As we prepare for the ultimate event pre year for wheelchair curling (other than Paralympic year) we get to step back and take a look at thing according to many views. The Views express in the following article do not reflect those of the Wheelchair Curling Blog 2. However; our poll currently show Russia with some 52% of the vote as the odds on winner of this years event with Canada in second.
The Canadian team includes Ina Forrest, Dennis Thiessen, Sonja Gaudet, Mark Ideson and Marie Wright. They are coached by Joe Rea. They come into the event as reigning Paralympic medalists. They beat Russia 5 – 4, and Canada defeated Sweden 7 – 4 in group play in Sochi.
Thirty-eight year old Ideson, who is from London, Ontario, was an alternate on the 2013 gold medal winning world championship team, and was also a member of the 2014 Winter Paralympic gold medal winning team.
Fifty-three year old Forrest is a long time member of the Canadian team. She was a member of the 2010 and 2014 Canadian Paralympic teams. The Vernon Curling Club member was a member of the Canadian teams at the 2009 world championships Vancouver, 2011 world championships in Prague and 2013 world championships in Sochi that all won gold. She lost her leg in a farming accident.
Thiessen is another returning member from Canada’s gold medal winning 2014 Winter Paralympic Games team. From Sanford, Manitoba, he first made the team in 2012 and has been the only member of the team from his province for a while. He was part of the 2013 gold medal winning world championship team. He was the 2011 Canadian National Wheelchair Curling Champion, and won bronzes in 2008, 2009 and 2010 at the Canadian National Wheelchair Curling championships.
48-year-old Gaudet Gaudet was part of the Canadian team in Sochi, and the 2013 World Championship winning team. Gaudet is the only wheelchair curling Paralympian with three gold medals, having won them in 2006, 2010 and 2014. She was the team’s flag bearer for the opening ceremony in Sochi. Gaudet also has gold medals from the 2009, 2011, and 2013 World Championships. She was the first wheelchair-only curler to be inducted into the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame when she was part of the 2013 class.
The Chinese team includes Wang Hai Tao, Liu Wei, Zhang Qiang, Xu Guang Qin, and He Jun. They are coached by Li Jian Rui. China competed at the 2014 Winter Paralympics. China defeated Sweden 8–4 in seven ends in group play, Russia beat China 5 – 4, Norway lost to China 3 – 7, and China lost to Slovakia 3 – 8 in group play.
The Finnish team includes Markku Karjalainen, Sari Karjalainen, Mina Mojtahedi, Tuomo Aarnikka, and Vesa Leppanen. They are coached by Anne Malmi. Karjalainen captains the side. They are coming into the competition having competed at the British Open Wheelchair Curling earlier this month at the Lanarkshiren Ice Rink in Scotland, where they lost their opener against Scotland 2 by a score of 1 – 7. The Finns won their second game Donaldson 6 – 1. They went into the British Open following a week long training camp in Kisakallio. The Finns competed at the 2014 Winter Paralympics. In group play, Norway edged out Finland 6 – 8 in extra ends, Sweden beat Finland 7 – 6, Finland lost to Russia 4 – 7, and Finland lost to Slovakia 6 – 9.
The team has one last wheelchair curling related committment scheduled before 2015 World Wheelchair Curling Championship scheduled to get underway next Friday in at the Kisakallio Sports Institute in Lohja, Finland. It is an interview with fans and demonstration next Wednesday. The Finns are not expected to be in medal contention for the World Championships.
The German team includes Jens Jaeger, Christiane Putzich, Martin Schlitt, Heika Melchior, and Robert Hering. They are coached by Bernd Weisser.
The Norwegian team includes Rune Lorentsen, Jostein Stordahl, Ole Fredrik Syversen, Sissel Loechen, and Gina Kristin Broendbo. They are coached by Per Andreassen. The team competed at the 2014 Winter Paralympics. In group play, Norway edged out Finland 6 – 8 in extra ends, Norway lost to China 3 – 7 and the United States defeated Norway 8 – 5.
The Russian team is coached by Anton Batugin. The team includes Andrey Smirnov, Marat Romanov, Oksana Slesarenko, Alexander Shevchenko, and Svetlana Pakhomova. Everyone on the team participated in a North American tour in November and December of last year. Their November event was in Richmond, Ontario where they played Scotland, Canada, South Korea and Canadian club teams. In December, they played in the US Open.
The Russian team won a silver medal at the 2014 Winter Paralympics, losing out on gold to Canada. They also lost to Canada 5 – 4 in group play, Russia beat China 5–4 in group play, and Finland lost to Russia 4 – 7. Smirnov, Shevchenko, Pakhomova, Romanov and Slesarenko were all part of the Sochi Games team, and the team that took gold at the 2012 World Wheelchair Curling Championship.
Forty-eight year old Romanov is from the Chelyabinsk region, and uses a wheelchair as a result of a spinal cord injury. Forty-nine year old Pakhomova is from Moscow, and uses a wheelchair as a result of a spinal cord injury. Forty-three year old Shevchenko is also from Moscow. He uses a wheelchair as a result of a spinal cord injury. Forty-four year old Slesarenko is from Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk, and was the alternate for the team at the 2014 Winter Paralympics, where the country made their debut in the sport. She uses a wheelchair as a result of a spinal cord injury.
Forty-one year old Smirnov is from the Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk region and skippered the 2014 Winter Paralympics team. He uses a wheelchair as a result of a spinal cord injury. Smirnov and Sverdlovsk both took up the sport in 2003, and competing at the 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, and 2013 World Championships.
The Scottish team includes Aileen Neilson, Gregor Ewan, Jim Gault, Angie Malone, and Hugh Nibloe. They are coached by Tony Zummack. The team was named in late December. They are coming into the competition having competed at the British Open Wheelchair Curling earlier this month, where the Scotland 2 defeated the Finnish national team by a score of 1 – 7.
The Slovak team includes Radoslav Duris, Branislav Jakubec, Dusan Pitonak, Monika Kunkelova, and Imrich Lyocsa. They are coached by Frantisek Pitonak. The team competed at the 2014 Winter Paralympics. In group play, Slovakia defeated the United States 6 – 4,China lost to Slovakia 3 – 8, and Finland lost to Slovakia 6 – 9. Earlier this month, the team won the Czech hosted International Wheelchair Curling League, beating out Italy, Poland and five Czech clubs.
The Swedish team includes Jalle Jungnell, Patrik Kallin, Ronny Persson, Kristina Ulander, and Zandra Reppe. They are coached by Peter Narup. They are coming into the competition having competed at the British Open Wheelchair Curling earlier this month. Sweden competed at the 2014 Winter Paralympics. China defeated Sweden 8 – 4 in seven ends in group play, while Sweden beat Finland 7 – 6 and Canada defeated Sweden 7 – 4.
61 year old Jungnell has the team’s most Paralympic experience, having competed at the 1988, 1992, and 1996 Summer Paralympics in wheelchair basketball, as well as competing at the 2006 and 2010 Winter Paralympics in wheelchair curling. This is also not her first World Championship. She’s the only member of the team that date back to the 2010 team. Ulander uses a wheelchair as a result of a spinal cord injury.
The United States team includes Patrick McDonald, Stephen Emt, James Joseph, Penny Greely, and Meghan Lino. They are coached by Steve Brown. At the 2014 Winter Paralympics, the United States lost to Canada 2 – 7 in seven ends during group play, Slovakia defeated the United States 6 – 4, and the United States defeated Norway 8 – 5.
Joseph served as the second for the team at the Sochi Games, and was a member of the 2006 and 2010 Paralympic team. He hales from New Hartford, New York. Joseph has a limb deficiency.
Lino, a Cape Code native from East Falmouth, Massachusetts, took up the wheelchair curling in 2009, and was an alternate in the US team in Sochi. She is also a member of the 2015 World Wheelchair Curling Championship team. She uses a wheelchair as a result of a spinal cord injury.
McDonald, a Madison, Wisconsin native, is a member of Team USA wheelchair curling having competed at and skipper the American team the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Russia. He also competed at the 2010 Games in Vancouver. He is also a member of the 2015 World Wheelchair Curling Championship team. He uses a wheelchair as a result of a spinal cord injury.
Originally a sitting volleyball player who won a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Parlympics, Greely is a member of the USA national curling team having competed and served as the lead at the 2014 Games. She is from Green Bay, Wisconsin.
2015 World Wheelchair Curling Championship scheduled to get underway on February 6 in at the Kisakallio Sports Institute in Lohja, Finland.
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