 scores, results

Here is everything you need to know for the 2023 World Women’s Curling Championship. 

Who is representing Team Canada at the 2023 World Women’s Curling Championship?

The winner of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts determines who represents Canada on the world stage at the World Women's Curling Championship. That is Kerri Einarson's team for 2023.

Einarson's crew has played in the World Women’s Curling Championship for the country at the last two tournaments. The team's best finish came last year when the team won bronze at the tournament. 

Here is a breakdown of Team Canada:

Skip: Kerri Einarson

Einarson is considered one of the greatest curlers in Canadian history. The 35-year-old hails from Selkirk, Man. and currently resides in Gimli, where her team plays out of. 

The Team Canada skip has an extensive and impressive resume. She first began as skip in 2010 for one season, then briefly played as a third for a season on Jill Thurston's rink. In 2012-13, Einarson created her own team and went back to skip. Einarson's current team has all been playing together since 2018-19. 

In her career, Einarson has four Scotties titles, winning in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, remaining as the reigning champion. She also has a World Women's Curling Championship bronze medal, which she achieved last year.

Einarson has also won five Grand Slam of Curling events: the 2016 Boost National, 2019 Players' Championship, 2021 Players' Championship, 2022 Champions Cup and 2022 Masters.

Third: Val Sweeting

Sweeting is in her fifth season as third on Team Einarson. She also has four Scotties championships under her belt, as well as a bronze medal at the World Women's Curling Championship. She was born in Redvers, Sask. and raised in Maryfield. 

Previously, the 35-year-old was the skip on her own team from 2009 to 2018. In addition to the four Grand Slam events she won with Einarson, Sweeting won three in her time before joining forces with Einarson. She placed first at the 2014 Masters, 2016 Tour Challenge and 2017 Tour Challenge as skip on Team Sweeting. 

Second: Shannon Birchard

The youngest member of Team Einarson is Birchard, a 28-year-old from Winnipeg. Birchard was skip on her own team from 2010 to 2018 before she joined Einarson's team as its second. 

Birchard is a five-time Scotties champion. In addition to the four she earned with Einarson, she won gold in 2018 when she filled in for Kaitlyn Lawes on Jennifer Jones' rink. She also won a world championship as the alternate on Jones' team that same year, making her the only member of Team Canada to have a world championship gold medal. 

She also has four Grand Slam of Curling victories on her resume, all with Einarson. 

Lead: Briane Harris

Harris is also in her fifth season as lead of Team Einarson. The native of Winnipeg joined Einarson in 2018 after two seasons as skip of her own team. 

Like the others, the 35-year-old has won four Scotties, a bronze at the world championship and four Grand Slam wins. 

Alternate: Krysten Karwacki

Karwacki is the team's alternate for the World Women's Curling Championship. The 35-year-old Winnipeg native typically is the lead on Nancy Martin's curling team. 

She was an alternate for Einarson's championship team at the 2021 Scotties, giving her one Canadian women's championship title. 

When is the 2023 World Women’s Curling Championship?

• Start: Saturday, March 18
• End: Sunday, March 26

The 2023 World Women’s Curling Championship is set to start on Saturday, March 18 and run until Sunday, March 26. 

The round-robin goes from March 18 to March 24, with the playoffs beginning on March 25.

What channel is the 2023 World Women’s Curling Championship on?

The 2023 World Women’s Curling Championship will be broadcast on TSN. The platform will have every round-robin game involving Canada, in addition to the playoffs.  

Live streams will be available on TSN.ca and in the TSN app.

Where is the 2023 World Women’s Curling Championship?

• Venue: Goransson Arena
• Location: Sandviken, Sweden

This year's world championship is being played at the Goransson Arena in Sandviken, Sweden. 

The arena is the home of Sandvikens AIK, a bandy club that plays in the Elitserien. 

Sandviken has never hosted the women's worlds before, however, this is the fourth time the event is being held in Sweden. 

What is the time difference between Sweden and Canada?

Sweden is in the Central European Time Zone, meaning the country is multiple hours ahead of Canada. 

Here is how the time zone breaks down with the different time zones in Canada:

2023 World Women’s Curling Championship odds

Einarson's rink enters the 2023 tournament as the favorite. According to Sports Interaction, Canada is +147 to win the world championship. 

Here are the rest of the pre-tournament odds for the field.