ICSD's controversial decisions knock out US Curling Teams from 2027 Winter Deaflympics.
International Committee Sport for the Deaf (ICSD) made several disputed and damaging decisions with new qualifying guidelines that impacted USA Deaf Curling teams.
1. No inclusion or discussion with member countries in developing and implementing the qualification system for the Deaflympics.
2. No prior notification or official announcement on how countries will earn points for ranking.
3. ICSD's unilateral decision to retroactively use 2024 Deaflympics, and 2025 World Deaf Curling Championship results for points allocation.
4. Decision to cap the number of participating teams at 8 instead of 10 teams.
These decisions surprised the boards of USDC and USADSF. It meant that countries who did not participate in either the Deaflympics or World Championships were severely penalized. Because USA decided not to attend 2024 Winter Deaflympics at Erzurum, Türkiye, their chances of qualifying for 2027 Deaflympics became very slim.
USADSF submitted a protest letter to ICSD. The newly appointed curling director informed USADSF on June 15, 2026 that their protests were denied.
USA Men placed 6th in 2025 World Championships in Minneapolis. The final rankings (without any points from 2024 Games) had USA Men at #8 and USA Mixed Doubles at #11. Austria has never participated in the history of international deaf curling, but because they were the host country, they automatically qualified. This pushed USA men down to #9 and thus eliminated USA men from qualifying for 2027 Deaflympics.
For more information and USDC's official letter announcement dated July 20, 2026 click here.
Listed below are the countries and teams who will participate in 2027 Winter Deaflympics in Innsbruck, Austria.
Looking ahead to the next quadrennial, there is currently no publicly available information regarding future international deaf curling competitions, ranking guidelines, or qualification
procedures.
Interested in Representing Team USA in Men’s, Women’s and Mixed Doubles?
If you have a hearing loss of at least 55 decibels in your better unaided ear and are interested in representing the United States in deaf curling, please send your name and contact information
to [email protected].
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