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The end of a season packed with important sporting events with an Olympic odium was marked by a new world championship organised by the World Curling Federation, the 2025 World Junior Mixed Pairs Championships. The host of the first edition of this relatively new Olympic category, organised for players under twenty-one, was the Canadian city of Edmonton, best known for that other collective Winter Olympic medal sport, ice hockey. Currently, the Edmonton Oilers are heading to the Stanley Cup finals. The matches of the Czech curling duo Krupičková, Blaha (KRUBLA) could be watched on YouTube in acceptable quality and often in acceptable times. The Czechs played in six duels, of which they managed to win only the first one, when after a fight they defeated Hong Kong 7 : 5. In the other matches there were no more wins, and so only thanks to a good DSC (average of LSD played) the Czech team finished fifth in its group (eighteenth overall), while only three teams out of the total of twenty-nine participants had fewer wins than the Czechs, i.e. none (Brazil, Romania and Kenya). For Sofia and Ondrej it was not their first time at WCF competitions, they have participated in EYOF, YOG, WJBCC. Even taking into account that they managed to beat the representatives in the adult category Zelingrova and Chabichovsky at the home championship, more was expected from them. Overall, the final table was above the Czech Republic, for example, the Hungarians and the Poles. The result of the current Czech national junior team completes the mosaic of records from the last ten years in all categories of young players (U21). There is certainly room for reflection and reconstruction of the system of player selection and the concept of season-long preparation of national teams, whether in standard "foursome" curling or in Mixed Doubles. One cannot deny the players' effort or endeavour, the emotional experience of tense game moments was visible and we enjoyed some game situations and accurately played stones. However, it is not enough for the world development and general increase in quality. It will be interesting to read the evaluation of the coaching tandem Klímová, Scoffin and their recommendations for adjustments, changes and procedures of all stages and phases of work with players in the junior age group.

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Since the season is over, here's a flash recap. Czech Wheelchair Mixed Doubles representatives Homolová, Musílek advanced to the superstructure at their World Championships in Stevenson, Canada, and finished seventh, losing in the quarterfinals to the ultimately silver-ranked Scots. The junior men and women have been mentioned before, as have the women, men and Mixed Doubles. Overall, Czech curling is not showing very good results, nor positive trends, nor does it have a sophisticated long-term concept/strategy for working with the national teams, although this obvious fact is now overshadowed by the men's qualification for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Especially in the area of junior curling, this is alarming. Although the women are back in the elite group of the European Championships - but for how long? - the upcoming generational change may catch the Czech women unprepared for the clashes with the best teams, and thus in a sporting malaise. In the Mixed Doubles category we have visibly fallen behind, especially in motivation and systematic work with potentially promising pairs or individuals - there is no national programme sponsor. The men seem to be saving the day, but vigilance is needed here too. At the last two European Championships, the men needed help from other teams to even hold Group A, and despite probably their best performance to date at the 2025 World Championships, they were not without some last-minute help from the Swiss against the Chinese. Otherwise, they would have sought Olympic participation in the December qualification lottery.

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Let's keep our fingers crossed for those who will still be competing for the Olympics - the women's team of Kubeskova and the pair of Zelingrova/Chabichovsky or Paulova/Paul, and at the same time wish the men the most efficient preparation process towards success at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

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photo: Sofie Krupicka with national coach W. Scoffin