Sweden: Siltanews – News Desk
Apart from defending champions Italy, Sweden are the only Member Association competing in the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2025 that is represented by two Olympic gold medalists — Anna Hasselborg and Oskar Eriksson.
But unlike Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner, their Italian opponents, Anna and Oskar remain a long way away from being given the nod to go on to play mixed doubles at next year’s Olympic Winter Games.
This is the first time these two have played together at this event since they won it in Stavanger, Norway in 2019. And even to get here was a major challenge for these two, with Sweden staging a winner-takes-all showdown. Anna explained, “To be selected for here, we played a triple round robin and then a best-of-five in the final — so, we’ve played a lot!”
Given the caliber of athletes that Sweden can choose from, it is surprising that — come what may at this event — Oskar and Anna are not certain what their mixed doubles future will hold next year. Oskar said, “It’s a selection by the national coach and the Olympic Committee. We need to do really well here — it’s tough to do better than Rasmus and Isabella (Wranå — 2024 gold medalists) did last year, but it also includes other results from the last two years. We’ve been very close with them in every tournament.”
Formerly, Swedish Curling Association pursued a policy of not allowing players to double up between team and mixed doubles at the Olympic Winter Games, meaning players had to choose for themselves. With mixed doubles making its Olympic debut in 2018, Oskar explained “We already had to choose between mixed doubles and team selection for 2018. That year, they didn’t want players to do both, so we both stuck with team.”
He also points out the hindsight wisdom of that decision — “Sweden didn’t qualify for mixed doubles then, so it was an easy choice!” Anna said she chose not to try to double up in 2022, remembering, “It is possible to do both now, but in the last Olympics, I chose team too. We were in the (COVID-19) bubble then, so I didn’t want to do it.”