The Cure for Boring Team Curling

I remember being skeptical about mixed doubles when it was first introduced as a new curling format. Even when I started playing it, it felt a little artificial.

That’s how the human brain works: we are comfortable with the old and suspicious of the new.

However, mixed doubles soon became my primary format, and I even reached the Olympic Games in 2018. After finishing our own matches, we stayed in the Olympic Village to watch team (fours) curling.

Several times, I actually fell asleep while sitting in the middle of the arena audience. After playing seven mixed doubles games with only 22 minutes of thinking time for eight ends, the pace of team curling felt painfully slow.

Pace is one of the main factors that makes mixed doubles more exciting. Other differences lie in the types of shots played and how they are executed. In mixed doubles, more shots are missed, and the drama factor is higher.

For example, at the 2017 world championship, Switzerland won the final by scoring four points in the eighth end against Canada.

And at these 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Estonia scored four against Switzerland in the eighth end to force an extra end. 

We rarely see this kind of drama in the original format when top teams are playing.

There has been a lot of debate about how to make team curling more interesting for spectators. Some proposals include introducing unusual rules designed to reduce the probability of blank ends by limiting teams’ ability to use their skills.

I believe there is a much simpler solution: reduce the thinking time.

Less thinking time would make the pace more electric. With less time for detailed planning, teams would not execute as perfectly as they do now — and that would increase uncertainty, creativity, and excitement.

The current thinking time in both mixed doubles and team curling could be reduced, and teams would adapt quickly.

I once saw the defending fours champions, Sweden’s Niklas Edin, play an entire end at the European Championships in Champéry in maybe 20 seconds.

And they scored three points.

The fastest game ever played at the world mixed doubles used very little thinking time and ended after six ends. Can you guess how much time the winning team used?

In my view, a good thinking-time limit would be 18 minutes for mixed doubles and 30 minutes for team curling. In addition, three minutes should be added to whatever time is left when the game goes to an extra end, rather than losing the remaining time as is done now.

What do you think? Comment below.