World Junior Curling Championships | |
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Established | 1975 (men) 1988 (women) |
2025 host city | Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy |
2025 arena | Stadio olimpico del ghiaccio |
Current champions (2024) | |
Men | Norway |
Women | Switzerland |
Current edition | |
The World Junior Curling Championships are an annual curling bonspiel featuring the world's best curlers who are 21 years old or younger. The competitions for both men and women occur at the same venue. The men's tournament has occurred since 1975 and the women's since 1988. Since curling became an Olympic sport in 1998, the World Junior Curling Championship of the year preceding the Olympic Games have been held at the site of the curling tournament for the upcoming Games.[1]
The event had its origins with the Ontario Junior Masters Curling Championship, which began in 1968 and, at first, mostly consisted of teams in the Greater Toronto Area.[2] Eventually the event was renamed to the International Junior Masters Bonspiel and began attracting teams from other countries. In 1973, the tournament was sponsored by Uniroyal, and was renamed the Uniroyal International Junior Curling Championship.[3] It became the World Junior Curling Championship in 1974, before being officially sanctioned in 1975. The tournament was held every year at the East York Curling Club before being sanctioned. Uniroyal remained the event's sponsor until 1990.