2018–19 Curling World Cup – First Leg
The First Leg of the 2018–19 Curling World Cup took place from September 12 to 16, 2018 at the Suzhou Olympic Sports Center in Suzhou, China. Canada had a clean sweep, winning all three disciplines. Rachel Homan's team beat out the Swedish Anna Hasselborg rink in the women's final, team Kevin Koe defeated Norway's Steffen Walstad in the men's event, and Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres beat out Sarah Anderson and Korey Dropkin from the United States for mixed doubles gold. Format. Curling World Cup matches have eight ends, rather  than the standard ten ends. Ties after eight ends will be decided by a shoot-out, with each team throwing a stone and the one closest to the button winning. A win in eight or fewer ends will earn a team 3 points, a shoot-out win 2 points, a shoot-out less 1 point, and 0 points for a loss in eight or fewer ends. Each event will have eight teams in the men's, women's, and mixed doubles tournament. The teams will be split into two groups of four, based on the Curling World Cup rankings, whereby  the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th, ranked teams will be in one group and the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th ranked teams in the other. The first place teams in each group will play against each other in the final. In the event of a tie for first place, a shoot-out will be used, with the same format used to decide matches tied after eight ends. Qualification. For the first three legs of the Curling World Cup, the eight spots in the tournament are allocated to each of the hosting member associations, the highest ranked member association in each  zone (the Americas, European, and Pacific-Asia), and two teams chosen by the World Curling Federation. Member associations may choose to send the same teams to all three legs or have different teams. The following countries qualified for each discipline: Women. Round robin standings. "After Draw 15" Round robin results. Draw 1. "Wednesday, September 12, 15:00" Draw 4. "Thursday, September 13, 08:30" Draw 5. "Thursday, September 13, 12:00" Draw 6. "Thursday, September 13, 16:00" Draw 7. "Thursday, September 13, 19:30" Draw 8. "Friday, September 15, 08:30" Draw 9. "Friday, September 15, 12:00" Draw 10. "Friday, September 15, 16:00" Draw 11 . "Friday, September 15, 19:30" Draw 12. "Saturday, September 16, 08:30" Draw 13. "Saturday, September 16, 12:00" Draw 15. "Saturday, September 16, 19:30" Final. "Sunday, September 17, 12:00" Men. Round robin standings. "After Draw 15" Round robin results. Draw 3. "Wednesday, September 12, 21:00" Draw 5. "Thursday, September 13, 12:00" Draw 7. "Thursday, September 13, 19:30" Draw 9. "Friday, September 14, 12:00" Draw 10. "Friday, September 14, 16:00" Draw 12. "Saturday, September 15, 08:30" Draw 14. "Saturday, September 15, 16:00" Draw 15. "Saturday, September 15, 19:30" Final. "Sunday, September 17, 16:00" Mixed doubles. Round robin standings. "After Draw 14" Round robin  results. Draw 2. "Wednesday, September 12, 18:30" Draw 4. "Thursday, September 13, 08:30" Draw 6. "Thursday, September 13, 16:00" Draw 8. "Friday, September 14, 08:30" Draw 9. "Friday, September 14, 12:00" Draw 10. "Friday, September 14, 16:00" Draw 11. "Friday, September 14, 19:30" Draw 13. "Saturday, September 15, 12:00" Draw 14. "Saturday, September 15, 16:00" Final. "Sunday, September 16, 08:30"